Columbitech, a leading provider of secure wireless data solutions, demonstrated for the first time, secure network roaming between a public wireless network (GSM) and a local wireless (Bluetooth) hotspot on a handheld device at Bluetooth Congress in Monte Carlo.
Columbitech's solution enables network roaming with a persistent wireless connection based on strong encryption, client and server certificates, and PKI support.
Previously, Columbitech has shown roaming between CDPD, GSM, GPRS, WLAN, and Bluetooth technologies on a PC notebook, and has now successfully migrated their technology to a Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") Windows(R) Powered Pocket PC, with a Palm OS(R) version to follow. Columbitech Wireless VPN is the first technology to provide Pocket PC devices with the necessary means to achieve true wireless network interoperability combined with end-to-end security, which is an increasingly important prerequisite for the widespread acceptance of wireless data technologies.
"Microsoft recognizes the importance of enabling network independence as well as providing secure and reliable connections to corporate applications," said Robbie Ray Wright, Director of Mobile Devices division in Microsoft Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). "This is a great leap forward for wireless access on Pocket PCs. By delivering these key benefits, Columbitech Wireless VPN will strengthen Pocket PC."
By enabling secure seamless roaming between heterogeneous networks, an entirely new set of possibilities is opening up for Pocket PC. Professional mobile workers will no longer have to accept a solution that forces an additional log-in each time they move between different networks or when they move out of coverage. Columbitech Wireless VPN for Pocket PC makes this possible by keeping the user's session alive, even when out of network coverage range, thus combining security and convenience.
"Since Pocket PC is a key platform for multitasking mobile professionals, it is a natural fit for our wireless VPN software," said Pontus Bergdahl, Columbitech CEO. "We expect that the combination of our technology and the Pocket PC platform will satisfy the requirements of enterprises seeking to deploy secure yet convenient wireless technologies for their employees."
Although security is the foundation of Columbitech's technology, the roaming characteristic is a key element in ensuring that Columbitech Wireless VPN is convenient for corporate users, who are familiar with constant and reliable connections. Columbitech replicates that experience in a mobile environment by enabling wireless session recovery - which allows the secure session to be suspended during periods of poor coverage and later resumed, possibly over a different network. In the background, Columbitech's technology resumes the end-to-end secure session after a network handover, or after a period of poor connectivity.
Although Columbitech is also working on a version of their technology for Palm platform devices, the Pocket PC platform is in a high growth phase. According to analysts at IDC, the Pocket PC platform constituted 16.5 percent of the market of handheld devices in use in North America, just one year after its introduction. For Europe, that figure jumps to over 31 percent of handheld use, according to the English market analysis firm Context. By 2004, IDC predicts that the Pocket PC will control nearly 40 percent of the handheld computer market.
Columbitech Wireless VPN for Pocket PC will be available for Beta testing in September and will be commercially available in November.
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