Sun Microsystems has agreed to acquire Pixo, a developer
of mobile content distribution management software.
Pixo's products are typically used by carriers to secure
distribution and manage billing of downloadable ringtones,
screensavers and Java games for mobile phones, but Sun sees the
same technology being useful in the enterprise, for example to
control distribution of catalogue updates to mobile sales
staff.
Pixo will become part of Sun's software division and its Mobile
Download Server product part of Sun's Project Orion software stack,
according to Eric Chu, director, J2ME Platform, in Sun's Software
Systems Group.
Project Orion will provide quarterly updates of Sun's key
enterprise software products, including its Sun One (Open Net
Environment) Web Server, Application Server and server management
products and its Solaris operating system.
"The initial market is focused on wireless carriers and people
delivering content to mobile users, but we are also looking at
selling to enterprise customers," said Jennifer Hom, Sun's J2ME
Platform marketing manager.
Wireless carriers and enterprise customers will be interested in
the products for different reasons, according to Chu. "The
enterprise may not care about the billing, but they might care
about the applications that have been downloaded, and this product
could, dramatically, simplify provisioning of applications."
Applying Pixo's content download management technology to
enterprise problems is an intuitive move, according to John
Jackson, a wireless technologies analyst with The Yankee Group in
Boston.
"It's a very powerful tool for certain enterprise applications,
including sales force automation," he said.
Sun's Chu saw a market for downloadable content not just in
mobile phones but also in vehicles, digital set-top boxes and home
audio equipment. "We decided it would be important, not just for
mobile but [for] other devices with a digital heartbeat," Chu
said.
Sun must bring these disparate markets together under one
umbrella if it is to see J2ME (Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition)
develop, said Jackson. "This acquisition gives Sun a more holistic
offering and more control over the environment. It positions them
more favourably towards operators."
Pixo's software is already used by a number of carriers, Chu
said, including Vodafone and Bell Mobility, the wireless subsidiary
of BCE of Montréal.
Sun will complete the all-cash transaction in the third quarter
of this year, Chu said. He did not disclose the value of the
deal.
Pixo's rivals include Mobilitec; Openwave Systems, which
acquired Java application download management technology from
Ellipsus Systems in 2002, and Motorola, which acquired software
developer 4thpass last September.
Although the Pixo acquisition will give Sun a much-needed boost
in this field, it comes none too soon, according to Jackson. "I
think you will also see 4thpass gathering considerable momentum
over the next couple of months," he said.
Peter Sayer writes for IDG News Service