BEA Systems showed off a prototype technology that aims
to extend the familiar web browser and make it a more useful tool
for people working on a laptop or handheld computer with only
occasional internet connectivity.
The goal is to create a "universal client platform" that will
allow mobile workers to get as much use from their applications
when they are travelling as they would when they have a permanent
connection to the internet, said BEA chief architect Adam Bosworth
at BEA's eWorld conference.
The technology, known as Alchemy, extends the idea of a web
browser by adding an additional memory cache for fetching and
storing information that a user might want to view offline. It also
includes a server component that handles synchronisation requests
from clients and can tap into other sources of data to complete
transactions.
BEA has been working with several industry partners to develop
Alchemy, including Nokia and Intel. It will draw from existing
standards as much as possible, including XML-based technologies
such as XQuery, and when Alchemy is complete it will be made
available on an open-source basis.
BEA is not aiming to supplant Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web
browser. Instead, the technology is likely to come in the form of a
plug-in for existing browsers, said Erik Frieberg, a senior
director of product marketing with BEA.
Bosworth did not offer a time frame for when Alchemy might find
its way into product form, but suggested that work remains to be
done.
"It's not a product, it's a concept. We've proved to ourselves
that this is a doable task," he said.
Besides making workers on the road more productive, Alchemy
could help businesses cut costs by allowing them to develop an
application once that could be delivered to all types of clients,
Bosworth said. The server component of Alchemy includes templates
that would tailor the application for the type of device being
used.
Several suppliers already offer client and server software for
deploying applications to mobile devices. Sybase's iAnywhere
division is viewed by many analysts as the market leader, and also
promises to let companies develop an application once and deploy it
to multiple devices.
While Alchemy may overlap with some products already available,
its breakthrough may be that it proposes a standard for the caching
architecture that could be shared by other suppliers. Most, if not
all, existing products use proprietary cache technologies, said
Shawn Willet, principal analyst with Current Analysis.
Application interfaces for Alchemy are built with simple HTML
tools such as Macromedia Dreamweaver and Microsoft's FrontPage,
meaning developers would not need to learn much in the way of new
skills, Bosworth said.
Alchemy users could go out and "prefetch" data before going
offline, meaning an application could download the latest
information about customers, for example, and store it in the
cache. It could also be set to synchronise automatically whenever a
network connection becomes available.
Bosworth is something of a guru in the world of XML and web
services. Like some of BEA's other top engineers he spent time
working at Microsoft, where he played a big role in its XML
strategy in the late 1990s. He also oversaw the development of
Microsoft's Access PC database and the HTML engine for Internet
Explorer.
He was largely responsible for WebLogic Workshop, BEA's
development environment which mimics the visual, ease of use
features of Microsoft's Visual Studio.
Meanwhile, BEA yesterday released the WebLogic Control Pack, a
set of "controls" for its Workshop developer environment that are
supposed to make it quick and easy for developers to build
applications that tap into web services functions offered by
Amazon.com, eBay, eBay's PayPal service, FedEx, Google and United
Parcel Service.
They are available now at BEA's dev2dev portal. BEA is also
sponsoring an open-source community at
http://www.codehaus.org where
developers can exchange Workshop controls.
James Niccolai writes for IDG News
Service