Cingular Wireless last week launched two enterprise-class e-mail services designed to let users securely access corporate e-mail resources from mobile devices.
The services include customer premise- and network-based offerings called Xpress Mail Enterprise Edition and Xpress Mail Network Edition, respectively. They are based on software from Seven Networks, a developer of mobile e-mail servers.
Seven has a relationship with Cingular and supplies comparable products to mobile operators such as KDDI, Orange, NTT DoCoMo, O2, SingTel and Sprint.
Enterprise Edition puts a dedicated wireless mail server behind the corporate firewall for businesses that prefer to manage their own mobile e-mail resources. Network Edition is a managed service hosted by Cingular that operates behind a network-based firewall.
Network Edition is designed for businesses that do not want to own or manage the technology – Cingular manages the service from its data center. Once a business chooses between the behind-the-firewall and managed service options, users can be set up centrally by IT or individually, based on the company’s requirements.
Each service also features reporting tools to monitor usage and service.
Both services are designed to work on a variety of mobile devices, including palmOne’s Treo 600, which Cingular offers. The services are intended to be “device-agnostic” – letting multiple wireless devices securely connect to multiple e-mail platforms, Cingular says.
“This is really an attempt by the carriers to offer something that has a larger addressable market and is more affordable than BlackBerry,” says Mark Lowenstein, managing director of wireless consultancy Mobile Ecosystem. “It’s playing off the success of BlackBerry. A lot of people want a behind-the-firewall enterprise solution to access mobile e-mail but on a much broader variety of devices – the BlackBerry experience on any mobile device.”
Cingular also supports 750,000 BlackBerry users, Lowenstein says.
New e-mail service Cingular’s Xpress Mail Enterprise Edition and Xpress Mail Network Edition feature: | ||||||||
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“Cingular has made some big bets around applications that they are emphasizing,” he says. “Messaging is one.”
Both editions use common security and encryption technologies such as 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard, Secure Sockets Layer and VPN. They also include features such as push-based, real-time access to data on Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Domino, Internet Message Access Protocol and POP servers; customizable synchronization schedules and alerts; and access to multiple e-mail in-boxes and accounts from the same user interface.
The services provide global access so users can securely check their e-mail from any browser. Also, data is never replicated to third-party servers outside the firewall.
Enterprise Edition and Network Edition are available now on palmOne’s Treo 600 handheld wireless device. Airtime is $30 per user, per month, including 5M bytes of data usage, or $40 per user, per month, including unlimited data usage.
Enterprise Edition requires a one-time setup and installation fee of $1,500, and a one-time connection fee of $1,000.
