UK start-up puts Domino on Wap phones

UK start-up Surrey & City Consulting (SCC) has launched software that lets Wap phone users access Lotus Domino applications from their handsets.

The UK company's Wap for Domino 1.0 software allows users to read and write email, access calendar and meeting schedule applications and search address databases via their mobile phones.

Lotus has developed its own version of Notes for Wap phones - called Mobile Notes - which it announced at Lotusphere in January. But Mobile Notes only runs on Windows NT, while SCC's software also runs on Unix.

SCC will launch an Enterprise Edition at the end of May which will enable companies to remotely access and share Domino applications.

The company said it operates on the Nokia Wap server and is available for phones from several manufacturers. The Enterprise Edition is written in Java and will run as a server task on any Domino platform.

Pricing for the Wap for Domino Standard edition is priced at £2995 for 25 users, rising to £12,995 for a site or a licence for an unlimited number of users. No pricing is available for the Enterprise edition.

Dr Paul Joseph, managing director at SCC, said: "Mobile web based computing solutions are pushing online collaboration beyond PC based limits, enabling companies to extend their corporate networks and connect remote employees and business partners."

SCC, a Lotus premier partner, has also developed 192.com's mobile phone directory service, which enables users to find people's address and telephone details via their mobile phone. The company said it expects to develop directional applications for the 192 service over the coming year.