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Hello to all,

I'm looking into providing mobile access to a web based administrative
application currently running on .Net with MS SQL. The current
architecture only supports the latest Internet Explorer browser due to
elaborate dependencies on client side XML libraries, so I'm told. My
problem is lack of knowledge of mobile client capabilities. I need
insight into which architecture to use, more on this follows.

The requirements for the mobile application are in short: calendar
functionalities and entities add / search / modify. Entities (e.g.
persons) are to be displayed as clickable rows in a table, etc. Search
criteria are typed in or selected from a drop down list. Secure access
(SSL, TSL?) is required.

Architectural solutions?

Because of the tight coupling with Internet Explorer, I was thinking
of redoing the application for the mobile functionality, in J2EE based
on the existing database. In short JBoss-Tomcat, Struts / Expresso
solution with Hibernate for O/R.

But I have no insight into the mobile client browser restrictions.
Should I choose to output WML, cHTML, xHTML or HTML. What do the most
common native browsers support? Or should I go for a solution based on
client browser detection and XSL and Servlet 2.3 Filtering? Or, since
most mobile clients are MIDP 1.0 compatible should I require clients
to install a J2ME based HTML browser (e.g. the one from
reqwireless.com)? Or should I create a custom midlet for the
application, i.e. a thick client?

All pointers and development experiences are greatly appreciated,

Many greetings,

Stephan.