Sun Microsystems Deploys Palm Treo Smartphones

Palm today announced that Sun Microsystems has deployed 600 Palm Treo smartphones to its U.S. field services organization for remote and onsite access to Sun's call-management system to better serve Sun customers. Sun tapped Asurion Managed Wireless to provide deployment, rental, inventory management and guaranteed overnight replacement for the Treo smartphones.

Sun, a leading global provider for industrial-strength hardware, software and services, chose Palm's Treo solution after evaluating a variety of wireless data network devices. The Treo smartphone serves as a cell phone, an SMS device for sending instant messages, and -- most important for Sun -- a secure, web-capable device for accessing corporate applications, email and calendar. Sun used its Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) and Micro Edition (J2ME) using Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) technology running on Sun Java System Application Server Enterprise Edition 7 to develop a mobile call-management application that enables real-time communication with the enterprise call-management application, providing its engineers with better access to real-time customer service information.

Workflow changes that deliver a return on investment (ROI) to Sun on this project include the following:

• Lower call volume -- Engineers previously received only partial information on their pagers, so they repeatedly had to call for more customer details. With Treo smartphones, real-time customer information is always at their fingertips, so "callbacks" to the Sun Support Services call center are expected to be reduced by approximately 90 percent.
• More timely updates to service call and repair records -- Engineers previously weren't able to provide real-time updates and closure information. With Treo smartphones, approximately 90 percent of customer service cases are expected to be updated every 72 hours or less.

"The Treo smartphone provides the complete access to real-time customer service case information that our field services community has been asking for," said Kevin Coyne, vice president of Services for Sun Microsystems. "And by consolidating to a single converged wireless device, Sun eliminates extra costs, overlapping services and the need to juggle two-way pagers and cell phones. Asurion's managed wireless program eliminated the capital requirements for the rollout, and provides Sun with the flexibility to upgrade hardware next year to take advantage of future versions of Palm's Treo smartphone."

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