Psion and Citrix to offer Windows through Epoc handheld

Psion is joining forces with Citrix to give users access to Windows through an Epoc operating system based palmtop PC.

Psion is joining forces with Citrix to give users access to Windows through an Epoc operating system based palmtop PC.

At CeBIT last week, Psion and Citrix demonstrated the first implementation of Citrix's Independent Computing Architecture (ICA) embedded in Psion's Epoc hand-held PC.

The companies said the alliance will allow users a voice to access Windows and a range of other business applications on all of Psion's mobile computing devices.

The technology will remove the need for users to synchronise data between computing devices as they change their location. It also allows any application, such as Windows, to be accessed through a single device.

Citrix's NFuse enables applications to be published and integrated across the Web. VARs can set up Psion users with a portal from which to access applications. This allows firms to access and subscribe to data through a standard Web browser, regardless of their location, network connection or on which server platform the back-end resources reside.

Psion said the deal is an extension of its strategy to improve the applications available for its devices, and follows similar partnerships with Sun Microsystems and Oracle.

Vipul Palan, UK sales manager at Psion, said it had seen great demand from customers to extend the range of applications they can access through their Psion devices. "We can now extend the corporate reach even further. This is real content and it is what Psion customers use today," he said.

The technology will be ready early in the second quarter of this year.