News for Today, Mar 23

A range of happenings today, particularly with respect to wireless email due to the CTIA Wireless 2004 trade show in Atlanta:

• RIM introduced a BlackBerry wireless handheld for the 800/1900 MHz CDMA 1X networks, with Verizon Wireless being the first carrier customer. The BlackBerry 7750 features a large color screen. Available April 2004. Comment: Perfect! Now all we need is Telecom New Zealand to start offering this service ... its competitor Vodafone NZ has been pathetically slow to release BlackBerry service here in NZ. RIM
• Singapore Telecommunications and RIM announced plans to bring the BlackBerry wireless solution to mobile professionals in Asia and Australia; in Australia that's via Optus, a competitor to Telstra who has offered BlackBerry service for a couple of years, albeit low key. The offer will be for the BlackBerry 7730 and 7230 devices. Availability unannounced. RIM
• Capital & Coast District Health Board, and the Taranaki District Health Board, both in New Zealand, are rolling out Microsoft Windows Messenger for inhouse IM-based communications, and with an eye to the future for conducting video-based clinical consultations online. stuff.co.nz
• LiveOffice announced an integration between its IMConferencing Web conferencing offering and AdvisorMail, its electronic compliance management system. Combined, the products "enable financial professionals to take full advantage of the productivity benefits of online web conferencing, while remaining in full compliance with all SEC and NASD regulatory requirements." LiveOffice (release not posted yet)
• FaceTime released a network appliance to secure IM and peer-to-peer communications in the enterprise. This is a first for FaceTime, whose previous offerings have been software-only. FaceTime
• Feeling the heat from its two primary competitors, IMlogic and Akonix, FaceTime released its own free utility for the detection and reporting on unauthorized IM traffic in the enterprise. RT Monitor is available immediately. FaceTime
• Tourmaline Networks announced Email Executive, a wireless email access service for executives. Key features: Qualcomm BREW-based, read / create / reply / send email messages, address book for up to 50 contacts, and support for IMAP and POP3 email accounts, among others. Comment: Sounds too fiddly for Executives ... Email Manager would be a better target market. Also, note that there is no native support for Exchange and Domino, only IMAP4 and POP3 accounts hosted therein. Tourmaline
• SEVEN Networks signed an agreement with HP Australia for the resale of the SEVEN mobile email software -- that's the SEVEN Server Edition and the SEVEN Personal Edition -- to operators in the Asia Pacific region. SEVEN (release not there yet)
• IntelliSync Corporation announced the IntelliSync Mobile Suite for Wireless Operators, an overall solution for push-based email and PIM synchronization. Supports a range of devices (Pocket PC, Smartphone, Palm OS and Symbian), a range of networks (CDMA, GSM/GPRS, EV-DO, EDGE and WiFi), and a range of data sources (Outlook, Notes, etc). Available 1Q2004. Comment: Bah humbug! This is pretty much just a re-brand of technology acquired via the Synchrologic acquisition; the press release makes it sound as though its a Pumatech solution through-and-through. Call it what it is please! IntelliSync
• Polycom released MobileMeeting, a presence-enabled voice and data conferencing solution for wireless carrier networks. Polycom
• Sun Microsystems and RIM announced a cooperation to extend Java Web services technology to RIM BlackBerry users. The cooperation will "enable the end-to-end secure delivery of enterprise data via BlackBerry based on Sun's Java(TM) Enterprise System, Java technology for mobile devices, and Web Services technologies." Sun (hopefully they'll fix the URL)
• Two editors at searchDomino face off on Domino vs. Exchange. The most brain-dead ("Duh!") comment in the article, however, goes to the Editor arguing the Exchange side: "Exchange also supports Internet messaging standards and standard security protocols, unlike Notes, which has a proprietary security model. Exchange is integrated with Active Directory, which lets it interact with other LDAP-based directories. Notes, on the other hand, has a contained proprietary directory." searchDomino
• Microsoft Longhorn is likely to require "massive" hardware needs. FCW.com




• PalmSource and Visto Corporation released Mobile Mail 5.0 for the forthcoming Palm OS Cobalt and Palm OS Garnet releases. Key features: support for over-the-air push-based email and user-initiated sync, standards support, and IMAP folder support, among others. Available immediately. Visto
• When feed-up with Microsoft Exchange, most people just purchase another email server. This man wrote his own ... and ended up offering it as a hosted service. news.com.au