According to Ray DePaul, director of product planning for RIM, there are three key aspects that enterprises look for in mobile email services: security, singlemailbox integration, and push (where the email is automatically delivered to the device rather than the user having to initiate the process each time). He should know -- Rim has been the dominant force in the field, boasting some 403,000 subscribers as of August 2002. In fact, according to the Gartner Group, RIM has the largest installed base for enterprise mobile email/PIM. Besides its always-on email delivery, well-designed handhelds, RIM's success lies in its adaptation to a wide number of communications networks. The company's older models use the legacy PCS-based DataTec and Mobitex wireless networks. However, the recently released Blackberry 6710/6720 models include an integrated GSM/GPRS phone, and RIM is now working on CDMA and iDEN-compatible products. The Blackberry Enterprise Server software is available for either Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Domino, and works by monitoring users' mailboxes for new email, applying filters, compressing/encrypting incoming messages, and doing the same for outgoing email. A multitude of devices
RIM needs to stay sharp: A recent report by the Gartner Group maintained that PDAs with built-in wireless capacity, together with smart phones such as the Handspring Treo 300 Communicator, will eventually overshadow RIM's dedicated email devices. PDA vendors agree. For example, with its new Tungsten W handheld, Palm is directly targeting what the company calls the "PIM-plus-wireless" corporate customer. The PDA features full Internet connectivity and a built-in keyboard; it is due to ship in the first quarter of 2003. "We've tried to go a couple of steps further [than the RIM Blackberry]," says Rick Hartwig, product manager for the Tungsten W. "We've bumped into people who carry a RIM Blackberry for the email and a Palm V for the PIM, and so we've tried to integrate both in this."
A small group of vendors now offers middleware solutions to bridge the gap. "Enterprises are going to have all kinds of devices out there to support," says Gartner's Peter Lowber. "We're looking at a piece of mobile middleware that can integrate to any backend email system and create an experience on any type of device that's appropriate for that type of device for reading email." For example, Wireless Knowledge's Workstyle Server edition, which provides access to email and PIM information residing behind a company's firewall, supports both Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino, and can handle both Palm OS and Pocket PC PDAs, as well as Internet-ready mobile phones and Blackberry devices. Another middleware vendor, Synchrologic, offers such products as its Mail Accelerator, a mobile server platform that provides push email updating on Pocket PC and Palm-OS phone devices such as the Treo. Other vendors pushing their way into this market include Infowave, Extended Systems, JP Mobile, and Good Technology, whose Goodlink platform supports the Blackberry (and who is now, as a result, fending off a legal challenge from RIM for patent, copyright, and trademark infringement). Variety may be the spice of life, but it can be a problem when it comes to enterprise deployment of mobile wireless solutions. While some IT departments will choose to standardise on products such as the Blackberry RIM, many large enterprises will probably find it necessary to accommodate a variety of mobile devices, including PDAs and smart phones. If that is the case, then decision-makers would be well-advised to choose middleware that can accommodate the full range of current and upcoming mobile technologies.
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