Delivering the Web onto handhelds

Prasanna Raman
New Straits Times
10-21-2002
Delivering the Web onto handhelds
Byline: Prasanna Raman
Edition: Computimes; 2*
Section: Outlook Trends

TRYING to surf a Web site on your personal digital assistant (PDA) or handphone can be frustrating. Slow connection, small screen, and insufficient memory are among the setbacks when reading Web content on handheld devices.

All these frustrations will only end when users can get real-time summarised content specifically tailored to be read on PDAs or mobile phones.
Handisplay (M) Sdn Bhd, a Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) company, is currently working on mobilising content for professionals using PDAs and mobile phones by developing a cross platform application framework that will allow existing applications to run seamlessly on different platforms.

According to its chief technology officer, Shylendra Nathan, content designed for 17-inch monitors, involving graphics and multimedia over high-speed cable and networks cannot be delivered "as is" for PDAs with four-inch screens over slow lines.

"The content needs to be intelligently redesigned for presentation and navigation on small screens and low speed wireless networks, and that is what we're working on," he says.

Although presently, Internet content can be viewed on mobile devices, to view the same content on a PDA as on a personal computer (PC), a user has to synchronise his PDA with his PC. "Synchronising requires substantial set-up, and users don't get real-time information."

As the availability of such PDA accessible and viewable sites is limited by the prohibitive costs of setting up such sites, Shylendra says what Handisplay will be able to deliver to consumers should be useful for those who need information on-the-fly. He says although similar research efforts are being undertaken around the world, Handisplay will be able to deliver a completed product. Handisplay, he adds, will be the first Malaysian company to offer this service in the rollout next year.

According to Shylendra, the product and service that Handisplay plans to offer will be based on patented proprietary technology licensed from and developed with its US-based parent company and shareholder, BCL Technologies. The company, he says, plans to develop three products and services to specifically cater to the mobile personal portal, the mobile corporate portal, and the mobile enterprise portal.

"The mobile personal portal is designed to allow small intranet sites to make their sites mobile, and will permit a mobile professional to access his PC from his PDA at remote locations. The PDA will allow secure access to files and peripherals through a Web- based thin client," he explains.

The mobile corporate portal, on the other hand, will be aimed at mobilising content on the corporate intranet. "It is designed for medium- sized Web sites that wish to have control over their Web sites and have more security available with hosting their own system," Shylendra says.

He adds that using the corporate portal, a corporation's mobile workforce will be able to use a PDA connected through a wireless network to access information on their corporate network. "Functions will include accessing corporate databases, Web services, and document repositories."

As for the mobile enterprise portal, which will be an enterprise system, Shylendra says it will be configured as a service for large Web sites with high traffic, uptime and reliability requirements. "The capabilities of the hosting system for such a mobile service provider portal will be the same as the mobile corporate portal."

As for the processes involved in mobilising the content, he says Handisplay uses natural language-processing techniques such as content transformation and summarisation, and artificial intelligence transmission to make the content portable to handheld devices.

With a team of five local software engineers who are fast learners, Shylendra says the company is on track towards finalising its solutions. "We will need more resources when we start rolling out our services. We hope to grow to 40 employees by the end of next year," he adds.

Its other immediate plan is to work on mobilising dynamic content. Presently, the company has succeeded in making static content portable.

Handisplay is 45 per cent owned by BCL Technologies and 55 per cent owned by its Malaysian partners. Handisplay's acting chief executive officer is US-based Hassan Alam, who is also chairman and CEO of BCL Technologies.

Illustrations/Photos:
Shylendra: Information tailored for PDA.; Valuable resource:
Shylendra (wearing a tie) and his team of software engineers.

(Copyright 2002)