Breakaway Solutions, an application service provider with infrastructure, hosted software and professional services products, is adding another component to its repertoire -- it's going mobile.

This week Breakaway announced an alliance with iConverse, a wireless software maker that integrates enterprise applications using a platform that is based on open technology such as XML and Java.

Using the iConverse platform users can quickly migrate applications into a wireless environment that can be accessed by myriad mobile devices, says Niraj Jetly, practice director of mBusiness Solutions for Breakaway.

"We can do one-time development, and all the devices you can think of . . . are supported," he says.

Ron Matros, CEO of iConverse, says applications are modified using drag-and-drop technology that lets users preview how the application will appear on different devices and alter them as they choose.

Jetly says Breakaway is adding the mobile service because it believes Palms, Wireless Application Protocol-enabled mobile phones and handheld computer users will need to access corporate apps.

Art Williams, an analyst with Giga Information Group, says while the wireless market isn't growing as quickly in the U.S. as it is in Europe and Asia, he agrees users may want to access messaging applications such as e-mail while on the go.

"Breakaway is ahead of the curve on this," he says.

The ASP Industry Consortium, meanwhile, has formed a wireless subcommittee to focus on the mobile issue. Jim O'Reilly, the consortium's spokesman, says the wireless ASP market is expected to grow to more than $3 billion in the next few years.

He notes, however, that the subcommittee is based in Europe, where the wireless industry is leaps and bounds ahead of the U.S.

Breakaway Solutions: www.breakawaysolutions.com; iConverse: www.iconverse.com; ASP Industry Consortium: www.aspindustry.org.

» posted by ITworld staff

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