Special to Slipstick.com by Hal Hostetler
I can clearly recall my boss telling me, when I'd finally convinced him we really needed to upgrade our WorkGroup PostOffice to an Exchange Server, ‘Remember, this is a Television Station! e-mail is SECONDARY." My, how a little time changes things. Not only has e-mail become mission critical, but I now have a half users who own PDAs and several more are looking at two-way pagers. My boss has a brand new ‘smart" digital cell phone, and they ALL want to access our Exchange Server. Does this sound familiar? Perhaps, I can save you some legwork….
Two-way mobile Exchange connectivity currently comes in three general flavors — PDA synchronization, Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) devices, and BlackBerry/2-way pager devices. In all cases, a server or wireless service (or both) is used as an interface between the Exchange Server and the mobile device.
PDAs — or Personal Digital Assistants — such as Palm and PocketPC devices have been around a few years; they are probably the first mobile devices you'll have to deal with. They all ship with some form of synchronization application, usually designed to work with an Exchange Server client (usually Outlook) on the user’s desktop PC. This is fine when a user is in the office, but generally useless when on the road. Several companies have addressed this issue by offering applications that allow direct sync with the Exchange server itself.
BlackBerry and 2-way pager devices are a new generation of wireless handheld that offers users e-mail and Web-browsing capabilities built on the simplicity of the pager. They are about the same size and weight as pager or PDA and are designed to be always on and always connected like a pager. Research In Motion makes the BlackBerry. Coverage is available via the GPRS wireless network in the United States and Canada and also via GSM in the United Kingdom. Like PDA sync applications, these devices come with desktop software that allows you to synchronize mail, calendar, contacts and tasks. Server applications provide the interface between the various wireless services and Exchange.
The Wireless Application Protocol started out as an initiative by Unwired Planet, Motorola, Nokia, and Ericsson to develop a standard for wireless content delivery to the next generation of mobile communicators and has grown to include just about all mobile devices. It comes built into many newer digital mobile phones. A number of companies now offer WAP applications for PDAs. Even 2-Way pager device manufacturers indicate they'll offer support for it. This looks to be the most promising of the three, because it should provide connectivity for all types of mobile devices from a common service.
It is worthwhile to note that not all mobile solutions require third party applications; Exchange Server ships with a very useful mobile service of its own, Outlook Web Access. OWA allows many PDA and virtually ALL notebook users real time access to their Exchange Server mailbox from any location that offers an Internet connection. And there are other novel approaches, listed under Other Tools.
Other mobile access tools are on the following pages:
This page lists server-based solutions that connect directly to Microsoft Exchange. Standalone, mostly non-Exchange users can get two-way mobile access with these tools and services listed at Tools for Mobile Access to Microsoft Outlook Data.
Tools
An Exchange add-on, Outlook synchronization solution which synchronizes any combination of Outlook private and/or public folders of the same type (Calendars, Contacts, Tasks) and in any direction. This application works wirelessly with any PDA, Pocket PC, Smartphone or Blackberry handheld and Outlook Web Access. Add2Exchange is licensed and sold separately for Add2Exchange for Calendars, Add2Exchange for Contacts, & Add2Exchange for Tasks. Free trial available. | |
The itrezzoAgent BPP module sends administrators and managers a daily report of BlackBerry Provisioning and handheld distribution across multiple BlackBerry Enterprise Servers and multiple exchange mailbox servers. A breakdown by Protocol, Inactive users and deleted mailboxes are also listed. This product only works with Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Outlook. Free. Version 3.3.6 | |
DavSync is a two-way synchronisation tool for users of Outlook with Microsoft Exchange. It is designed to transfer Outlook entries between Local and Shared (Public) Contact, Calendar or Task Folders, so that the contents are available easily in the user's mailbox, and can be synchronised with the user's PDA, Blackberry etc. | |
Davton ContactSync is a free tool which will synchronise contacts in one contact folder to another. It is designed to synchronise contacts from a shared Microsoft Outlook 'Public Folder' to a personal folder - so that the contacts can be synchronised to a PDA using ActiveSync. It is a one way synchronization - changes made in the local folder or on the PDA will not be reflected back to the Public folder. | |
Davton SyncManager is an automated Synchronisation tool for users of Microsoft Outlook with Microsoft Exchange. It is designed to make a local copy of a Shared (Public) Folder, so that the contacts, appointments and Tasks are available easily in the users mailbox, and can be synchronised with the users PDA, Blackberry etc. The Enterprise version of SyncManager, SyncManager-Enterprise, is available to synchronise multiple mailboxes from one installation. | |
The MaaS360 ActiveSync Reporting Tool is a Powershell-based utility that scans Microsoft Exchange servers for partnerships from devices such as Windows Mobile, iPhone, iPad and Android devices. It allows administrators to understand which users have mobile devices and how often they are used. It also allows administrators to discover what devices are present on their network, and provides a method to determine which devices are no longer in service. | |
Your sync-software can sync only default folders of Outlook, but you need also subfolders and public folders? OLMixedFolders can synchronize any Microsoft Outlook subfolder or public folders with your Outlook default folders. It uses categories to keep in touch with the origin folder. It is possible to create elements for the linked folders directly on your mobile phone. After synchronization, the element goes to the specified folder. | |
Syncfriend is a free online sync service for devices and Outlook 2007/2010. With it, you are able to keep as many PCs with Outlook in sync as you want, including a range of devices. The basic Outlook sync addin is free for up to 200 contacts. A premium version for unlimited number of contacts including calender sync will be available soon. | |
Winfonie Mobile 2 can sync phone book, appointments and todos between Microsoft Outlook, Tobit David, Lotus Organizer, Windows Address Book, Microsoft Access and many Nokia mobile phones. You can sync or copy contacts (multiple numbers, address, email, ...), calendar dates and task lists. Synchronization is fully customizable. You can select entries individually or by category (filter). A free trial version is available, you can test functionality for yourself. To use the software you need either a bluetooth, a infrared or a cable (DAU-9P, DLR-3P, DKU-2, DKU-5) connection to your mobile. | |
Web site software to synchronize calendar, contact, task, and other data to Outlook or Palm Desktop. Site visitors will need to install a small plug-in. SDK available for developers who want to drive synchronization from a database. |
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Last reviewed on Dec 8, 2011
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