Situation

Empedia run a mobile information system, called HandChannel for the Palm operating system. It works much like Avantgo, allowing information selected by the user to be periodically retrieved from a server. HandChannel's strengths over Avantgo lie in being able to embed information within the the PDA's native applications, for example the database and calendar, and the provisioning of new applications on the device. Empedia required HandChannel to be implemented on the Pocket PC. This included both the PC and the device sync software.

PC-based sync software was modified to allow optional sync to both Palm and Pocket PC devices. The Palm software was ported to the Pocket PC allowing nearly identical functionality. Modules were written to allow installation of programs and embedding of data into Pocket Outlook. The Pocket PC version was able to either sync with the Internet connected PC or wirelessly via a mobile connection. This project was performed to a fixed price offsite.

Benefits

I provided expertise to modify and port existing Empedia applications within a short timescale. Unlike the Palm version of HandChannel, similarities between the PC and Pocket development environments allowed the PC program to be easily ported and provide similar functionality.