Internet Focus.

E-Mail: Proven "Killer App "for the Mobile internet 

In the existing wired internet, electronic mail is by far the most widely used application or technology, with over 95% of internet users using some type of electronic mail service. As users begin to utilize mobile. Internet technologies, electronic mail is the leading application that users expect to be able to access. In our own customer deployments, Infinite Technologies has had mobile operator customers tell us that analysis of their mobile portal traffic has shown that over 80% of accesses within the portal are for e-mail related services. While this may indicate that operator portals are weak in other areas, it is clear that e-mail is a service that gives mobile users a reason to use mobile Internet services. E-mail is personalized, relevant content, and in many cases, mobile access to e-mail services delivers a real quantifiable value to the end-user. As an application with broad horizontal market appeal, mobile e-mail services, when implemented properly, will keep users returning to the mobile portal, and give the opportunity for users to be exposed to new portal services.

However, while we take e-mail services for granted in the wired world, there are many factors that must be considered. when implementing e-mail services for mobile users. When deploying e-mail services on the mobile internet, it is important to consider the needs of both the corporate and consumer audience, who will have different requirements fore-mail accessibility, reliability and security. Additionally, because e-mail is such a widely used commodity, consider that the last thing most users need is yet another mailbox, making integration with existing e-mail systems essential.

Infinite Interchange in the WAP Marketplace

Limiting perspective to the WAP marketplace, Infinite Interchange provides solutions for the following environments:

1.) Corporate E-Mail Integration -- Infinite Interchange can be installed on site in a corporate environment to provide corporate users with wireless access to their existing mailbox. Depending on customer security requirements and preferences, Interchange can be installed inside or outside of the corporate firewall. Transport layer security between the WAP gateway and the Interchange server is handled via SSL.

Corporate users can continue to use the e-mail system that they are most comfortable with. Direct access into the e-mail system provides enhanced security because users are not forwarding or replicating messages to an external non-secure mailbox.

Forwarding solutions also present other dilemmas, which do not exist in the Infinite Interchange solution. For example, users may be sometimes working in the office, and other times working outside of the office and requiring mobile access via a WAP device. If a user forgets to turn on forwarding, their mail will not be accessible from a WAP device. If a user forgets to turn off forwarding, they are often left with worse problems, such as the WAP specific mailbox filling up and having to be cleaned up, and possibly mysterious error messages being returned to the people sending them messages.

Interestingly enough, network operators are often the first customers to encounter this requirement. As they begin to deploy phones into their organizations, they face the daunting task of how to access their corporate e-mail system from the WAP device. Infinite Technologies has worked with AT&T Wireless since the launch of their PocketNet service to provide access to AT&T's corporate Exchange system via mobile pre-WAP devices.

2.) ISP E-Mail Integration--Network operators often have related business units that provide ISP services. Integration between WAP e-mail services on the mobile phones and the e-mail services provided by the ISP can provide a compelling business advantage in the marketplace, as well as a way to draw users to sign up for both services. Infinite Interchange allows WAP devices to integrate with. industry-standard IMAP4 and POP3 based e-mail systems, so that there is no need to install a separate e-mail system to support the WAP devices.

3.) Complete E-Mail System for Wireless and Wired Portals -- E-Mail services are a core component of any portal strategy, whether the portal strategy is wired, wireless, or a combination of both. Infinite Interchange is available in configurations that support fault tolerant operations using clustering and load balancing technologies. In these environments, Infinite Interchange can provide a complete e-mail solution supporting hundreds of thousands or even millions of users. Users have the flexibility of connecting to their mailbox via a WA? device, via the WebMail interface, or via industry-standard POP3 and IMAP4 e- mail clients. Infinite Technologies also provides outsourced mail hosting services for these environments.

4.) Individual Users and Small Offices -- For individual users and small offices that have existing ISP e-mail accounts, Infinite Technologies provides the free MailAndNews.com service, which can allow these users to access their existing POP3 or IMAP4 mailboxes via a WAP device.

5.) (For UP.Link carriers) Web-based access to UP.MailPhone.com's UP Link gateway includes an integrated WAP-based e-mail component. However, this solution will not be adequate for many environments. In addition to environments where the network operator wishes to integrate the WAP e-mail services with an existing e-mail system, there is also a strong need for users to be able to access their WAP mailbox from the wired world. Infinite interchange's WebMail services can be used to provide world class web-based access into the UP.Mail system.