iAnywhere Revs Wireless Tools

Sybase Inc. subsidiary iAnywhere Solutions Inc. last week introduced a family of wireless e-mail products for desktop and server environments.

The Pylon family leverages technology Sybase gained when it acquired wireless communications company AvantGo Inc. in February. “This is really the first step toward the integration of the two product lines,” said Diana Ungersma, senior product manager at iAnywhere, in Dublin, Calif.

The new products on the desktop side include the latest versions of Pylon Conduit and Pylon Pro. Pylon Conduit extends IBM Lotus Software Divisions Notes e-mail, contact, calendar and expense report data to mobile devices. Pylon Pro includes the same capabilities, plus support for databases and other applications. The new versions include the ability to view attachments on PalmSource Inc.s Palm OS and Microsoft Corp.s Pocket PC devices. For Pocket PC devices, the synchronization speed is twice as fast as with previous products, Ungersma said.

New on the server side is Pylon Anywhere, which combines Mail Anywhere Studio and Pylon PIM Server and adds new wireless features courtesy of AvantGo. These include instant access to e-mail via alerts, periodic automatic wireless synchronization and push, depending on what the device supports. The software, which works with Lotus Notes and Microsofts Exchange platform, also supports attachments and lets users preview e-mail during synchronization.

The products are available now. They are priced on a per-user licensing basis, and prices vary according to the volume of licenses.

Microsoft and Lotus are working to integrate wireless capabilities with their platforms, but analysts say there is still a place for third-party software such as that from iAnywhere.