Sun Microsystems is to add mobile synchronisation capability to two products, the Java System Communications Suite and Java System Application Platform Suite, using technology from middleware firm Synchronica.

Under the agreement, Sun will incorporate SyncML technology from Synchronica's Mobile Gateway server into the products, and also gains a licence for the firm's SyncML clients and over-the-air configuration capability.

The Java System Communications Suite provides email, instant messaging and calendaring tools, and is aimed at both enterprise firms and telecommunication carriers. It is already used to provide 240 million mailboxes, according to Sun.

Synchronica chief executive Carsten Brinkschulte said the move will enable Sun to add mobile capability to the suite, enabling it to synchronise email, calendar and contacts with mobile phones, a great many of which already have built-in support for the SyncML protocol. SyncML is also known as the Open Mobile Alliance Data Synchronisation protocol (OMA DS).

"They will offer this in future as a standard component of the suite to mobile operators and enterprise customers," Brinkschulte said, adding it will take some time following the announcement before the technology finds its way into the shipping products.

The SyncML capabilities will also appear in the Java System Application Platform Suite, where they will enable developers to build synchronisation solutions to link enterprise applications such as SAP with mobile handhelds, according to Brinkschulte.