Corporate users will be able to access their e-mail remotely at any time following the launch of services by two of the country’s mobile phone operators.
Digifone users can send and receive e-mails at any time over the GPRS network. Vodafone is to launch its own branded service over its network in the coming months but in the meantime, it can install a customer-specific system on a client’s premises.
Of the five Irish companies involved in Digifone’s pre-release trials, four have already signed up for the service since its launch.
‘Our own forecasts for Ireland are fairly conservative but the initial indications are quite positive,’ said Tony Dempsey, GPRS programme manager with Digifone.
The mobile phone operator’s recently launched service uses the BlackBerry system developed by Canadian firm, Research In Motion. It comprises a Blackberry 5820 wireless handset, similar to a palmtop computer, running an application that can send and receive e-mails or text messages on the fly. It is connected to a company’s e-mail system 24 hours a day, removing the need to dial into the company’s network.
The device weighs 139g and has a large screen, a keyboard and trackwheel, a headset jack and an embedded wireless modem. The 5820 has integrated e-mail and organiser software.
Using a kind of ‘push’ technology, e-mails are sent and received directly to and from the BlackBerry wireless handheld on Digifone’s GPRS network without the need to dial in.
The BlackBerry Enterprise Software (BES) must be installed on a separate server that is then connected to a company’s mail server. Currently the BES is compatible with Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes.
The Blackberry system works by sending a copy of an e-mail to a user’s device. Messages sent to a user’s inbox are reformatted in the J2ME language which makes them less than 1kbyte in size, whereas a typical Outlook or Lotus Notes message can take up to 5kbyte.
In addition, because the e-mail is reformatted before it is sent to the mobile device, the original remains at the user’s desktop PC, eliminating the need to synchronise data. Messages on the Blackberry can also be deleted without worrying about losing important information. The device can store thousands of e-mails but it has a feature where older messages are intuitively deleted if the storage space nears capacity.
The current service offered by Digifone is based on text-only e-mails but the operator is trialing an application that can open attachments.
Digifone has suggested retail prices of €799 incl VAT for each BlackBerry 5820 wireless handheld and €3,600 incl VAT for a 20-user BES licence. Additional licences for up to 10 users cost €425 include VAT.
Monthly line rental is charged at €50.00 for unlimited e-mails. The text message service is priced at SMS, as per normal corporate tariff rates, usually 7.62c.
‘IT managers we spoke to, who used the BlackBerry device said that there would be a saving of €1,200 per user per year,’ stated Dempsey.
Dempsey claimed that no accurate comparisons can be made between the cost of the Blackberry and other personal digital assistants (PDAs). ‘Those other services are not geared to e-mail on the move,’ he said.
Meanwhile rival mobile operator Vodafone expects to begin commercial trials of a wireless e-mail service this month ahead of a public launch in early summer.
In advance of this, Vodafone can provide a similar wireless e-mail system to business customers who prefer to run the service over their own network.
Vodafone’s planned offering is a network-based application that lets users access their e-mail wirelessly using any device, such as a mobile phone or PDA. According to Vodafone’s partnership programme manager Roisín O’Connell, the application works with many leading e-mail packages and is suitable for corporate customers or small to medium sized businesses.
The system uses whatever protocol is most suitable for a particular client device — for example, wireless markup language for a WAP phone. It also works over GSM and GPRS networks.
A rules-based system included with the application allows users to establish guidelines for receiving mail, such as only displaying the first 1,000 characters of a message, not opening e-mail headers or opening attachments.
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