Developing a Wireless Support and
Information Delivery Strategy
Mr. William Shepard
Associate Director
Information Services and Technology
Cleveland State University
Phone: (216) 687-2110
Fax: (216) 687-9200
w.shepard@csuohio.edu
Cleveland State University
Cleveland, Ohio
Enrollment 15,000
A Public, Urban, Commuter Four-Year Institution
Seven Colleges including Law
Abstract: The wireless world of small form factor devices is upon us. We will have many challenges because of
the explosion and diversity of this new technology. Key among these challenges will be:
(1) How do we support our end users, who will purchase these devices?
(2) How as an institution can we most effectively delivery information to these devices, and
(3) Can we use these products to support or increase office automation?
This paper will explore how we started with a blank piece of paper, and developed both a support and information
delivery strategy. We were faced with several challenges at the start. There were only several people who used
wireless devices; therefore, in-house knowledge was almost non-existent. When we started, there was little demand
from the user community; therefore, we were shooting at a moving target. We were faced with the interesting
concept of developing a technical knowledge base, user demand, and a strategy and standards for a new form of
technology. To develop our policy, we created two in-house projects whose goal was to get staff acquainted with
the technology. We also created two "teaser apps", or applications designed for our end users to serve as a
demonstration product and initial use applications.
Developing a Wireless Support and Information Delivery
Strategy
Introduction
Like it or not, some day soon, if not already, faculty, staff or students will be in your IT shop asking for help. "How
do I synchronize my e-mail with my palmtop computer?" "What web services can I get to with my palmtop
computer?" "Can you help me load my calendar onto my palmtop computer?" Will your institution be prepared to
answer theses questions? And, when will the best time be to introduce product and procedural standards? How will
you secure your enterprise data if it can be easily downloaded onto a handheld device and carried off site? Most
important, how much time do you think you have before these and other questions are asked of your IT department.
We live in a world that is quickly moving to small form factor devices with either an indirect cable connection to an
existing PC, direct modem connection to the Internet, or a wireless mobile connection to the Internet. PDA's and
Web enabled phones are becoming as commonplace as laptops and pay phones were at one time. According to an
Ian Austen1 "Media Metrix estimates that nearly 7.4 million households in the United States now have devices like
cell phones, pagers, and personal digital assistants". Ironically, he goes on to point out that "only a small percentage
of users with Web-ready devices actually exploit that feature. Only 200,000 of Sprint PCS's customer have signed
up for Web service. Similarly, AT&T Wireless estimates that just 100,000 of its subscribers tap into the wireless
Web. The Gardner Group2 estimates that by 2003, over 700,000 Web-enabled phones and 30,000 web-connected
PDA's will be sold worldwide. We will all be faced with the challenge of some portions of our student body,
administrative staff, or faculty, buying, using and requiring support for some small form factor device.
Cleveland State University made a decision to attempt to stay ahead of the "demand curve", and be prepared with a
wireless strategy to include product standards, support agreements, training plans and application development
standards. We immediately were faced with two problems:
(1) We had very little knowledge of this new technology on staff with only two or three people using PDA's, and
(2) At this time, we had no user demand for this type of service and support.
Basically, we were starting with a blank piece of paper. Our vision was to identify a project team, establish
reasonable goals, begin to draft and develop a strategy, and purchase test PDA's for use by the team. In addition, we
decided to create "Training Apps" and "Teaser Apps" to generate both the support and demand communities that did
not exist at the beginning. "Training Apps" were test or pilot projects primarily designed to teach the technology to
the project team. "Teaser Apps" were pilot information delivery applications designed to demonstrate to the end
user community the value of having information accessible from the Internet and downloadable to the PDA's. In
summary, Training Apps would help our staff develop the expertise to support this technology and Teaser apps
would generate excitement and hopefully the use by our user departments to take advantage of this technology. Our
strategy was therefore divided into two sections, developing the end user demand through the Teaser Apps, and
developing our in house support expertise through the Training Apps.
Beginning the Framework for the Strategy
We first started by developing a framework for the strategy. This document has sections covering our vision, goals,
the definition of the project team, expected outcomes and planned activities. Many questions had to be answered in
this document, what desktop and palm software would we support, which physical platforms would we use, what
palm operating system(s) would we support? A significant concept in this strategy was the development of a threephased approach to our project.
Phase 1: Investigate/Learn/Evaluate - Timeframe: October through December 2000
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During this phase we would select equipment and begin to learn basic features of this technology.
The activities each member was involved with included using the PDA's as PIM's, using the PDA's
to synchronize with our existing email systems, Lotus Notes and Outlook, and using the PDA's to
do offline web browsing. Our major goal in this phase was to develop project team excitement,
basic understanding of the technology, and to build a foundation from which we could build/use
applications and training material.
Phase 2: Development of support material, applications, training material - Timeframe: December through
March 2001
The real work would begin in this phase. Our goals for this phase included developing a course
curriculum, course outlines and materials for basic training. During this phase we would use the
time and material product to track field technicians activities and use the synchronization of our
Help Desk information to field technicians. Finally, we would begin to evaluate ways of providing
course schedules and class rosters to the palm platform.
Phase 3: Deployment of support, training and applications. Timeframe: April through June 2001
During this phase we plan to publish support information regarding platform, software and support
activities available to users. We will present a course schedule and begin teaching classes. We
will have pilot applications ready for focus groups use with plans for full implementation in the
Fall of 2001.
Each phase had a specific purpose and set of activities designed to accomplish the specific goals of the phase. Each
phase included activities to evaluate and discuss three important concepts:
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Awareness/Marketing
Budgeting
Security and Controls
Each phase would also include a stated purpose, the timeframe anticipated, a description of the staff involved, a list
of specific activities and a list of expected outcomes. The project team, through the course of the phases outlined in
the strategy, would both learn, develop products, and develop information required for the completion of the
strategy. We felt, the cycle of learning, developing and deploying coupled with an awareness towards marketing,
budgeting and security would allow us to effectively create the support knowledge and products required to deploy
this technology.
Cleveland State University has combined many like areas under a single manager to become more efficient.
Through prior reorganizations, we combined all desktop, voice and data network support into a single unit headed by
the Manger of Network Services. We combined the training and help desk operations into a Manager of
Training/Help Desk Support. Our Administrative Systems area had prior experience in deploying mainframe, client
server, web and voice enabled applications. Each of these units would be involved in the delivery and support of
wireless technology. We knew up front that each of these units could employ Palm applications in a learning
process so the line staff would be prepared to support the demand we anticipated in the future.
Our approach therefore would be to involve people in using these new devices as both office automation/PIM tools
as well as for specific Training or Teaser applications. This usage would begin to develop the staff's knowledge of
this technology. The staff, with greater knowledge could help develop our strategy document as well as support,
training and product materials.
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Developing "Training" and "Teaser" Apps
Our next step was to decide what applications would support the Training and Teaser apps, and then develop a
project team around these projects. As an ongoing activity, the overall "Enterprise Wireless Strategy" would be
developed.
We decided to select applications that would involve our Network/Desktop Support Group and our Help
Desk/Training Group. These areas were chosen because they would offer the direct first line support to our Faculty,
staff and students. The first application would be a time and effort reporting system used by our network field
support staff. Departments funding partial network support positions supported many of our major lans on campus.
Obviously, when this strategy is used, the end user never feels they are being given their fair share of support. We
decided to use "Time Reporter" from Iambic Software to track time and effort spent on individual LAN support.
Each field technician would clock in and out of a site when they performed any work on that site. All information
would be collected into an Excel spreadsheet and detail reports would be sent to all offices using our LAN support
technician. Our second training app would be to use our existing help desk support software running on Lotus
Notes. CSU calls this product "Quest"; it contains call detail in a Lotus database on all support calls recorded by the
Help Desk. Linking this Notes database into a PDA would support field technicians while on calls. The call detail
can be taken to the site via the PDA. Updates to the call, which eventually get emailed back to the requestor, could
be made immediately accessible at the site before the technician moved on to the next call.
Our Teaser Apps would center on faculty and student service. Our vision was to create class rosters and student
schedules available in a PDA format. Faculty would be able to have their rosters in class, and students would have
current copies of schedules each time they synchronized their PDA's.
Developing the Project Team
I was selected as the team leader since I had used and tried to exploit PDA and Web connections for approximately a
six-month period. We also selected our Manager of Network/Desktop Services, our Help Desk/Training Manager,
our Security Administrator, and two Senior Business Analysts. Each person was instructed they would be given a
palmtop computer and would be expected to help develop strategies and support material. The team evaluated
several PDA's for our pilot projects and reviewed a skeleton Wireless Strategy plan. We decided to work somewhat
independently and meeting every other week to review new ideas and progress on existing applications.
Evaluating the Equipment for Phase 1
Several key decisions had to be made at this point to launch the project. We did not want to spend weeks arguing
and evaluating platforms, software, etc. Here are key decisions we made to begin.
Web Phones are very prevalent devices and will probably outsell PDA's over the next several years. We considered
the fact that these devices do not synchronize with desktops, nor do they allow a user to load or upgrade software.
Even though these devices may be used heavily to access information from the Web, we felt they did not provide a
good example of what we needed at this point. To effectively use the current 4-line screens provided in these
devices, the information applications or "Teaser Apps" would have to be totally re-designed to fit the screen
limitations. We felt a PDA platform would provide a more useable delivery platform for email, time tracking and
information delivery to students and faculty. We decided to concentrate on the PDA platform for now and consider
Web Phones in the future.
Currently, the Palm OS has over 70% of the PDA marketplace. Fortunately, of the three people on staff who
currently used PDA's, two had the Windows CE devices. Based on the market share of the Palm OS and the fact that
we had at least test devices owned by other staff, we decided to purchase PDA's that would support the Palm OS.
We evaluated several version of the Palm and Handspring devices including the Palm III family, Palm V family and
Handspring Visor family of products. All of these devices run the Palm OS and can synchronize to either Lotus
Notes or Outlook.
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Critical evaluations factors were memory size, batter life, expandability of the device, ability to easily upgrade the
device, and cost. We eliminated the Palm VII family due to cost; we also did not initially see a need to be connected
via a wireless modem to our desktops or the Internet. We also eliminated the Palm V family due to cost and
concentrated on the Palm III and Handspring Visor models.
Although these models were thicker than the Palm V's and did not have rechargeable Lithium-Ion batteries, the cost
was significantly lower. Both the Palm IIIxe and Handspring Visor Deluxe compared almost identically. The have
monochrome screens, are the same size and use the same batter types, and both have 8MB of memory. Key
differences were the Palm came complete with a serial synchronization cable; the Handspring came with a USB
cable. In either case, a different cable would cost approximately $30.00.
Handspring's choice of including a USB connection seemed confusing since the USB ports are not supported by
Windows NT or 95. USB is only supported by Windows 98. Our project team was split between Windows 95/98
and NT. For either selection, we would have to purchase additional synchronization cables.
The overriding factor in our decision was the expansion slot found only in the Handsprings. This expansion slot
provided memory, application, and functional growth not possible with the Palm platform. We purchased 12
Handspring Visor Deluxe PDA's with six serial and six USB connections. This provided the opportunity to test both
connections for speed and ease of use.
Evaluating Software for Phase 1
As we considered standards for support and training, one key area we felt needed careful consideration was the
synchronization software. This would serve as a critical point of control and standardization across the enterprise.
Referring to Figure 1, there are several levels involved in synchronizing software. First, the PC and palmtop
computer both have applications levels which include such apps as mail, calendar, address book, etc. The PC
contains a set of "Conduits" which are customized and product specific interfaces between the synchronization
manager and the applications. Finally, the synchronization manager uses the conduit level to communicate between
applications on both the palm and PC.
Hot Sync Manager is included with the purchase of Palm and Handspring devices. It comes with a limited number
of conduits, which include the Palm Desktop and Outlook.
We evaluated and selected Intellisync Gold from Puma Technologies as our standard conduit software and planned
to purchase a site license for this product. This product will synchronize Palm OS, Windows CE and Pocket PC
platforms. In addition to supporting multiple platforms, this product contained the conduits required to synch with:
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Microsoft Outlook 97/98/2000
Microsoft Schedule+ 7.5
Microsoft Exchange 5.0/5.5
Symantec ACT! 4.02/2000
Lotus Organizer 4.1/5.0/6.0
Lotus Notes 4.5/4.6/5.0
Novell GroupWise 5.2/5.5
Novell GroupWise 5.5.2*
SalesLogix 3.0
Palm Desktop software*
ASCII import/export
This product, working in conjunction with Hot Sync Manager would add the flexibility of many conduits, full Lotus
Notes synchronization, and multiple hardware platform support. Without this product, we would have to purchase
Easy Sync from Lotus. Easy Sync sells for $68 for the shrink-wrapped version and $56 for the web download
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version. Easy Sync will do full synchronization with Lotus Notes, a "mail only" version is available free from the
Lotus Notes website. Intellisync Gold retails for $58 with options for site purchases.
Figure 1. Software Synchronization.
Option 1: Hot Sync Only. Hot Sync Manager manages specific conduits included with its software. These conduits
do not include Lotus Notes and are limited to Palm OS Devices.
Option 2: Hot Sync Manager/Intellisync Gold. Adding the Intellisync Gold product adds additional conduits
including Lotus Notes and other platforms including Palm OS, Windows CE and Pocket PC.
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Purchasing/Asset Control
Upon receipt of the palmtop computers, a spreadsheet was created with each person’s name receiving a palmtop
computer. They were instructed to record the serial number from the palmtop computer into this spreadsheet. Also,
each team member was given the following rules governing the care and use of their palmtop computer.
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All employees receiving a palmtop computer must adhere to all rules and regulations set forth in Cleveland
State University’s Enterprise Security Policy and Appropriate Use Policy. Each person received a copy of
these documents, additional and up to date copies may be found on the IS&T web site.
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The devices you have been given are for professional use at Cleveland State University. They are to be
used to assist you in performing your day-to-day duties, participate in the project team activities, and serve
as a tool to be used to explore aspects of wireless technology.
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You are permitted to record personnel information on these devices, however, you may be asked to share
these products, allow them to be temporarily used by others, or asked to demonstrate products to other
employees.
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You may under certain circumstances be asked to return these devices to your manager. They are and will
remain the property of Cleveland State University. Use of these devices is as deemed appropriate by your
manager.
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You are to care for these devices and make sure you have access to the devices and their supporting
software while at work. You may take them home or off campus but you will remain responsible for their
protection from theft and/or damage.
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We do not insure these devices. Should you loose or damage your device, its replacement will be at the
discretion of your manager.
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Under no circumstances should these devices be used to embarrass or discredit Cleveland State University,
the department of Information Services and Technology, or its employees.
Initial Project Team Training
I wanted to make sure the project team fully exploited the wireless technology and maintained progress on their
application use and development. Once the palmtop computers were distributed, many of the staff took off like
ducks to water and began synchronizing calendars and mail, beaming information, and browsing the web. However,
to make sure everyone developed their expertise to the same level and a level, which would support our development
of training and support materials, standards of performance were developed. Each project team member was given a
charge to accomplish the following:
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Connect your organizers to your desktops using either the USB or Serial cables
Load your synchronization software onto your desktop (either Hot Sync, Easy Sync or Intellisync Gold)
Sync your PIM products such as address book, calendar, notes, etc
Sync your email, either Outlook or Notes, and use your palm mail client to send or respond to mail
Load a product down to your palmtop computer; I created a directory of shareware to give the team some
samples
Load a browser, I recommend Avantgo at www.avantgo.com and load several "hand-held friendly"
channels
Use the Avantgo feature of placing an Avantgo logo onto your browser so you can "channelize" any web
page down to your palmtop computer. Use https://avantgo.com/mydevice/create_channel.html to do this.
Try to create and use shortcuts
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Try to beam either a note, or appointment to another palmtop computer.
Those with the knowledge provided some in person support/training to get everyone up to speed. The overall
excitement of having these devices was more than enough motivation for everyone to exploit their capabilities
quickly.
In less than two weeks, everyone was at the same basic level of understanding. We were all using the palms to sync
email and calendars, and were using Avantgo to browse and channelize web sites. Everyone had loaded software
and was beginning to find several small problems along the way.
We set up an issues/problem log so everyone could log problems and resolutions. This would be a key document for
training development and help desk support. The project team was pushed to finalize this basic learning exercise so
we could move quickly onto our next step of development.
Standardization Results from Phase 1
Phase 1 moved very slowly at first as we looked at platform options and tried to match features. Once a decision
was made to purchase the Handspring Visor’s, orders were placed and the project team patiently awaited their
arrival. From the time the project team received the palmtop computers, we completed Phase 1 in about 3 weeks.
During this time, although we had developed our initial plan of two Training Apps and two Teaser Apps, as more
people became familiar with these devices, more ideas of service and support surfaced. The problem we faced was
one of control, attempting to keep the project team focused on the main goals while incorporating new ideas that
made sense and supported the overall theme of exploiting the technology.
We made the following decisions regarding hardware, software and service support.
We consider this process to be cyclical. We will continue to monitor the needs of our clients and adjust how we
support the environment. For now, we needed to focus our efforts on products that would help us learn quickly and
deliver products effectively.
Operating Systems:
Desktop PIM:
Office Suite:
Palm Platform:
Palm Operating System:
Synchronization:
Conduits:
Connection:
Browser
Additional Products:
Windows 95/98 and NT.
Already a standard at CSU
Lotus Notes, or Outlook
Already a standard at CSU
Microsoft Office
Already a standard at CSU
Any Palm OS Device
Palm OS
Hot Sync Manager (included with Palm OS devices)
Intellisync Gold from Puma Technology
USB or Serial
Avant Go
Easy Sync from Lotus (used to sync Lotus Notes mail only)
Marketing and Awareness Results from Phase 1
During each phase, the project team not only concentrated on the project, but also continually updated and informed
members of the campus community of our activities. This generated many positive comments as well as ideas for
support from other areas.
One example was a discussion with the University Library management. We presented our project to inform them of
our activities. They informed us that our central library system in Ohio called Ohio Link, was moving more and
more material to an e-book format. Although this was not part of our initial project, we began an investigation as to
what type of format was being considered and what types of readers would be required.
Our Continuing Education Department is in the business of educating adults for profit. Their challenge is to
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continually present new, interesting and timely classes to the general public. They are considering targeting
professional markets with classes designed to teach palm computing. Their current assumption is that professionals,
i.e. doctors, lawyers, etc. would pay tuition to take a Palm Computing Introduction class. Included in the cost of
tuition, would be a palmtop computer. The feasibility of this idea is still under consideration. When it was first
conceived, few people on campus used palmtop computers, therefore support and teaching personnel were limited.
As the Information Services and Technology department develops its expertise, and support materials, launching a
palmtop computing class will be more realistic.
Finally, our executive staff was updated on our project. It was explained that this project would cost approximately
as much as a single PC purchase. They were informed of the tremendous growth in the wireless industry and told
how, as a technology support department, we must be ready when the technology becomes more prevalent on
campus.
Phase 2: Development of support material, applications, training material
Several weeks before this phase began, little was known about the palmtop computing platform. In only three weeks
the growth and understanding of the project team was remarkable. Discussions of mail synchronization, offline web
browsing, channelizing web pages, and beaming techniques were commonplace. Although there was more to learn,
the project team had a solid handle on this technology. Here are the results of Phase 1, which include at the time of
writing this paper, (1) Training Curriculum, (2) Standard Support Policy, and (3) Update on Teaser Apps.
Training Curriculum for Palm Computing
From experience with other classes which we have offered for over 15 years, many staff enjoy short either lunch
hour or end of day (“rush hour”) classes. The students surveyed over the years indicate a preference to be in a class
with other employee’s rather than a public offering. They also prefer short classes offered at convenient times.
Based on this knowledge, we designed three levels of palm classes. The classes would be offered in a series of twohour blocks.
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An Introduction to Palm Computing
The intended audience for this class is new users to palmtop computing. The prerequisites for this class was a basic
knowledge of Windows and general knowledge of some desktop products like calendars, address books, email
clients.
The purpose of this class is to:
Introduce the concept of Palm Computing
Initial set up of device and connection to desktop
Review of controls on palmtop computer
Hard buttons
Soft buttons
Reset Button
Basic Palm application usage
Date Book
Address Book
Note Pad
Customization and Configuration options
Beaming
Business Card
Notes
Schedules
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At the conclusion of this class, students should be able to use the major applications delivered with the palmtop
computer and understand setup, configuration, customization and use.
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Advanced Palm Computing – Synchronizing Your Data
The intended audience for this class is people who had completed the introductory course or who had used their
palmtop computer and were comfortable with all delivered applications.
The purpose of this class is to:
Explain the concept of device synchronization
The role of Hot Sync Manager
The role of the conduits
An explanation of other synchronization software
Easy Sync (Lotus Notes)
Intellisync Gold from Puma Technologies
Configuring Hot Sync Manager
Synchronizing PIM applications
Synchronizing Email
At the conclusion of this class, students should be able to set up synchronization software and synchronize their PIM
applications and email.
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Advanced Palm Computing – Offline Web Browsing and Channelizing Web Content
The intended audience for this class is people who wish to use their palm computer to do offline browsing of web
sites. Prerequisites for this class include knowledge of Windows, and knowledge of palmtop computing. Preferably,
students will have attended both prior sessions or at very least the introductory session.
The purpose of this class is to:
Explain the concept behind offline browsing
Introduce a "hand held friendly" site for channel synchronization (www.avantgo.com)
Download the Avantgo browser and install on the palmtop computer
Set up an Avantgo account
Select "hand held friendly" channels to synchronize
Select existing web pages to channel down to the palmtop computer
Visit several software sites providing software or content for palmtop computers
At the conclusion of this class, students should be able to browse the web offline using Avantgo, set up Avantgo
channels, and channelize web content not already channelized by Avantgo
Standard Support Policies for Palm Top Computing
It is the policy of Information Services and Technology, not to work on equipment, which is not tagged and owned
by Cleveland State University. However, we will provide some support services to faculty and staff realizing that
many may purchase their own palmtop devices and intend to use them primarily in the work place.
IS&T will not provide repair service for any palmtop computer. Repairs and/or upgrades to the hardware must be
done at an authorized service location.
IS&T will provide a special queue on our help desk system "Quest" to track and monitor calls on supported devices.
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The initial project team will monitor this queue and respond to service requests when possible.
When staff are available, our Desktop Support group will make office visits to demonstrate and assist with loading
software onto the palmtop computer, customizing and configuring PIM synchronization, and email synchronization.
IS&T will consult with faculty and staff to make purchase recommendations and will provide a list of supported
hardware platforms, software and synchronization software for consideration.
IS&T will through our Help Desk/Training area, provide limited product demonstrations to assist with purchase
decisions and product evaluations.
When staff is available, IS&T will install on the clients desktop the following supported software:
Software included with Palm OS Devices, Palm Desktop
Hot Sync Manager
Easy Sync (Lotus Notes)
Intellisync Gold
For walk-in support at the IS&T Help Desk area we will provide the following services for supported products
Demonstration of palmtop applications
Demonstration of synchronization of PIM and email
Demonstration of loading applications
Problem solving assistance
Access to printed product documentation
Access to a list of classes being offered by IS&T on palm computing
Update on Teaser Apps
We realized the development of specific applications for the palmtop computers would take the most time of all
activities identified in the project plan. Our goal of placing student schedules and class rosters would take time to
investigate and develop. As preliminary steps, we experimented with two techniques of loading data onto the
palmtop computer:
1. Moving scheduling data from the desktop the palmtop
2. Moving "non-hand held friendly" web pages from the web to the palmtop computer.
Moving Scheduling Data to the Palm Computer
We found it to be easy to move delimited ASCII files of scheduling information directly into Outlook. Once the data
is loaded into Outlook it would be moved to the palmtop computer on the next sync. If we could create schedule
information in a delimited format, we could therefore deliver this information directly to the palmtop. Our goal was
to develop a web based program that could output a delimited file to the desktop. From the desktop, a student or
faculty member would import the schedule into Outlook and the palmtop computer on the next sync operation.
Following is Figure 3, which shows the mapping screen used by Outlook to map external files for import.
Additional uses for this process include critical pay dates, software release dates, University holidays, project
milestone dates. Based on the ease and effectiveness of this technique, we are requesting that our department as well
as others departments that manage critical dates, place those dates into a common format containing Subject,
Start/End Date, Start/End Time. This document can be distributed to staff and imported into Outlook and palmtop
computers. This eliminates the need for several people to update individual workstations or palmtop computers,
reduces input errors, and easily provides critical information to key people.
Import
Delimited
ASCII file
Outlook on
Desktop
Sync
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Palm
Computer
Figure 3
Moving "non Hand Held Friendly" web pages to the Palm Computer
There are three methods to move web content to a palmtop computer. First, "hand held friendly" HTML can be
developed; second, the services of a product like Avantgo can be purchased. Web pages designed for high
bandwidth users can be modified via the Avantgo server. The Avantgo server will take existing web pages and
convert them to a "hand held friendly" format. Adding a special HTML tag, reformatting the screen size, stripping
out graphics, etc, does this. Although this is the preferred method, we found the third method of loading our existing
web pages directly to the palmtop computer to be the easiest. Depending on how these pages were originally
developed, they may look fine on the palmtop, or they may contain "garbage data" which distorts the look but still
presents the content in tact.
To produce something quickly, we chose to load web content directly to the palm realizing this would only work
with certain web pages. However, we felt the investment already made in our web pages, could be extended easily
to the palm platform with little effort and little cost. Below is the page from Avantgo
https://avantgo.com/mydevice/autochannel.html. You need a free account with Avantgo to access these pages. This
page illustrates how any web page's content can be set up as a custom channel and updated with every
synchronization of your palmtop computer.
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Conclusions
Every project team member is extremely pleased with the progress and the potential of introducing wireless
technology to our environment. We all realize we have just scratched the surface and have much to learn and
develop as this technology matures. We feel we are better prepared today than we were a few short weeks ago
when we launched our Wireless Strategy project. We understand the technology more fully, we can now offer
meaningful assistance to faculty, staff and students who need help exploiting and using this technology, we feel we
can extend the usefulness of our existing web pages, and as an added bonus, feel we have found a significant method
of increasing our office automation. We feel as a department we are now prepared to lead our University into this
new technology and be confident that low cost options and risks will produce significant results.
1
"Meet the New Web. Same as the Old Web." Ian Austen. The New York Times. New York., September 28,2000
2
"Talking Technology". The Gartner Group. Stanford, Ct. September, 2000
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