Sprint PCS launches wireless e-mail service

LAS VEGAS - Sprint PCS announced a new service last week that lets users access corporate e-mail without making changes to their internal application servers.

The wireless service provider - which has some experts raising security concerns - launched its Sprint PCS Business Connection Personal Edition at the 2002 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The service lets users directly access the same e-mail application via wireless device that they access via desktop PC.

Sprint PCS is teaming with software vendor Seven to offer the service. It does not require internal IT manager intervention, but lets users read, reply and delete e-mail and access contact lists and personal calendars via mobile phone or PDA.

This is the second corporate e-mail service offered by Sprint PCS. The wireless service provider has also been working with Wireless Knowledge, which hosts Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino servers within its data centers and lets Sprint PCS customers access these application servers from wireless devices or from their desktop via the Internet. This is a corporatewide deployment and typically involves the IT and the telecom departments from one company, says Jason Guesman, Sprint PCS' director of business marketing.

"[Business Connection Personal Edition] lets users simply and cost-effectively access their corporate e-mail without going through complex network changes or involving their IT department," he says.

Sprint PCS has deployed System Seven application servers within their wireless data centers. These servers are connected directly to Sprint PCS' wireless network and the Internet. When a Business Connection Personal Edition customer attempts to access his e-mail account, he is connected to the Seven servers, which establish a secure connection to the user's PC over the Internet using Secure Sockets Layer and a propriety encryption technology, says Bill Nguyen, president of Seven.

The connection typically will pass through a customer's corporate firewall, which is why the system establishes a secure link over the Internet.

The user's PC acts as a proxy server, Nguyen says. Users are required to download client software onto their PC, which must remain connected to the Internet and their corporate LAN. This may not be the most convenient setup for users who travel with laptops. In such cases, Seven recommends downloading the client onto a co-worker's PC that typically remains connected to the Internet and the LAN.

Once the connection between the Seven servers and the customer's PC is established, the user can access the corporate e-mail server on a Wireless Application Protocol-enabled device.

No additional software is required on the application servers. While the service offers users an easy way to access e-mail without fussing with synchronization when they return to the office, the method may raise eyebrows from a security standpoint, says Stephen Drake, a program manager at IDC.

"Security is one of the biggest issues across all mobility applications," he says. In this case, users are accessing their corporate network via a secure connection over the Internet that their IT department may not have approved. This could cause problems internally, Drake says. But he also notes that more IT departments are taking measures to approve certain wireless devices and services as employees become more reliant on such services.

The service is expected to be available by the end of March. Pricing is not yet available.