With the release of a Workgroup edition of its Sproqit direct access mobile solution, Sproqit Technologies believes it is now well placed to help businesses and operators crack the mobile enterprise applications market wide open with its thin client architecture.
Peter Mansour, CEO, tells Keith Dyer how enterprises can “Sproqitise” their applications to give them safe and secure access to applications behind the firewall from any remote device.
Mobile Europe:
Peter, perhaps you could tell us what Sproqit does and what it has developed?
Peter Mansour:
Sproqit has built an underlying architecture which allows its users to deploy any application on any device, from a set top box to smartphone or a PDA. We are now selling that and have a support for Outlook now, with Lotus and other applications to come in the fall. We will also have a Software Development Kit (SDK) which will allow users to Sproqitise their other applications, with a whole range of plug-ins.
ME:
Your system is based on a thin client architecture, which sets up a direct connection between a device and the actual desktop application. What are the benefits of such an approach compared to other methods of mobilising enterprise applications?
PM:
The chief difference is that our system was created to be a direct connection. Most of the current architectures for the wireless industry are store and forward. For example, with Blackberry all messages are sent to their massive data center in Canada and then back to the device. That makes it very expensive to run. Sproqit Workgroup Edition has no per user monthly fee because we do not need to support that kind of overhead. Also, if an enterprise doesn’t need another data plan, you can use Sproqit on your existing wireless data plan with your provider.
The second thing is security. Companies don’t want to send application information and data from behind their firewall to a data center in a different country.
The third thing is that adding applications is easy. When the SDK becomes available, it will allow developers to work in the Win32 environment, which they know well. They can write a thin translation layer for their existing application or database that provides the client data for display when requested. This layer can be integrated in the application code, or it could be a separate piece that utilises the application. Either way, the rest of the job—navigating the firewall, connecting to the client, intelligently streaming the data, caching data and processing user interactions while offline—is handled by the Sproqit platform.
ME:
There may be some security qualms over maintaining direct access to a back office connection over a Wireless LAN or wide area cellular connection.
PM:
Anything that’s in an email is going over a network. However there are two kinds of encryption. In the first, for example, a Blackberry encrypts the message itself on behalf of the user. That message is then sent to a data center outside of the corporate firewall. The second is the VPN model, used by Sproqit, with a 128kbit encrypted link from one end to the other, and in that way the message is not left “out there”.
ME:
You also sell your product independently of the wireless operators. Indeed, you make a virtue of that independence
PM:
RIM were a pager company, don’t forget, and that store-forward method is the way that paging works. All the other wireless email providers have to some extent copied the same solution, which means they are very linked to the carriers.
This makes it difficult for an enterprise to switch provider. We have a very enterprise centric approach. We have just announced a deal with Ingram Micro Europe to coincide with the launch of our Workgroup Edition, and will sign up with other systems integrators and distributors.
That creates value at the enterprise level because their users can get to their folders and messages easily and it requires very little cost to do it.
In fact we are finding that carriers are coming and talking to us, even though we are not taking a very proactive approach to that. But there are a few carriers offering Sproqit, and we don’t mean to be a threat, and in fact will be announcing other deals in the next year. But the thing I disagree with is building an artificial wall. I believe in value and if you offer that, operators will see their data usage go up.
We see ourselves operating a model, working with resellers that have a deeper empathy with the enterprise, in the way that a Siebel, or an Oracle or Microsoft does.
Sproqit really wants to be a software company and not a services company. You can install the software and run it on your network giving the IT department a higher level of confidence in terms of control and security. That will be especially important as other technologies offer more choices of connectivity
ME:
Even so, to take that model to success you need to overcome the perception that for a mobile product a company would be better off speaking to its mobile provider.
PM:
But it’s not as if the company is getting a worse product. They are getting a far better product. The only thing that comes close is Good Technology, but they also fall short. When it comes to adding applications nobody even comes close, because we have built our system from the ground up.
ME:
Of most interest to enterprises will be your release of the Workgroup Edition. What does this particular product bring to the market and for which sectors of the market do you think it will be best suited?
PM:
The solution can support up to 50 people per box, so it will be ideally suited for small businesses or for workgroups within larger businesses. It can be set up and installed quickly. The administrator sets up the accounts, the end user fills in their Windows logon and password and they’re good to go. Other solutions usually require dedicated IT staff to administer and maintain, but smaller organizations typically don’t have those resources on staff.
To get the client on the device you can put it on the network and send an email which the user can click on and install on his client in its cradle or other connection. The Sproqit client is about 300-600 KB, so you can even put it on an SD card and stick it in that way, or I’ve even beamed it to people before.
The cost of the solution will be about US$999 per server, which includes five licenses. Then you can buy one license for $149 or 10 for $999
ME:
So far the mobile enterprise has chiefly been about mobile email, but you say this thin client model is ideally suited to opening up a host of other applications.
PM:
Once you have the ability to manage files remotely through the firewall then you can talk about CRM and Siebel, to Oracle and SQL applications, as well as the more consumer type applications. I also think there is the ability to do some multimedia work, managing music and video files at the more consumer level.
In terms of handset manufacturers and other device developers, you’re going to see Sproqit in a whole slew of devices next year. It’s going to be an ingredient OEM’d in a lot of devices and other software vendors’ mobilisation products, even though it won’t say Sproqit on it, that’s what will be on the inside.
ME:
And you have a patent pending, which should give you some protection going forward.
PM:
We filed our first patent in 2000, and are in the final stages there. We think we have a different architecture which we are just launching now and seeing critical acclaim for. As people try to emulate that, patents will become more and more important.
ME:
Finally, it’s a crowded market, could you sum up why you think the Sproqit vision could win out?
PM:
As we have already discussed, we deliver a lower total cost of ownership over the alternatives available to our target market. Our architecture addresses our market’s security concerns as well, and provides them with the flexibility to rapidly deploy those applications that are most important to them.
How it works: The Four Components of Sproqit
There are four components to the Sproqit solutions:
Sproqit Companion
A thin client that resides on your wireless device. Using native controls, it gives you the feeling of using a locally embedded application.
Sproqit Agent
The agent resides on the desktop or server behind a firewall. The agent allows the user to access and control data and information on their desktop or server.
Sproqit Server
The Sproqit Server accommodates both static and dynamic IP environments, and authenticates transactions between the wireless device and the corporate network.
Sproqit Plug-ins
A thin layer between the native applications and the Sproqit products that allows the user to experience the application as though they were sitting at their desk.
The Allot MobileTrends Report is said to demonstrate that mobile devices did not replace big screen televisions during the World Cup, but rather created a new category where the two operated alongside each other. Mobile devices played a central role in enhancing the viewer’s World Cup experience by offering them additional football and match-related information in real time, and by providing the ability to watch replays at leisure and distribute them virally.
According to the Allot MobileTrends World Cup Report:
- Lunchtime matches showed the largest bandwidth increase with 31%
- Video streaming and P2P increased moderately by 11% and 13% respectively
- Mobile data bandwidth usage experienced a 16% overall increase during post-match mornings
“The World Cup highlights the integral role that mobile devices and mobile broadband have come to play in our busy lives and how consumers use them to enhance their lifestyles by accessing information anytime, anywhere,” said Rami Hadar, President and CEO of Allot Communications. “This global tournament has demonstrated the continued rise of mobile data usage, in particular web and video traffic.”
The Allot MobileTrends World Cup Report data is based on statistics collected from mobile networks around the world representing more than 90 million subscribers. Data was collected during the 2010 FIFA World Cup for 42 individual matches using the long term reporting capabilities of the Allot NetXplorer, Allot’s centralized management and reporting system. The data collected for this report was totally subscriber-anonymous.