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:

Synchronization Applications

BlackBerry/2-Way Devices

Wireless Application Protocol

Other Tools

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.

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