IPhone customers who use Lotus Notes at work won't be left out anymore with a new offering from Sybase iAnywhere.

Sybase iAnywhere is set to announce on Tuesday that it is adding support for the iPhone in its Information Anywhere Suite, initially only for e-mail. That means that companies using Lotus Notes will be able to securely push e-mail messages to iPhone users.

Apple recently announced that it plans to support Microsoft's ActiveSync technology in its second-generation iPhone software so that iPhone users can receive Exchange e-mail. But the announcement did not include a way for Lotus Notes users to receive e-mail on iPhones, so Sybase hopes to fill that gap.

IAnywhere also thinks companies that use Exchange e-mail will be interested in using its software to push e-mail out to iPhones, even after Apple's new iPhone software comes out in June.

"ActiveSync has some limitations that enterprises find, in some cases, not suitable to their environment," said Senthil Krishnapillai, director of product management for Sybase iAnywhere's mobile collaborations group. For example, ActiveSync opens Active Directory in a way that creates a security issue for some companies, he said. "Those enterprises may want to use our technology because we have a better model to secure the communications between the device and a server without compromising the firewall or other security policies in place," he said.

Information Anywhere contains a component that sits inside the enterprise firewall. Mobile device connections end there, so that IT managers don't have to open inbound communications ports to their messaging infrastructure. IAnywhere has enabled that proxy to support the iPhone coming in from outside of the firewall, either from the mobile network or Wi-Fi.

Using Information Anywhere, IT managers can also set policies that restrict attachments from iPhones.

Initially, the Information Anywhere Suite will only support e-mail for the iPhone. It synchs mail to the iPhone's e-mail client. In addition, the software suite will allow users to look up co-workers in their corporate directory and their contacts via the browser on the phone.

IAnywhere did not need the iPhone SDK (software development kit) that Apple recently released in beta in order to develop the capability, although it did receive guidance from Apple that helped ensure it was working in the right direction, Krishnapillai said.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.