LAS VEGAS, NEV. – From basic e-mail service to sophisticated custom applications for monitoring machinery, groupware is becoming a popular means of operating private Intranet-based applications. Groupware is run on local-area networks and allows administrators to set password protections for a defined set of users.

Groupware applications like e-mail and document sharing are enhanced by their ability to be used wirelessly. Intranet communications issue alerts and reminders to certain computers but are only useful if someone is at the computer on the other end. Like the telephone pager, handheld computers are taken anywhere that users go.

Wireless applications like those from lightstreamz.com allow many users to access corporate data through password systems, and customize the applications more easily than prior versions. Alerting systems customized for decentralized distribution allow one person, a small group or the entire organization to be alerted when, for example, inventory levels are too low or a machine has broken down.

Zeosoft Corp. claims to have made a breakthrough in the way wireless, handheld networks are operated. Using ZeoSphere 1.5 software, each handheld device becomes a powerful mobile server. The software is better able to capture and send real-time data than typical hard-drive storage/server architectures.

"We use a secure socket layer and financials are done in a secure area for encrypting. You can also encrypt a database on the device," said Zeosoft president Michael Huestis.

Shelf-space management is an example of distribution's use of mobile systems. Handhelds are ideal for tracking products transferred from warehouse to warehouse or, in retail, from store to store, Huestis said.

Satellite Forms App Designer, by PumaTech of San Jose, Calif., brings the sophistication of spreadsheets and databases to handheld users via drag-and-drop controls for the forms they want. Satellite App's flexibility allows its use with server-based spreadsheets or desktop-resident databases, a fact that will appeal to large or small distributors of all types.