Palm Teams With IBM

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq: PALM) today announced an agreement through which IBM becomes a U.S. reseller of Palm(TM) handheld computers. The agreement not only broadens the handheld product choices for IBM's large customers, but also brings Palm handhelds to the attention of small- and medium-size businesses that purchase from IBM. Customers can now purchase any Palm handheld -- from the entry-level Palm m100 series to the higher-end Palm m500 series, or the Palm i705 handheld with integrated wireless(1) -- from IBM. "Palm understands the intense demands of a company's mobile fleet and makes products that meet their needs, whether in a business group, across a corporation through the IT department, or for a small business," said Glenn Cross, senior vice president, Americas Sales, Services, and Enterprise Business Development, Solutions Group, Palm, Inc. "As we continue to make strides into the enterprise, relationships with business leaders like IBM strengthen our position and help us to better serve all our enterprise customers. Being chosen as an IBM supplier of handhelds is clearly a compliment to our technology and reaffirms our role as a champion for the mobile enterprise." In a separate release: SANTA CLARA, Calif. and ARMONK, N.Y. -- Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq: PALM) and IBM today announced plans to develop a joint capability that will let customers securely access enterprise applications and data using select models of wireless-enabled Palm(TM) branded handheld computers, including the Palm m515 color handheld. Through IBM's WebSphere(R) Everyplace Access (WEA), customers would be able to build upon their technology investments and existing development skills to extend applications beyond the firewall on wired networks using wireless technology and Palm handhelds. In addition, IBM and Palm plan to deliver the first enterprise-class instant messaging and awareness solution for Palm handhelds using Lotus(R) Sametime(R) technology. Users of select wireless-enabled Palm handhelds would be able to exchange instant messages among themselves and with desktop Sametime users. Under this agreement, Palm will work with IBM to implement, tune and deliver a WEA-compatible mobile client suite for Palm handhelds. The companies plan to jointly market and promote the capability. This announcement comes on the heels of Palm's endorsement, in April, of IBM's WebSphere Everyplace Access Server, which provides the core services needed to build, deploy, manage and extend e-business and core line-of-business applications to mobile devices. Through this agreement, both companies expect to accelerate the development of mobile services architecture for enterprise customers. Comprising both IBM and Palm software applications and infrastructure, this capability would let customers deploy the applications they need, yet access the complete suite of functionality of WEA. The first release is scheduled to be available later this year, and new products are expected from both companies as the capabilities evolve. IBM can now extend its mobile services architecture to an environment with easy-to-use and widely used Palm handhelds. And Palm can now integrate with IBM's mobile application platform -- WEA -- to manage and extend back-end systems, applications and data to deliver enterprise solutions to mobile users. Palm and IBM are also working together on open standard technologies, including SyncML. Additional enterprise data will be able to be accessed using Lotus Domino(TM). "Palm executing IBM's enterprise pervasive strategy will benefit customers looking to implement end-to-end wireless solutions," said Letina Connelly, director, IBM Enterprise Pervasive Computing. "Palm's mobility expertise and preference in the enterprise joined with IBM's strength in delivering enterprise solutions and services will help customers looking to leverage wireless to increase employee productivity and sales. There are millions of Palm handhelds within the enterprise. This relationship will ensure that those devices can now access enterprise applications across wireless networks, connected and disconnected using WebSphere Everyplace Access." Palm Inc. IBM Corp.