KnowNow Pushes PDA

KnowNow, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Internet-solutions provider, recently added LivePDA, a publish-and-subscribe mobile device, to the Wall Street wireless world.

The mobile device is an extension of the vendor's Event Routing Platform, which delivers information between distributed applications, desktops and services across the Internet. Using Microsoft Pocket PC, LivePDA enables continuous connectivity to the platform's real-time information.

Adam Rifkin, founder of KnowNow, describes the publish-and-subscribe methodology that the vendor uses. "The Web has become ubiquitous. It supports the request/response metaphor where it goes and fetches pages," he says. "We're still using Web protocol, but instead we're allowing the server to send information to the client whenever it becomes available."

Rifkin says that many of his financial customers were requesting the platform in a wireless device, negating the often-heard phrase, "Wireless is dead."

"The problem with handhelds is that in order to be effective, they must be integrated into an application," he explains, adding that it also integrates into other applications on the KnowNow platform in real time.

In addition, Rifkin says, LivePDA can serve as an enterprise-integration tool, enabling connectivity through an additional channel.

LivePDA's features include an application-programming interface, auto-synchronization for disconnected network use, enterprise connectivity, end-to-end security, and Web operation through firewalls.

The device is currently available, and is priced at $15,000 per CPU.