T68i
White Paper, April 2002
18
Benefits of a common synchronizationprotocol•Endusers
Today’suser of mobile devices probably
uses a different synchronization product
with every device. Each technology can
synchronizeonly a few applications, or is
limited to a particulartype of network con-
nection. Thisarrangement is expensive to
install, confusing to configure and operate,
and costly to administer. With SyncML,
userswillbeabletobuydevicesthatsyn-
chronize with a broader range of data.
• Device manufacturers
Device manufacturerswill benefit from a
common protocol that will make the device
interoperablewith a broader range of appli-
cations,services, and network and trans-
mission technologies.
• Service providers
Serviceproviders moving into the growth
arenaof application hosting are particularly
concerned that a proliferationof synchroni-
zation technologieswill make it impossible
to deploy and support their customers in a
cost-effectivemanner. To supportthe
range of datatypes and devices in use
today,service providers must install and
configure multiple server infrastructures,
maintainand support that infrastructure,
and maintaincompatibility and perfor-
mance. The alternative now available, to
use a single solution for data connectivity,
involves the risk of a tight coupling to a
proprietysolution. With SyncML, they will
be able to provide connectivity to a wider
selectionof applications.
• Applicationdevelopers
Choosingto support multiple synchroniza-
tion technologies enables an application to
supportmore types of devices and net-
worked data, but that choicecomes at a
cost.With SyncML, application developers
will be able to develop an application that
can connect to a more diverse set of
devices and network data.
Figure 4 SyncML architecture