"Palm intends to be as popular with CIOs as it is with individuals," said Carl Yankowski, Palm's chief executive officer. "Palm will be unmatched in its ability to deliver information to individual users and large organizations using a Palm solution or any mobile operating system or handheld device."

"Extended Systems and Palm share a vision and have complementary products and culture. Together we significantly strengthen our ability to serve the needs of the explosive enterprise market," said Extended Systems CEO, Steve Simpson. "This move is a natural evolution as we join to create one end-to-end solution from a single vendor. It's a win-win for customers, employees and stockholders."

Extended Systems' prominence in the mobile enterprise market strengthens Palm's position, and brings Palm the opportunity to enhance its handheld device business, and, for the first time, sell mobile infrastructure software, services and support. Noted analysts project that the server sync segment of the enterprise market alone could exceed $1 billion by 2003.(1) These new revenue sources also provide high margin business opportunities for Palm.

In addition to Extended Systems' mobile data management and Bluetooth wireless connectivity products, the acquisition will provide Palm with a strong engineering staff experienced in the enterprise market, as well as a worldwide sales force, strategic partners, and a large installed base of enterprise customers -- including British Airways, International Paper Company, Cadbury Schweppes, Daimler Chrysler, and Orange.