Synchronica has released a tool for organizations that want to roll out push e-mail to low-end phones as well as smartphones.
The mobile-synchronization and device-management firm announced Synchronica Mobile Gateway Enterprise Edition on Wednesday. The tool allows companies to offer push and pull e-mail to devices over the air, and also allows the synchronization of contacts, calendars, notes and tasks between the handsets and company servers.
Push e-mail involves the server routing e-mails to the user's handset almost immediately, whereas pull e-mail involves the user choosing to download waiting e-mail messages to the handset. In reality, push e-mail is a form of pull e-mail, as the server is constantly polled to check for new mail. Push e-mail is most prevalent on smartphones, such as BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and Nokia Series 60 handsets.
"We felt there was a gap in the market for a low-cost, business-grade mobile e-mail and synchronization solution that could be installed on the corporate network and managed internally as an alternative to a hosted solution," Synchronica chief executive Carsten Brinkschulte said in a statement.
According to Synchronica, Mobile Gateway Enterprise Edition is already being deployed by an unspecified "major Indian bank" for 10,000 employees in its middle and junior management tiers.
The product is compatible with Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Domino, Sun's Java Communications Suite and Imap/POP3 e-mail back-ends. It uses the Push Imap standard for mobile e-mail and SyncML for contact and calendar synchronization.
An administration portal is used to provision handsets and apply individual and group policies. SSL encryption is used for security.
According to a spokesman for Synchronica, the company is targeting firms that do not want to upgrade their workforce's handsets to smartphones in the present economic climate.
"We traditionally sell mobile e-mail products to mobile operators in emerging markets," the spokesman said. "Mobile Gateway Enterprise Edition has the same core strengths as our traditional mobile gateway product. It will work with practically any mobile device, from Nokia Series 40 to more sophisticated smartphones such as Windows Mobile devices."
The spokesman added, however, that Windows Mobile users would need to download a special client to use Synchronica's product, as the platform does not fully support the SyncML standard used in Mobile Gateway for e-mail synchronization.
Synchronica's Mobile Gateway Enterprise Edition is available now with a free trial, and prices going from US$619 for five licences to US$2495 for 25 licences.
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