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Technology Brief:
Pocket PC Passes RIM for Mobile Email Access
 
 

What's the best way to give your road warriors Email access back to Exchange and Domino? Pocket PC is winning decisive enterprise battles left and right these days. Read why...

Ancient History

Early handheld devices enticed users with cradle-based sync of Email and calendar entries via shrink-wrapped desktop sync software. Once users experienced the productivity lift, there was no turning back. The demand for the added convenience of wireless access was something that device manufacturers couldn't ignore. Palm was early into the market, making their wireless debut with the Palm VII. The device showed great promise, but some organizations complained about a lack of network options and the proprietary software. The device never quite took off in the enterprise.

Another early player was the Canadian company Research in Motion®, or RIM®. They drew a lot of attention for rapid acceptance by users starved for a better mobile Email solution. The RIM BlackberryTM device was jokingly referred to as the "CrackBerry" due to the loyalty that "addicted" users showed. Yet even the most fervent user occasionally longed for things like a color display, the ability to receive email attachments, compatibility with Microsoft Office files, and access to corporate applications. Meanwhile, corporate IT staff were frustrated by a lack of systems management tools and difficulties extending the capabilities of the device beyond Email.

The Pocket PC Future

A slowness to correct these well known issues created room for the competition to make things interesting. Amidst great internal upheaval, then-favorite Palm failed to capitalize on the opportunity. Meanwhile, Microsoft was paying a lot of attention to the market and Pocket PC started making huge market share gains -- particularly in the enterprise. There are many reasons for this, including these few:

  • Overall great user experience
  • The power of the OS and accompanying applications
  • Extensibility of the device via familiar development tools
  • More flexible and affordable networking alternatives

Today, we see many organizations centrally purchasing and centrally managing Pocket PCs as corporate assets. Many organizations are extending the capability of the device beyond Email and calendaring with enterprise applications...and as a platform for content distribution. But the need for an automatic-delivery Email experience has made it hard for some organizations to convert their die-hard RIM fans. Until now.

Relevant Architecture Issues

Looking under the covers, it's a lot more than just the device that creates the Email experience. The network options, mobile middleware, and client software all play a key role. And unlike the popular misconception, if users want an always-available experience, the synchronization model is the way to go.

With the sync architecture, Email is delivered to the device where it can be read later, even when the wireless device is out of range of. Likewise, the user can compose or reply to messages when out of range, and these will be sent when the device is again able to connect to the network. If a real-time or thin client model is used, being out of wireless range means being out of luck for Email activity. That fact that the RIM device uses a synchronization-style architecture surprises many users who think of it as "real time." This is because the synchronization process is completely transparent to the user and happens automatically in the background.

Finally, An Alternative!

For the first time, Synchrologic brings an automatic and always-available experience to the Pocket PC device. Our Email and PIM sync solution - Synchrologic Email Accelerator - provides a variety of automatic update capabilities that deliver an ideal user experience for today's Pocket PC devices on today's public wireless networks. Synchrologic software will make the Pocket PC wake up, establish a wireless connection, establish a link with the email server, and send and receive email, calendar updates and other PIM data. Users enjoy a fully automatic email experience, with the full power of the Pocket PC platform to meet their total needs from one device.

Very soon we will also see Pocket PC based smart phones hit the market. Like your everyday cell phone, they will maintain a constant connection with the wireless network. Also, like your cell phone or an email pager, they are "addressable" devices... meaning it is possible for someone to reach out and make the device ring, or push a message or data out to the device. Synchrologic's technology will work with these new generation of Pocket PC Phone Edition devices to automatically PUSH emails and calendar updates out to the device as soon as they are received at the server.

So if you've been looking in vain for a way to provide a quality user experience for Email to a device as usable and manageable as the Pocket PC...look no further. Synchrologic Email Accelerator changes everything.

That's Not All

Oh...and did we forget to mention WAP phone access, push to WAP phones, streamlined PC sync, proactive alerts, travel information, automatic deployment, centrally-managed profiles, and a wide range of security options? If you want to learn more, keep reading...