Press Room
Palm Aligns with Leading Integrators of Enterprise Handheld Computing Solutions in Australia and Asia Pacific
Palm, Systems Integrators Announce Strategic Initiative to Mobilise Mission-critical Data for Real-time Business
SYDNEY, Jan. 31, 2002 -- Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq: PALM) today
announced a strategic initiative to offer integrated handheld
computing solutions based on the Palm OS® platform to
enterprises in key Asia Pacific markets including Australia.
The initiative, named the Enterprise Alliance Program (EAP),
also is being announced in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan,
and reflects the commitment of 16 systems integrators across
Asia Pacific. In conjunction with their existing systems-integration
competencies, EAP participants will focus on handheld computing
solutions based on the Palm OS platform.
Joining the EAP across Asia Pacific is PwC Consulting. This
reflects the extension to the region of existing global alliance
agreement between Palm and PwC Consulting, and reinforces
Palm's strategy to work on a global basis with the leading
providers of enterprise handheld computing solutions.
"Globally, Palm has been successful in establishing relationships
with leading providers of enterprise handheld computing solutions,"
said Craig Will, vice president, Asia Pacific, Palm, Inc.
"Through the Enterprise Alliance Program, we'll leverage
these relationships in key Asia Pacific markets. We're also
pleased to be announcing the involvement of strong in-country
participants."
"What this means for enterprises in Australia is access
to best-of-breed technology for rapid and cost-effective deployment
of Palm(tm) handheld computing solutions," Mr. Will explained.
EAP participants are expected to benefit from access to value-added
opportunities from Palm, including training, market development
and joint marketing initiatives. Interested enterprises can
locate further information at www.palm.com/au/solutions/enterprise/.
Regional Enterprise Alliance Program Participants
The strength of Palm's relationship with PwC Consulting has
been demonstrated through an award-winning deployment, Palm@Palm,
which gives Palm employees real-time remote access to corporate
email, group and personal calendars, the Internet, and enterprise
applications such as sales and distribution and data warehousing.
Through the EAP, PwC Consulting will help companies in Asia
Pacific integrate their existing enterprise systems with mobile
capabilities. The resulting solutions will enable enterprise
to derive benefit by mobilising knowledge resident in enterprise
applications.
Enterprise Alliance Program Participants in Australia
IBM provides solutions for the mobile computing needs of enterprise
customers across every industry. In Asia Pacific, IBM Global
Services will extend its collaboration with Palm to enhance
consulting and systems integration competencies and develop
business applications for Palm OS platform devices and related
OS based data services. The technology to deliver these solutions
is based on IBM's WebShpere Everyplace Suite, which allows
wireless devices to connect to the web. In addition, IBM's
DB2 Everyplace database, WebSphere MQ products, VisualAge
MicroEdition Java technology and Tivoli Device Manager are
fully enabled to support the Palm OS platform.
Palm and IBM will offer products and services to help enterprises
extend critical information and business applications for
the Mobile Internet, reaching employees, customers and suppliers,
virtually anywhere, at any time. The solutions will provide
companies with the flexibility and convenience to complete
a variety of essential tasks, including logging on to corporate
intranets, referencing databases for information, reading
and sending e-mail, updating calendar information, accessing
automated sales tools and entering orders.
Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE: CSC), is one of the world's
leading consulting and information technology (IT) services
firms. It helps customers in industry and government achieve
strategic and operational objectives through the use of technology.
"Leveraging off our capability in wireless technologies,
applications and business processes, we see our relationship
with Palm here in Australia as key in delivering mobile solutions
- via the Palm platform," said Mike Shove, vice president,
Product and Application Services for CSC in Australia.
Enterprise Solutions
Systems integrators joining the EAP will seek to address the
specific needs of vertical industry segments, and together
with solution providers also will make available broad-based
enterprise handheld computing technology. In turn, Palm will
work alongside EAP participants to assess and meet the needs
of enterprises in Australia.
"Enterprise handheld computing solutions, ranging from
wireless email to mobile e-business, can help companies mobilise
mission-critical data for reduced operational cost, increased
employee productivity and greater customer satisfaction. Companies
in Australia will be in a position to specify an end-to-end
solution that meets their unique needs," Mr. Will stated.
Elements of such a solution may include customer relationship
management, supply-chain management, enterprise portals, and
other "behind-the-firewall" applications. Enterprise
end users can benefit from rapid access to mission-critical
data, such as sales reports, warehouse inventory, maintenance
records and inbound customer email.
Enterprise Leadership
Today's announcement capitalises on Palm's continued worldwide
leadership in the enterprise handheld computing segment. Forward-looking
enterprises in Asia Pacific, including Singapore Mint, Unilever,
Pharmvision, Creative Field Marketing, ING Antai Insurance,
Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department and Jurong Shipyard,
already are realising the benefits of handheld computing solutions
based on the Palm OS platform.
A recent survey of Fortune 1000 companies found that a majority
of the 585 companies that responded selected the Palm OS platform
as a handheld platform of choice for their standards lists
-– 85 percent of the respondents with a handheld standard
have selected the Palm OS platform for their standards list;
70 percent of the respondents with a handheld standard selected
Palm branded devices as their corporate standard; and 57 percent
of the respondents with a handheld standard identified Palm
OS platform devices as their exclusive handheld computer standard.
Palm today also announced in Australia an Enterprise Hardware
Service Program, intended to make it easier and more cost-effective
for enterprises to deploy and support Palm handhelds. (Please
see the press release "Palm Enhances Support Offerings
for Enterprise and SME Deployment of Handhelds in Australia" for full details.)
About Palm, Inc.
Palm, Inc. is a pioneer in the field of mobile and wireless
Internet solutions and a leading provider of handheld computers,
according to IDC (December 2000). Based on the Palm OS®
platform, Palm's handheld solutions allow people to carry
and access their most critical information with them wherever
they go. Palm(TM) handhelds address the needs of individuals,
enterprises and educational institutions through thousands
of application solutions.
The Palm OS platform is also the foundation for products from Palm's licensees and strategic partners, such as Franklin Covey, HandEra (formerly TRG), Handspring, IBM, Kyocera, Sony, and Symbol Technologies. Platform licensees also include Acer, Garmin, Nokia and Samsung. The Palm Economy is a growing global community of industry-leading licensees, world-class OEM customers, and more than 160,000 innovative developers and solution providers that have registered to develop solutions based on the Palm OS platform. Palm went public on March 2, 2000. Its stock is traded on the Nasdaq national market under the symbol PALM. More information is available at www.palm.com
Palm OS is a registered trademark, and Palm is a trademark of Palm, Inc. or its subsidiaries.
