Open Mobile Alliance Data Synchronization (OMA DS / SyncML)

The OMA DS standard (also known as SyncML) is a mobile data industry standard providing a protocol to synchronize personal information manager (PIM) data between a mobile device and a server. PIM data is the collective name given to contacts, calendar, notes, tasks, and email.

The SyncML initiative was founded in February 2000 as collaboration between Nokia, Ericsson, IBM, Lotus, Matsushita, Motorola, Palm, Psion, and Starfish Software. The first handset launched supporting the new SyncML standard was the Nokia 9210 Communicator in December 2000.

The SyncML initiative was later merged, along with a number of other initiatives focussed on mobile data communication, into the Open Mobile Alliance. At this stage, the OMA DS and OMA DM elements of SyncML were split in separate parts. The current version of OMA DS is version 1.2.1.

A major enhancement to the 1.2 release of the OMA DS standard was a push mechanism. Known as server-alerted notification (SAN), this addition allows a server to notify a device of a new PIM data item by sending a binary SMS to the device which initiates a synchronization session with the server to collect the new data item.

Synchronica Mobile Gateway and Mobile Backup are fully compliant with the 1.2 version of OMA DS and backward-compatible with all previous versions of the standard.

Who Is Supporting OMA Data Synchronization (OMA DS)?

All major device manufacturers support the Open Mobile Alliance standards. OMA DS-compliant software is now included as standard, not only in smartphones but also in many feature phones. This allows synchronization and backup and restore services to be provided by network operators to an increasing customer base of business users, prosumers, and consumers.

A rapidly increasing list of devices supporting the OMA DS standard can be found here