M-Business Anywhere, part of the Sybase Information Anywhere platform, is designed to enable enterprises in implementing Web-standards based applications for mobile devices, laptops, and tablets. As a result, Web developers can use their existing skills to implement fully interactive applications across a range of devices. The product consists of a back-end server and device client. It is the device client that is now available for S60 devices.

While the M-Business Anywhere client utilizes Web-standards for application development, it extends the Web browser paradigm by enabling on-device data storage. This allows applications to be available to their user regardless of the availability of a network connection. In addition, it also allows applications to interact with the enterprise back-end through an always-on wireless connection or using a sync-and-go utility for off-line use.

"M-Business Anywhere shields the enterprise from the complexity of developing for the many mobile platforms available today," says Yadong. "This complexity and the support involved has, in my view, hindered the adoption of Symbian devices in the enterprise." In addition to reducing the complexity of development, Yadong points out that the M-Business Anywhere client also means applications are presented in a consistent way to users regardless of the device they are using. This offers the enterprise added advantages in minimizing training and support costs.

While supporting native Symbian development creates complexity, Yadong notes that not supporting Symbian devices at all is creating other complexities and challenges for Sybase's enterprise customers. "The enterprise support for Symbian contrasts with the consumer market, where we seeing an advanced and well developed market for consumer applications," says Yadong, who gives Nokia Software Market as an example. "Many business people therefore know the Symbian OS from the phones they are buying. In addition, they are buying consumer applications to perform some of their business tasks. This is a new challenge for the enterprise, how to manage the enterprise data stored on these devices. A typical scenario might be a user who has downloaded a third-party expense tracker application. They are carrying enterprise data on their Symbian phone and there is no way to integrate it with the back-end. I believe the introducing of M-Business Anywhere for Symbian will allow our developers to deploy existing applications or create new innovative ones that bridge this gap."

This user driven adoption of Symbian devices in the enterprise may explain why, when providing an example of the type of device M-Business Anywhere will run on, Yadong mentioned the Nokia N73, in addition to the enterprise orientated Eseries devices.

For Web developers the M-Business Anywhere client supports HTML, DOM, CCS, and Javascript. This enables dynamic manipulation of the application's presentation on the device (in a similar way to Ajax Web based applications). In addition to the off-line data storage capability, the M-Business Anywhere client also offers the Portable Object Delivery System (PODS) API. This technology allows developers to create plug-ins that offer device-specific feature integration with M-Business Anywhere applications through Javascript. It is this technology that has been used to develop the GPS and camera interaction for Windows Mobile and laptops in the Mobile Inspection Toolkit, which was announced concurrently with Symbian support. "In the future it is possible, either on our own initiative or in collaboration with our developer community, that PODS extensions might become available for Symbian devices to access the camera, GPS, or the Bluetooth stack to connect with a portable printer," says Yadong. "And because the plug-ins functionality can be accessed through Javascript we continue to shield the enterprise developer from the complexities of individual platforms."

Initial Symbian support in is for S60 3rd Edition. "We have made a commitment to our customers that we will support a wide range of mobile devices in M-Business Anywhere," says Yadong. "And our customers are telling us that S60 is a very important platform for them now and for the foreseeable future."

The release of M-Business Anywhere for S60 speaks to both the challenges and successes of Symbian devices in penetrating the enterprise. On the one hand adoption by the enterprise is as much a consequence of user adoption of Symbian devices as it is any planned implementation. On the other hand, however, the growing use of Symbian devices by enterprise users is driving the desire for tools that will allow the strategic use of Symbian devices.

The introduction of M-Business Anywhere for S60, at least for Sybase's enterprise customers, removes a significant barrier to use of Symbian devices within the enterprise, largely leveling the development effort "playing field". This will allow enterprises the flexibility to choose devices for their features rather being limited by the available platform development resources.

More information on M-Business Anywhere can be found on the product page . Developers interested in exploring the products features can download a free Developer Edition of M-Business Anywhere at www.ianywhere.com/mbusiness_download.