Speaking with General Magic’s Coleman

To say that General Magic believes in the power of mobile access to information on the Internet and corporate intranets would be an understatement. Recently, we had a chance to ask Marty Coleman where the company is headed with respect to this and other new developments.

PBC. How has the growth of the Internet changed General Magic’s view of the computing and communicating world?

Marty Coleman. General Magic is very excited about the growth of the Internet, not just as a business opportunity, but as a venue to exploit our vision of small, intelligent mobile communicating devices and powerful networks over which agent-based processes can take place.

Our original vision remains the same. However, the venue has changed in a very positive way. Open systems are far better for consumers and for business than proprietary environments.

“Open systems are far better for consumers and for business than proprietary environments.”

PBC. Please explain a bit more about Magic’s augmented strategy to include more OEMs, VARs, SI, and ISVs in addition to existing partners. What are the goals and hat new markets do you hope to reach?

Marty Coleman. For the first time, General Magic will be creating packaged software products that we intend to sell directly to our customers. Our channel strategy is multi-faceted, depending on the product and the market. For example, with Tabriz, we will sell directly to organizations who create Web sites that are used to deliver specialized information, products and services.

As we gain more experience, we will work with SIs and VARs for Tabriz. With Magic Cap for Windows, our plans are to deliver a solution to small office/home office business users who want a very easy organization and communication tool for their Windows PC. The best way to reach these customers is through the dealer channel.

The Magic Cap platform for communicating devices will continue to be licensed to OEMs who will create their own products, markets, and channels as in the past. In addition, we are selling Presto!Mail and Presto!Links through our OEM partner, Sony and direct from our Web site.

PBC. How does the above inclusion affect your existing arrangements with current alliance members?

Marty Coleman. It is an expansion of our product and marketing strategy, not a replacement of any previous strategy. Our alliance partners remain actively engaged with General Magic for products that suit their business needs. Anything General Magic does to strengthen our marketing position and our ability to generate more revenue will be positive to all involved.

PBC. What is the practical effect of unbundling the Magic Cap and Telescript products? Why did you feel it was necessary to do this?

Marty Coleman. We unbundled Magic Cap and Telescript for several reasons. First, as we migrated from proprietary telephone networks to the Internet, we found opportunity for the application of these technologies in new ways. For Magic Cap, the addition of a standard browser, Presto!Links, allows mobile devices to have access to the Internet for all communication needs.

With respect to Telescript, we found an opportunity with our product Tabriz for the creation, hosting and activity of agents on the World Wide Web plus in corporate intranets. This created mutually exclusive market opportunities for both technologies and the ability to develop our products to meet the specialized needs of each market independently. PBC. How much of a setback was AT&T’s decision to terminate the PersonaLink Services? What do you gain by more directly embracing the Internet?

Marty Coleman. It was a minor setback for users of PersonaLink, while they migrate to an Internet service provider of their choice. We have been working with Sony and AT&T to make sure that the Presto!Links solution is easily available for them, free of charge. In the long run, it was the right thing to do to continue to provide the multitude of choices offered in an open Internet venue.

PBC. What are some of the unique issues involved with intranets, as opposed to the Internet? How do your products address these considerations?

Marty Coleman. Intranets and Internets share many of the standard communication protocols of a distributed network computing environment. But there are differences in the types of computing problems being addressed. The intranet is well positioned to leverage the full power of Tabriz AgentWare because of the nature of a computing environment inside the firewall. For example, there is generally more centralized control and thus more consistent computing policies across an enterprise.

A standardized Tabriz deployment across multiple computing environments would offer the ability to leverage all the resources that exist from monolithic legacy applications to relational databases. Tabriz can resolve the problems that arise from incompatibilities of disparate environments by allowing business process-to-process interaction through the use of agent technology. And of course, our products are configured for the security requirements of corporate intranets.

Another challenge we address is to provide access to corporate resources for remote users. Handheld Magic Cap-based Communicators with Presto!Mail and Presto!Links can access both the Internet and intranet smoothly and in a standard way. However, intranets provide the extra challenge of needing access from outside the security firewall of the organization. In the next release of Presto!Mail, we will provide security features which allow corporate users to access their corporate information systems from within or outside the firewall safely and securely.

“There are various types of “agent” technologies on the market. Not all agents offer the same features.”

PBC. What has the acquisition of Presto!Links! and PrestoMail! added to your product offerings?

Marty Coleman. These products are very significant to our strategy of offering Internet and intranet mail access for our handheld mobile communicators. Customer feedback is overwhelmingly positive. The products are in high demand.

PBC. What are some of the potential applications for the smARTspeak voice recognition system on Magic Cap?

Marty Coleman. We have been experimenting in our labs with several voice recognition technologies that can be used with the Magic Cap platform. We have nothing to announce at this time about our plans.

PBC. How does Tabriz AgentWare interface with an HTTP-based Web server?

Marty Coleman. The agent would appear to the HTTP-based server as an HTTP hit, just like it would view a standard browser. If the server were a host site for Tabriz agents it would see this agent as a “trusted” process upon which it would interact, take action and forward results to the requester.

PBC. The subject of Java comes up several times in your announcements. How do you intend to leverage the current mania for Java to expose the strengths of your technology?

Marty Coleman. We believe that because of Java, developers and Web site operators are actively creating more interesting Web sites. Tabriz is another offering that will help them differentiate their site, and begin to tap into the trend toward offering not only information but products and services to their customers. The result is that they will be able to create a closer relationship with their customers.

Java applets bring more and varied services to the Web customer. By providing Java support on handheld communicators and combining that with the rich Magic Cap platform already present, developers can provide these new and exciting services and information into the hands of Magic Cap customers, and do it in innovative and engaging ways.

This will encourage more people to want to gain access to the Web, and hence, more people will find Magic Cap-based communicators a great way to access these information and services.

PBC. What specific technologies are in competition with Telescript and Tabriz?

Marty Coleman. There are various types of “agent” technologies on the market. Not all agents offer the same features. In fact, we see three types of agents that exist today. First, there are what we call passive agents that process simple personalized tasks, such as intelligent bookmarks and search engines. These require continual, real-time user interaction to be dispatched.

Next, we see fixed function agents, designed to address a specific application or dedicated service like a music recommendation based on personal preferences. An example is Agents Inc.’s Firefly. Another example is a personalized news broadcast service such as PointCast. Tabriz AgentWare belongs in a more sophisticated category we call mobile agents, which is a general purpose, programmable, and enabling technology. We believe that FTP’s CyperAgents offer a similar concept today.

Tabriz is unique in offering the combination of a high degree of security, the ability to persist even when the user has logged off the network, and active agents that can travel from site to site; waiting and watching. It also remembers the requesters personal preferences and previous experiences.

PBC. In your market research, how aware are people of the projected benefits of electronic agents? Has this technology’s time arrived?

Marty Coleman. Right now, agent technology is one the hottest topics on the Net. The product offerings are only beginning to come to market and are highly differentiated. There is not enough user feedback to speculate on the long term benefits but we believe this is going to be a very interesting time.

PBC. What is the significance behind the name “Tabriz”?

Marty Coleman. No real significance actually. But it might be interesting to note that historically it can be found in folklore, as a Persian city where “magic carpets” came from.

General Magic
420 North Mary Ave.
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
1-408-774-4000
1-408-774-4010 (fax)
Marty Coleman
VP of Corporate Marketing
[email protected]
www.genmagic.com