The program was aimed at setting up e-services infrastructure for web-applications by integrating appliances, services and infrastructure to the Internet through the concept of pervasive networking, HP's department manager (Internet systems & applications labs) Gita Gopal said.

``The open standard software architecture developed is aimed at integrating the physical and the virtual world by networking simple devices like mobile devices, palm pilots, cell phones, printers, etc, to be integrated closely to the Web and offer useful services,'' Gopal said.

The company was also planning to take the technology to the standards bodies in order to make the platform open and thereby promote innovation, she said. The technology consists of two basic parts -- a beacon (a simple battery powered PCB with an infra-red port and programmed controller chip) and its E-squirt software that allows data/information to be wirelessly transmitted from one device to another that has been enabled to support the features of the CoolTown program.

The beacon can be programmed to transmit a particular URL containing specific context-based information which can literally be beamed onto a hand-held device with an infra-red port.

Once the information is stored onto the device it can later be transferred to any other device including a printer or a desktop for further use. ``The basic concept is to use this technology as an easy way to transmit and access specific information. Any kind of infomation (regarding a place, person, object, etc) which has been hosted onto the Internet could be programmed onto the beacon and thereon ``squirted'' to another device,'' Gopal said.

The basic strategy was to create a Web-presence for every object using the Internet as an integrating medium between the physical and virtual worlds, she added.

Gopal said that HP's India Software Operations would be closely involved with the development and the company was looking at India as a potential market for CoolTown based projects.

A full-fledged demonstration lab was also being planned in Bangalore, she said. As for the business strategy, Gopal said HP would partner with companies operating in the wireless technology and mobile device sectors to CoolTown-enable their products.

HP would also develop and release its own suite of products which were also enabled to support the program, she added.

While all segments including enterprise, retail, travel, public services, institutions and home-space were a focus in the US, the healthcare and education segments in India presented immense opportunities for such services, she said.

While the software architecture was closely aligned to the HP Chai appliance platform it was scalable across all platforms, Gopal said. Incidentally, the company has also unveiled related software available for free download on its CoolTown website and is considering making the basic design for the beacons available in the public domain.

Printers for CoolTown
HP is all set to lauch a new series of printers which are enable to support CoolTown related features. The new range is expected to be out by the year-end. The company is also curently planning to introduce a key-chain device christened Taggy, which could be used to bookmark/store URL information transmitted by the beacons and later transfer the information onto a device enable for net-access. Taggy is expected to hit the US markets shortly.