Argentina's Movimiento ATM, a consulting company that focuses on the development and delivery of mobile enterprise applications, is now integrating data management specialistMcObject's Perst Lite applet into its software as a service (SaaS) that connects companies with their field workforces. Perst Lite is an open source embedded database for Java ME that Movimiento loads onto roaming client employees' BlackBerry, Nokia and other popular smartphones.

As an object-oriented embedded database management system (DBMS), Perst Lite stores and retrieves Java objects without the data translation required by relational (non-object) databases. Perst Lite features include transactions, built-in full text search, multiple underlying storage modes (JSR-75 file system or Java ME's record management system) and support for many types of database index.

More and more companies are leveraging the "smarts" in advanced mobile phones to give field-based workers access to enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM) and other key corporate systems. Installing client software on employees' smartphones eliminates the need to carry - or to purchase - a laptop or other device.

But such deployment is made difficult by mobile devices' limited memory and CPU resources, and by the scarcity of database management systems (DBMSs) designed to run in the Java ME operating environment used in smartphones and many traditional cell phones.

The use of Perst Lite helps keep users up-to-date through faster data access, and also enhances client software reliability, according to Nicolas Rodrigo, Movimiento ATM general manager. Perst Lite also slashed the development time of Movimiento's new Salesforce Solution product by replacing "homegrown" data management code with a proven commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS) embedded database system, he added.

“We saved a significant amount of time in product development by using Perst Lite, and also improved on the software’s speed in retrieving and storing records,” said Rodrigo. “By integrating a Java ME database created by DBMS specialists, we can be even more focused on our own specialty of meeting customers’ needs with a superior business mobility solution.”

McObject offers Perst Lite as a free download.