Johnson Controls Instantly Mobilizes B2B Website, Using MobileWebSurf Intelligent Transformer
8 January 2001
Johnson Controls Instantly Mobilizes B2B Website, Using MobileWebSurf Intelligent Transformer
DETROIT--Jan. 8, 2001--Automakers can now use micro-browsers available with many popular cell phones, wireless Palm Pilots or Windows CE pocket PCs to check on the status of vehicle development programs, look up contact information and even view sketches of automotive interior concepts -- all using the new Back2Basics B2B Portal from Johnson Controls , the world's leading Tier One automotive interior supplier, and the Intelligent Transformer(TM) server from MobileWebSurf(TM), a leading provider of wireless web gateways.
As Johnson Controls prepared to offer the industry a preview of its automotive interior B2B at the 2001 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, MobileWebSurf mobilized it in a matter of minutes using its patent-pending transformation algorithms. Johnson Controls' customers can browse their secure program information anywhere, anytime, with any wireless-web browsers.
"Our customers are often traveling or away from their offices. They need global and mobile access to our B2B portal. We also wanted to be sure the wireless-web experience was just as friendly and as interactive as the wired-web experience. With our aggressive development schedule and budget, we needed it done automatically," said Mike Suman, Johnson Controls' group vice president for e-business and marketing. "With the MobileWebSurf Intelligent Transformer, we deployed support for wireless browsers on PDAs and cell phones literally minutes after we completed our B2B portal, with no need for additional web developers or development costs."
"We're delighted Johnson Controls selected MobileWebSurf to be their wireless-web partner for this initial phase of the Back2Basics project. With our Intelligent Transformer we were able to deliver the complete solution Johnson Controls wanted -- mobilizing their entire B2B portal, with full graphics and color, complex forms and Java Script support," said Abhay Bhushan, chairman and CEO of MobileWebSurf. "We've used this opportunity to optimize our automatic transformation techniques to support cutting-edge B2B portals."
The MobileWebSurf Intelligent Transformer dynamically converts each page of Johnson Controls' B2B portal into a series of smaller mini-pages suitable for the smaller displays and inter-page linking available on wireless devices. There is only one B2B site to maintain, not one HTML-site for wired desktop access and another WML-site for wireless access. This way the data is always current regardless of browsing method. Johnson Controls realizes the cost savings of having only one customer B2B website to design, implement and maintain.
Johnson Controls designed a friendly, highly graphical and interactive B2B portal, using color pictures, icons, animated rollover menus and drop-down menus using Java Script. The Intelligent Transformer automatically brings much of this richness to the wireless browser. Through image scaling and intelligent placement, the rich graphical interface is preserved, but the file sizes are reduced for fast downloads via wireless connections. The heuristic algorithms used by MobileWebSurf organize the mini-page in a user friendly way for easy navigation.
Alternative methods for supporting mobile browsers require the design, implementation and maintenance of a separate WML websites for WAP phones, and tailored HTML or WML websites for PDAs. Cost-of-ownership can be an order of magnitude higher and the content synchronization problem is compounded with every parallel site. The MobileWebSurf approach eliminates both of these problems. There is only one site to build and maintain, so there are no synchronization issues. And since wireless web support is nearly instantaneous, MobileWebSurf significantly reduces time-to-market, which can be critical to the commercial success of many B2B sites.
About Johnson Controls, Inc.
Johnson Controls, Inc. is a global market leader in automotive systems and facility management and control. In the automotive market, it is a major supplier of seating and interior systems, and batteries. For non-residential facilities, Johnson Controls provides building control systems and services, energy management and integrated facility management. Johnson Controls , founded in 1885, has headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (U.S.A.). Its sales for 2000 totaled US$17.2 billion. http://www.johnsoncontrols.com
About MobileWebSurf
MobileWebSurf Corporation is a leading provider of mobile-browser wireless web gateways. The company is pre-public and was founded in November 1999 to develop wireless Internet/Intranet software to address the growing wireless hand held device market. http://www.mobilewebsurf.com .
Note to Editors: All referenced product names are trademarks of their respective companies.