FileMaker Mobile adds server synchronisation

Greatly simplifies synchronisation with a server-based central database

FileMaker has released FileMaker Mobile 8, a handheld companion to its FileMaker 8 database family. The latest version greatly simplifies synchronisation with a server-based central database, making it easier to set up mobile multi-user access to data from handhelds.

FileMaker has offered a mobile database client for several years, but earlier releases were designed to synchronise records with a database held on a desktop PC or Mac. Version 8, first announced last September, can also sync with databases hosted by FileMaker Server 8 or FileMaker Server 8 Advanced.

The move makes it easier for a database to be shared among several mobile users – something FileMaker was not originally designed for. “Most people would have had

a FileMaker database on their desktop and synchronised with that,” said Tim Poole, a technical manager for FileMaker UK. To share a database among several users, customers had to write a script to synchronise the local databases with a central server copy.

FileMaker Mobile 8 still needs to synchronise via a PC or Mac, but the desktop can now act as a conduit to route synchronisation traffic between the handheld and the server, according to Poole. Handheld systems can synchronise using a desktop cradle, or through a wireless LAN (WLAN) connection.

FileMaker Mobile 8 runs on Palm-based devices with Palm OS 4.1 to 5.4, or Pocket PC handhelds with the Windows Mobile 2003 or WM 5.0 operating systems.

The package costs £45 + VAT per device, or £12.50 + VAT to upgrade from an earlier release.