Product Catalog
- Broadbeam ExpressQ -
  ExpressQ
A Mobile/Wireless Middleware Product 

ExpressQ™ is a mobile/wireless middleware product that enables corporate developers and software vendors to extend enterprise applications to mobile workers without knowing the underlying communications protocols.

 

Highlights: Store-and-forward message queuing system with guaranteed message delivery Network-and-device independence enables users to roam between networks Utilizes Broadbeam's Optimized Wireless Transport Protocol for reliable and efficient communication Provides security features such as user authentication and encryption Offers consistent API across all platforms and networks for easy integration into enterprise applications

Today's mobile workers require real-time access to vital enterprise information anytime, anywhere. However, when enterprise developers try to provide mobile workers with access to this information they are confronted with many challenges. These mobility challenges include communicating with roaming workers that move in and out of coverage, supporting users with multiple devices who use multiple networks, ensuring data security and contending with the harsh wireless communication environment that is very different from the LAN world to which developers are accustomed.

ExpressQ Overcomes Mobility/Wireless Network Challenges
ExpressQ offers a number of features designed to meet the needs of a roaming workforce including guaranteed message delivery, push messaging, network-and-device independence and secure communications. ExpressQ utilizes message queues on the server and mobile client to store messages when the user is out of coverage or working offline. These messages are then transparently pushed to the other side as soon as they become available, providing guaranteed message delivery. ExpressQ offers network-and-device independent APIs, as well as the ability for users to roam between networks and still seamlessly receive their messages. ExpressQ also offers user authentication and encryption to ease security concerns of IT managers.

ExpressQ Optimizes Mobile/Wireless Communication
Since ExpressQ was designed specifically for the wireless or mobile environment, it offers many features that optimize the communication over wireless or wireline networks. ExpressQ utilizes Broadbeam's Optimized Wireless Transport Protocol to provide reliable and efficient mobile communication. This Optimized Wireless Transport Protocol reduces overhead, provides data compression and automatically adjusts to fluctuating coverage conditions in order to lower airtime expenses, improve performance and extend battery life.

ExpressQ also offers other advanced mobility features such as the ability to package multiple messages in the queue into a single message, message filtering and priority and message expiration timers to further optimize mobile communication.

Together with ExpressQ's powerful enterprise-scale architecture, these features make ExpressQ the only comprehensive middleware platform to truly address all mobility concerns and make it easy to extend enterprise applications to mobile workers.

ExpressQ Supports a Broad Range of Networks and Platforms
ExpressQ offers network and device-independent APIs that support all major networks and platforms, allowing developers to easily port their application across different networks and mobile operating systems with minimal effort.

ExpressQ is a mobile/wireless middleware platform designed to overcome the challenges of communicating to a mobile workforce. ExpressQ allows corporate developers and software vendors to easily extend enterprise applications into the field over all major wireless and wireline networks to a wide range of devices including laptops, handhelds and one-way and two-way pagers.

ExpressQ Architecture
At the heart of the ExpressQ architecture is its message queuing system. ExpressQ utilizes message queues on the client and server to provide store-and-forward communications for IP and non-IP based networks. But, unlike TCP/IP alone, ExpressQ's message queuing eliminates the need for a real-time continuous connection between the mobile and host, offering the best paradigm for mobile communication.

ExpressQ is scalable to accommodate the largest enterprise deployments and its Remote API capability enables easy integration with back-end and legacy systems. Through ExpressQ's tight integration with the Windows NT operating system as an NT service, as well as ExpressQ's ability to take advantage of wireless network features, it supports features such as load balancing and automatic fail over for redundant servers.

ExpressQ SDK 
The ExpressQ SDK, available as part of the Broadbeam Developer Suite Subscription, comes complete with software libraries, comprehensive documentation, extensive source code examples and built-in debugging facilities.

ExpressQ supports standard programming tools such as Visual Basic, C, C++, PowerBuilder, Delphi, PenRight! and many others. To get started, you need an ExpressQ SDK, a wireless or wireline modem and a developer subscription from one of the mobile networks and you can have a simple application running in a matter of hours.

For simplicity, ExpressQ applications can first be developed on the LAN before porting to a "live" mobile network. Once development is complete, all you need are ExpressQ Server Licenses to roll out your application to the field!

Technical Highlights
Key features:

• Store-and-forward message queuing
• Guaranteed message delivery
• Push message delivery
• Network-and-device independent APIs
• Enables roaming between networks
• Optimized Wireless Transport Protocol
  • Data compression
  • Automatic adjustment to coverage conditions

Delivery/non-delivery acknowledgements

• Message packaging, filtering, priority and expiration timers
• User authentication
• RC4 40 bit key encryption

Modem and LAN Card Support:

• Wireless Packet Modems: Ericsson, INET, Maxon, Megahertz, Motorola, Research in Motion, Sierra Wireless, Uniden and others
• Dial Up Modems: Any modem that supports the Hayes AT interface
• LANs: LANs or wireless LANs that support NDIS 2.01, ODI Packet Driver or Winsock

• Public Packet Data Networks: American Mobile/ARDIS, BellSouth Wireless Data (Mobitex), CDPD, DataTAC 5000/6000
• Dial up Networks: Wireline, Analog cellular, GSM, CDMA
• Local Area Networks: Local Area Networks, Wireless LANs
• Packet Satellite Networks: NORCOM via ARDIS, NORCOM via Bell South Wireless Data 
• Private Packet Networks: Ericsson EDACS, Motorola Private DataTAC

• X.25(using Eicon X.25 hardware): American Mobile/ARDIS, BellSouth Wireless Data (Mobitex), DataTAC 5000/6000, NORCOM satellite, wireline
• IP Using Routers: Motient (formerly ARDIS) NetConnect Internet Access Service, BELL SOUTH WIRELESS DATA  Internet Access Service (USA), CDPD, Ericsson EDACS, Motorola RNC 3000/6000
• Terminal Servers/X.25 PADs: wireline (dial-in only)

Hardware Requirements:

• Mobile client: 486 processor or later
• Server: Minimum requirements to run Windows NT, we recommend Pentium 90 MHz or higher with 32 MB RAM and 1 GB hard drive.

Client Software Requirements:

• Mobile: DOS 3.3, DOS DPMI, Windows 3.1, Windows 95/98 or Windows NT 3.5 (Server or Workstation) or later versions. ExpressQ also supports non-ExpressQ clients such as RIM two-way pager, one-way pagers and RFmlib clients.

Server Software Requirements:

• Windows NT 3.5 (Server or Workstation) or later

Development Tools:

• Microsoft C 5.0, Borland C++ 4.52, Visual Basic 5.0, Microsoft Visual C++ 1.52 for DOS or later versions or any other development tools that can call DLLs or C libraries.

Some products are not available for all platforms and networks, please reference the Broadbeam Price List for current compatibility list.

For more information, contact the vendor - Broadbeam Systems at (609) 734-0300.

Customers Using the Product
Broadbeam claims to have hundreds of customers throughout North America and Europe using their middleware products. A recent user of ExpressQ is Icras (formerly DataRover) who is using ExpressQ to provide mobile computing solutions on DataRover PDA. Go to Broadbeam's customer page for a current list of customers. 

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