It has a large Web site that dishes out this information on demand. And he wanted it fast. ViaFone delivered in five weeks, McDowall says. When queries come, it sends an HTTP request to mySimon, accepts XML data in return, then converts it into an appropriate format for the user's wireless device. ViaFone includes support for BlackBerry handhelds from Waterloo, Ontario-based Research In Motion Ltd. and Palm OS handhelds.
Wireless applications have a strong future.
ViaFone is set up so that someone with knowledge of only markup languages can design a wireless application, says Desarnauts. An advantage that ViaFone delivers, says Ken Smiley, a senior industry analyst at Giga Information Group Inc. in Cambridge, Mass., is that it's technology-agnostic. The company is willing to work with all carriers, all types of connections and all kinds of enterprise systems. Possible Problems One potential pitfall for ViaFone, Smiley says, is that the task of mobilizing enterprise applications is difficult. That's led a lot of potential customers for ViaFone to wait for leading vendors to emerge with a proven product.