A secure, high-performance, application-aware mobile data integration infrastructure will ensure that your important business applications will be available whenever and wherever they are required. A mobile data integration solution will enable sharing and integration of data between various mobile devices and software and data on the company's back-office system.

The leading mobile data integration systems include some very powerful features. Consider the following when implementing a mobile data integration system:

1. Replication, which ensures that all applications have access to current information;

2. Data federation, which streamlines mobile data integration and provides integrated views of data via a single layer;

3. Real time events, which places time-critical events into a messaging architecture;

4. Customizable search algorithms that enable searches of large amounts of information;

5. ETL, which extracts and transforms data from databases and other sources into a single repository.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Use a mobile data integration system that automates your real time events

If your business is largely event-driven, you may need the system to execute feeds on demand for real-time integration. Or you may need the system to execute feeds periodically on a set interval. As mobile data integration information for these offerings will show, in either case, they have what you need.

I recommend: Data Jelly has a website that accepts data from many programs in XML and CSV formats. It then integrates the data according to rules you provide and exports that data in a file format you specify. Mobility Data Systems specializes in the integration of disparate and distributed systems and data and real-time business intelligence.

Get mobile data integration with data federation to enable viewing of multiple databases

If you have numerous databases and need to be able to set up complex single views of related data from multiple databases, then you want a system that is focused on data federation. Almost all offerings on the mobile data integration list include some form of data federation.

I recommend: DataSplice Mobile Computing offers a single, user-friendly, configurable interface across multiple underlying databases and applications. Aginity provides a scalable data factory that integrates and automates the collecting, processing and visualizing of your data.

Employ mobile data integration that integrates many devices, using replication and ETL

If you have a variety of devices to integrate into the system, then you'll want to zero in on a mobile data integration system that has the flexibility you need to give your mobile workers the access they need to back-office systems. This will work with everything from cell phones to Bluetooth's and from laptops to GPS systems. Indeed, if you have not used this type of system before, you will find mobile data integration a huge improvement for your enterprise.

I recommend: @Road has @Road Mobile Enterprise Access (MEA), which is a mobile data integration application. Softpedia has software you can download that will establish a virtual hard drive on your computer that will contain your mobile data. Whenever you save your work on your computer, it is automatically synchronized onto your mobile device(s).

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  For optimal synchronization (getting information from the back-office databases to the mobile devices), ask your mobile data integration provider for a system that will synchronize directly with a major database like Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server.
• •  You want a system that will allow you to minimize the data transferred by filtering it to only information you need. It should also allow you to detect and resolve any synchronization conflicts that may exist.
• •  Make sure the mobile data integration system will communicate over TCP/IP and work with HTTP/HTTPS protocols (Palm HotSync for PDAs) in case you have to sync through a firewall.