Software Everywhere — David Beers on Mobile Computing

Japanese browser maker ACCESS has become quite the object of attention for anyone interested in the Palm OS since the company acquired PalmSource back in November. The recent announcement of the ACCESS Linux Platform notwithstanding, there hasn't been a lot of helpful information to give software developers or anyone else a sense of where ACCESS is going with this successor to the Palm OS or why it will be more successful than Palm OS Cobalt. Given the hunger for information I'm a little surprised that the Palm OS news-hounds haven't picked up on an interesting clue that ACCESS dropped on Tuesday: their acquisition of advanced networking software developer IP Infusion for $50M cash.

Now, before you get to scratching your head, keep this in mind: ACCESS does a lot more than just develop software for phones and PDAs, and network protocol stacks are already part of their product line (I expect this expertise may have been a big help to PalmSource since the acquisition). So it's not like IPI represents a whole new business for them. But having taken on the comparatively monumental task of delivering a complete mobile Linux distribution to challenge Microsoft and Symbian it's hard to imagine that anything they'd spend $50M on right now wouldn't be a unified part of the same vision. So what's the headline on the press release?

"ACCESS to Extend its Leadership in Home Gateway Technology with Acquisition of IP Infusion Inc."

Weird, huh? Read on, because I think this is pretty interesting.

There are some rather cryptic diagrams that accompany the press release, of which the third in the series seems to be the most helpful. ACCESS is building what they call NetFront Home Gateway Server, a "ubiquitous connectivity platform" that enables you to access everything on your home wireless network (digital TV, music, PC, VOIP handsets, security cameras, etc) from your mobile phone. They are acquiring networking protocol stacks that would make it possible to stream media, music or video games from your home entertainment system to your mobile phone, for example. It looks likely that they want to bring VOIP into the home in a way that supports dual-mode roam-between-network handsets, which would certainly be nice. And if you enjoy carrying a big 60GB iPod with you, imagine having broadband access to 600GB on your own server that you can access from a pocketable 3G handset.

There's also the idea in here of being able to manage home appliances remotely from a phone or PDA--things like lighting systems or security cameras. This is something that ACCESS has done some work with in the past, although this is definitely a newer more ambitious project.

Sounds great. Also sounds very... Asian. Are conservative US wireless operators going to let you stream all your stuff from a home gateway to your phone or will they block these protocols and force you to buy the goods from them instead?

Sigh. I hope I'm wrong, and I wouldn't lay money on it, but I think the answer is that operators in this country will before long start to block this kind of use of their networks. Let's hope wireless IP networks give those operators a run for their money in the coming years, because I'm tired of watching the US become a second rate wireless power while the sun rises on the most interesting mobile technology opportunities ever.

Update:
This project certainly seems to be part and parcel of the work that ACCESS is doing with PalmSource on the ALP platform. I notice that both ACCESS and PalmSource have updated their websites so that the banner now reads "Together, ACCESS and PalmSource will deliver next generation software solutions for a variety of markets, including mobile devices and phones, home media, and automotive telematics."

These guys think big.