Web application integration
Perhaps the most powerful aspect of the AvantGo.com service is its ability to integrate with existing Web applications running on Microsoft Active Server pages, CGI and remote databases using ODBC. For example, you could have a form-based application on a Web server that requires users to key in information to update or query a database (good examples of this are Slashdot.com, FedEx, and ZD Interactive Investor). By using a Palm organizer with an optimized version of the form for an AvantGo channel, you can submit data into the form and later update the server by syncing the device into a cradle or initiating a wireless network connection with a cellular modem. The StockSmart and Bloomberg channels, for example, use this method when users track their stock portfolios, as shown in Figure G.

FIGURE G

Here's a snapshot of the portfolio I'm tracking on my Palm device.

If you intend to deploy an internal enterprise application in this way, you'll want to consider shelling out $30,000 for AvantGo Server 2.11, which is AvantGo's commercial offering for corporate use that runs on Windows NT.

Better than PQF?
Personally, I think that AvantGo.com's open HTML 3.2 technology is the real "killer app" for Palm devices, not the PQF technology in Palm VII. Hopefully we'll see less clunky wireless TCP/IP options for the Palm IIIx and Palm V (as well of the debut of the Qualcomm PDQ 800) that will be competitive in service price. Sorry 3Com, 150 kilobytes a month for $25.00 doesn't cut it. If so, we'll see a real explosion in wireless PDA usage.

Jason Perlow is a systems integrator, freelance writer and Contributing Editor with PalmPower. He can be reached via email address of perlow@hotmail.com.