PalmSource Licenses Palm OS to PerComm

Posted By: Ryan Sunday, November 16, 2003 6:38:08 PM

PalmSource today announced that PerComm, a leading manufacturer of ReFLEX messaging devices, has licensed the Palm OS platform. Through the agreement, PerComm plans to integrate Palm OS 5 to create new smart mobile devices that operate on wireless networks including ReFLEX, GSM and CDMA.

Combining PerComm's manufacturing and networking expertise with the flexible and powerful Palm OS 5 will enable the development and deployment of Palm Powered smart mobile devices for the enterprise market. As a result, enterprise customers will gain reliable, secure wireless access to email and corporate data while on-the-go and the ability to customize their device with one of the largest catalogs of Palm OS applications to manage their professional and personal lives.

"We believe the power and flexibility of Palm OS 5 will enable our development of powerful smart mobile devices that enhance personal organization and professional productivity," said Edmond K. Fung, president and CEO of PerComm. "We expect that partnering with PalmSource will open up new market opportunities and expand our current product offerings to include feature phones on the GSM network, while encouraging the development of new software applications."

"We are pleased to welcome PerComm to the diverse community of Palm Powered licensees," said David Nagel, president and chief executive officer of PalmSource. "We believe PerComm's expertise in the communicator space will strengthen the Palm OS platform's presence in the wireless market and increase penetration of Palm Powered devices in the enterprise."

Palm OS provides a flexible and efficient platform that enables hardware manufacturers and software developers to rapidly and efficiently create a wide range of powerful, innovative and easy-to-use smart mobile devices and software applications. More than 30 million Palm Powered handhelds and smartphones have been sold to date and Palm OS has attracted a large and loyal following with more than 275,000 developers building applications for Palm Powered smart mobile devices.

About PerComm
PerComm Inc., a leading manufacturer of ReFLEX advanced messaging devices and FLEX and POCSAG 1way devices, is a privately held Massachusetts company. In addition to the wireless messaging devices, PerComm also develops the OmniData(TM) telemetry module; the GPS network assist location and asset tracking device; and licenses the ReFLEX Reference Design & Chipset.

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Cool.

Strider_mt2k @ 11/17/2003 7:44:48 PM #

The more the merrier I say.
I'll be interested to see what they come out with.

RE: Cool.

RhinoSteve @ 11/17/2003 8:33:48 PM #

My big question is how are they going to implement the ReFlex transport in the Palm OS. Exchange manager?

RE: Cool.

bcombee @ 11/18/2003 2:17:44 AM #

I would hope that ReFlex support would be based on Exchange Manager, probably using a similar model to the current SMS support in the OS.

I saw HuneTec's presentation on ReFlex and Palm OS back at the May 2003 dev conference, and their method of integration was very, very complex. Of course, we've not seen their device show up yet, even after going through a spec change that boosted the screen to 320x320 and gave it an ARM processor.

What happened to Hunetec?

gfunkmagic @ 11/18/2003 2:34:08 AM #

Since you mentioned it, what happened to them? Last I recall they were developing their H500 handheld for Weblink Wireless and then they pulled it to add a better screen and proc as you mentioned. But, that was some time ago?

Anyway, I'ld like to see how these ReFlex devices fair in the market when compared to other GSM/GPRS or CDMA2000 enabled devices...

Visit http://goodthatway.com/
-better living through better technology.

RE: Cool.

hkklife @ 11/18/2003 9:21:36 AM #

Any additional CMDA-enabled Palm OS devices in the channel, regardless of their target audience or formfactor, can only be a welcome addition. I'm stuck on Verizon and sick of seeing all of the cool new hybrids going to (mostly) GSM markets. I wonder what the timefram for the release of something by PerComm will be?

RE: Cool.

Token User @ 11/18/2003 1:15:13 PM #

ReFlex networks tend to charge high per-byte data rates, although WebLink has been building out pretty significantly. I think this may have some potential in embedded telemetry and the "blackberry" market, especially in areas where cell phones can't be used or have poor signals.This is precisely the reason Doctors carry pagers - the signals for ReFLEX technolgy have far better physical penetration in buildings. The T|W, Treo, Kyo, Samsung,etc models were all touted as "Blackberry Killers", but it was the always on aspect that truly defines the (older) Blackberry models. PerComm will be an interesting product to keep your eye on ...

My "informal, non-scientific, not at all based in fact" market analysis predicts that PerComm would mae two models - a high end, always on communication device that uses CDMA/GSM (per the carrier), and ReFLEX technology, and a lowend "Zire 21" type clamshell model that is an intelligent 2way pager - OK, for IM, and limited email. Both have a target audience. Interesting times.

~ "Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed." - DV ~

Yawn.

orb2069 @ 11/19/2003 11:25:27 AM #

.This is precisely the reason Doctors carry pagers - the signals for ReFLEX technolgy have far better physical penetration in buildings.

FLEX dosen't have signifigantly better penetration - It's just a lot easier/cheaper to deploy high-powered signal towers for pagers, and the FLEX protocol supports specific message identifiers - So, if the provider configures for it, the system will transparently resend the message, and if your pager has already recieved the message, it will ignore it.

If anybody's interested, POCSAG is an antique paging protocol that was buried at a crossroad with a stake through it's heart by FLEX in the mid 80's.

Personally, with RIM's market share eroding while their machines become more PDA-esque, I don't see a lot of room in the market for this company's offering, particularly with the Sidekick standing in the wings.

I'll be interested in seeing how they implemnt, though - Most of the PDA-based pagers I've seen so far have relied heavily on the PDA CPU - Keeping it from sleeping most of the time, and consequently slaughtering the battery life of the PDA in the process. (I had a FLEX Alphanum pager card for my PPPro that would actually eat a pair of AAA batteries in three days.)

If this was an announcement from Motorola(The inventors of the Re/FLEX protocol, IIRC), I'd be more interested, but this really looks like another Fossil-style abort-before-market thing.

RE: Yawn

zang @ 11/21/2003 3:53:23 PM #

How can you say that FLEX systems have no better building penetration? Than what? FLEX simulcasts at an ERP of about 250-1000W per channel and would usually have 4-5 transmitters within range of, say, a hospital within a coverage region. At 6400 bit/s, that's a net energy per bit of around 0.5Joules. A GSM system at about 200kbit/s and 50W ERP is putting out about 250microJoules per bit, which is lower by 30dB. If you also work out that the receiver noise is proportional to bandwidth, then that's a noise energy per bit advantage to FLEX of about 10log(200/6.4)=15dB for a net SNR gain of 45dB.

If you don't think 45dB SNR gain means something for building penetration, then you're missing an important point. The same thing applies for ReFLEX on the reverse channel. In a typical scenario, each ReFLEX site will have a local 2path diversity receiver, and as many as 4-6 sites will all be able to pick up the mobile device's signal on a fragment by fragment basis. That's say 12 branch diversity.

And by the way, it's not thoroughly inexpensive to operate networks like this.

Someone got Beyotch Slapped

Hippocrates @ 11/21/2003 10:55:10 PM #

BOOM!

Looks like someone just got owned by engineer zang.

zang: "Bring it on Mo Fo! You want a piece of me!"

orb2069: "No good Sir! I'm sorry I opened my mouth. Please Beyotch Slap me again!"

RE: Cool.

mikecane @ 11/22/2003 10:54:03 AM #

Another scintillating, intelligent and very observant comment from PIC's soon-to-be-exiled Jester, Mr. Hippo.

Man, why don't you get away from the PC for a few months and lose all that weight? And wash that damned greasy body of yours too!

RE: Cool.

Hippocrates @ 11/22/2003 12:41:40 PM #

And wash that damned greasy body of yours too!
- Michelle "Beyotch" Cane

What do you think your mommy does every night? Ask her.
You're such a predictible little Beyotch, Michelle. Try to lighten up a little before you get hurt. Or someone straps you up and injects you full of Haldol for your illness.

RE: Cool.

mikecane @ 11/22/2003 1:11:30 PM #

Please. If you are EVER in NYC (not that we'd have you), and you are told I am nearby, come and introduce yourself. PLEASE! Be sure you use the handle you use here (as if you know the first thing of the man aside from what you Googled).

RE: Cool.

Hippocrates @ 11/22/2003 1:19:21 PM #

What newsstand do you work at? Post the intersection and I'll drop by next month when I'm in town.

If you like, I could give you one of my old Palms so you at least have a PDA to use. Let me know if you want one.

RE: Cool.

mikecane @ 11/22/2003 1:23:07 PM #

What are you going to be in town for? To see your Parole Officer?

RE: Cool.

Hippocrates @ 11/22/2003 1:28:48 PM #

No, my company is flying me out to give a seminar for the employees at our New York office.

look for me, I will stand out. I'm the bigest asshole in town!

What part of the city is your newsstand in?

Clarification?

orb2069 @ 11/23/2003 7:14:04 PM #

You: How can you say that FLEX systems have no better building penetration?

Apparently I was insufficiently clear - What I ment was, the frequency they use (Which IIRC is in the same band as the older POCSAG transmitters) dosen't have any better penetration than the previous systems.

You're right, of course, that the heavier deployment (...It's just a lot easier/cheaper to deploy high-powered signal towers...) and redundancy of FLEX systems (...FLEX protocol supports specific message identifiers...) does mean that more messages get through

But on a same-transmission-frequency and power basis, any given signal (What I would mean by 'Signal penetration') is not more likely to get through.

Sorry I wasen't clearer.

RE: Cool.

zang @ 11/25/2003 11:54:23 AM #

Not to belabor the point too much, but in the particular case of the Percomm e80, operation will be at the FCC licensed Narrowband PCS frequencies at around 940MHz on the forward channel and 901MHz on the reverse. Some operators will also likely use 929MHz on the forward channel in some locations. I'm not saying that there's no POCSAG on these bands, but there's not much. Also, most of the infrastructure in the US that transmits was installed to support NPCS with very specialized requirements for group delay, multi-level modulation, and so on. Antenna systems, power levels, management of simulcast delay spread, and a variety of other technical factors differentiate the methods for transmitting ReFLEX from POCSAG.

I'll allow that frequency is a factor in VHF/UHF propagation. But the marginal change in going from, say 840MHz for cellular to 940MHz for ReFLEX does not amount to a significant difference given the other effects in UHF props. There is more likely to be a significant difference in contrasting 900MHz and 1800MHz operation for NPCS and broadband PCS, with the advantage going to NPCS. This has more to do with path loss over open terrain than it does with propagation through building walls or internal scattering or absorption within the building structure and contents.

I return to my original points: the most significant differences between NPCS and digital cellular or broadband PCS vis a vis building penetration are as follows:
1. NPCS simulcasts at higher power than alternatives, yielding more aggregate power per bit.
2. NPCS bit times are longer, yielding more energy per bit than alternatives, energy being power x time.
3. NPCS bandwidths are lower, yielding less noise energy per bit, since noise power is proportional to noise bandwidth.
4. NPCS has a typical channel diversity of about 5-6 branches on the forward channel and twice that on the reverse channel.
The combination of the first 3 factors goes to the "contrast ratio" or expected Eb/No (signal energy per bit versus noise energy per bit), which like I said before may be 45dB or more in favor of NPCS. The fourth factor is harder to explain, but makes the NPCS channel look more like a non-fading wireline link as opposed to the Rayleigh fading link typical of digital cellular or broadband PCS.
This piece of the puzzle implies that NPCS has to give up far less of its total bandwidth to channel error coding and packet retransmissions than alternatives. It is not unusual for broadband channels to achieve less than 25% of user bandwidth to total bandwidth after rate 1/4 convolutional encoding, and block error check codes, and source and destination addressing, and retries, and ...

Problem is, people think paging is old technology. That's not true. The paging sector spends more of its money on networks than on marketing. I suppose that's boring.... ReFLEX is actually a packet data system optimized for device battery consumption.

Oh, did I mention how little battery consumption a ReFLEX mobile has relative to the alternatives?