Wireless evolves to B2B document dispatch

Wireless software maker EvolutionB is launching its Wap document dispatch service as part of its wireless business-to-business portfolio that aims to target service providers and enterprise markets.

Wireless software maker EvolutionB is launching its Wap document dispatch service as part of its wireless business-to-business portfolio that aims to target service providers and enterprise markets.

Document dispatch offers users the ability to request documents to be sent from a central company network to a fax machine anywhere in the world.

Despite some negative attitudes towards Wap from industry observers, vendors are now acknowledging its value for mobile workers by developing Wap applications for business.

Akio Tanaka, president and chief strategist at EvolutionB, said: "We know a lot of people are very disappointed with Wap. The problem is people have promised more than Wap can deliver." Tanaka believes the new offering adds business benefits to the technology.

He said that many of the problems associated with Wap are due to the size of the screen on the handsets, as well as its limited bandwidth. However, document dispatch is an application that does not rely on the display of text or images.

Alex Kennedy, director of European sales at EvolutionB, said that 90 per cent of sales will go through the channel, and the company is actively looking for new reseller partners.

"We will work not only with resellers that value the opportunities now available, but also those who will build applications and plug them into our non-proprietary platform to create new solutions," he said.

EvolutionB is not alone in its offering. Other vendors are also adding new capabilities. Martin Williamson, a consultant for Attatchmate, believes that document dispatch can be added easily to the company's own WAPFrame back-office integration system.

"We can provide this type of [document dispatch] application today. Once the message is passed to the server, we can do whatever is needed with the bespoke content," he said.