AT&T adds hosted apps to enterprise mobile suite

From InfoWorld: AT&T on Monday made another grab for business mobile users, introducing two more hosted applications built on its Mobile Enterprise Applications Platform.

Like other mobile operators and vendors, the second-largest wireless carrier in the U.S. is targeting enterprises as a growth opportunity. Along with paving the way for machine-to-machine applications that could provide a steady stream of data usage for years to come, AT&T and others are trying to get businesses to integrate smartphones more deeply in their business operations. Last week, Samsung Electronics America introduced a cloud-based service that can adapt Oracle databases and other applications within enterprises for use on mobile phones.

AT&T introduced MEAP in September 2008 as a platform on which enterprises could develop, deploy, and manage applications that extended back-end systems to mobile devices. It uses middleware from Antenna Software that lets enterprises configure an application once to work with BlackBerries, Windows Mobile devices and iPhones, minimizing the work involved in reaching all the devices, said Igor Glubochansky, a director in AT&T's mobility product management organization. MEAP includes three basic types of capabilities -- sales force and field force automation and IT support -- as building blocks for other services. The back-end systems it can support include Oracle, SAP and custom in-house applications.

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