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.NET Simplifies Mobile Development
Interknowlogy uses .NET to overcome the array of mobile architectures and protocols and extend applications to varied wireless devices.
by Edmund X. DeJesus

Employing mobile devices is both an attractive opportunity and a serious challenge for application developers. The number and variety of devices available and their ease of use makes mobile technology an ideal platform for both out-of-office and consumer apps. However, the multiplicity of architectures and access protocols can be daunting. Interknowlogy, in Carlsbad, Calif., has recognized how it can use .NET connectivity to bridge this gap and provide mobile devices with access to a wide variety of corporate and consumer data.

Founded in 1999, Interknowlogy serves customers seeking security solutions for Web-based enterprise applications. "The problem for many customers was that they were creating a different security solution for each application—almost an application-development-of-the-month style," says David W. Lynn, CEO and cofounder of Interknowlogy. The company's solution was to separate the security aspects from the remainder of the application and, in doing so, it discovered the approach had other uses.

Interknowlogy's CEO David W. Lynn and senior software engineer Terry Givens have discovered how to use .NET to bridge the mobile divide between devices and corporate and consumer data.

Interknowlogy took the knowledge it gained separating security from an app and applied it to multiple devices, particularly wireless devices accessing data. The company offers a suite of sales force automation (SFA) applications—including general ledger, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and human resources components but realizes most business isn't conducted in front of a PC. A client company might have representatives at customer sites, traveling in cars, at lunch meetings, or working at off-site locations, who still require access to company data.

So, Interknowlogy set out to separate device access security from database access in its applications. It wanted to provide users with the capability to pull data from databases and store it offline, then access it at any time from their wireless devices. If users change the data offline, the app will update the database when it reconnects. This methodology supports a variety of SFA applications, including sales information, inventory control, pipeline management, and workflow.