September - 2004 issue > Cover Story

By Karthik Sundaram

There is a video-tape sized carton on a shelf in Dayakar Puskoor’s chambers, showing a generation-old Palm Pilot (as it was called then) wired to a Motorola pager. Puskoor has very fond memories of this technology he soldered together in 1994. “It was among the first indicators of where one could take the PDA—we used the pager as the wireless network router, layered software between the PDA and the pager, and it worked.” The carton that Puskoor shows off fondly packaged the software, and One-Touch Mail sold many thousands of copies over the Internet. While neither device manufacturers were interested in taking the concept forward, Puskoor’s startup, JP Systems (which was then rechristened JP Mobile) attracted the attention of the NYSE, no less. “The mandate for responding to a trade enquiry is less than 24 seconds,” reveals Dennis Palone, Director of Database & Network Management, Trading Services, NYSE, “and mobility in this environment could help the traders meet the mandate.” NYSE was punishing in its tests and requirements, but Puskoor and Ananth Rao —the other co-founder and executive vice president—pulled off a magnificent victory. “We have matched the exchange’s requirement that our software not fail for more than 10 minutes in 10 years!,” beams Rao. So much so, NYSE’s business was large enough for the duo to seed its next evolution in the wireless software space. “We have remained focused on being a software company, and it has worked well,” recalls Puskoor, who has been recognized by the White House as an expert in the mobility space.

Today, Puskoor’s table is laden with mobile handsets from every manufacturer, that keep pinging every so often, notifying incoming emails. Puskoor’s decade-long pioneering in developing a device-neutral middle layer for wireless email, data and application delivery has paid off richly. JP Mobile’s current product offer: the SureWave group of tools and security mechanisms is now deployed in almost all handsets that can handle email—Palm, Windows Mobile Pocket PC, Symbian, RIM, WAP access and so on—and is pushing email from behind the enterprise firewall. What is the difference, you may ask?

If you own a Blackberry, what you don’t realize is that firstly your email becomes device dependent—you need the Blackberry device to browse your email. Second, when your Blackberry pushes email—coming in to you or going from your device—the transfer is routed through the RIM servers in Canada. Aaah!, you say. You didn’t realize that. This routing comes with its own security issues, device content issues, software and device costs, and so on. Remember that nasty incident when a senior executive left a leading Wall Street firm and put up his Blackberry on EBay? As the content on his device was not secure, it was available for misuse. At a higher level, the carrier has to support the RIM platform, and not many do it. Consider the market figures—out of the 50m installed mobile devices, barely 2.5m have used or deployed push email.

JP Mobile has worked around these vulnarability issues and comes across strongly as a data-secured, device-neutral, middle layer “glue” that deliver end-to-end encryption, while reducing the total cost of ownership to the carrier, customer, and the enterprise. Recently, Cincinnati Bell Inc. [NYSE:CBB] announced the introduction of an array of wireless devices that allow on-the-go business professionals to seamlessly connect wirelessly. Cincinnati Bell’s Mobile Office with JP Mobile SureWave Enterprise Server (SES) brings a suite of services to the mobile professional that encompasses voice tools, Internet/Intranet access, personal information management, email and other customized solutions to the latest devices. Business customers can select the Treo 600 smartphone from palmOne, Blackberry 7210 or Nokia 3600 devices based on the needs of their employees to efficiently access email and corporate data, receive on-demand information and make voice calls.

“Our business customers have some common needs for their mobile workers that include affordable and consistent access to email, and their corporate intranet - but they enjoy choice when it comes to operating system, functionality, and device form factor,” says Dave Korb, vice president and general manager for business markets at Cincinnati Bell. Says Leo Chan, Senior Product Manager at Cincinnati Bell, “JP Mobile’s SureWave Enterprise Server is one of the most mature products in the industry today and the team was very quick in meeting our feature spec changes, as we went along in the testing and due diligence process.”

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