Mobile Notes email is Good to go

Good's mobile email platform for Lotus Domino users to benefit underserved market

Good Technology will today release a version of its mobile email platform for Lotus Domino users. The firm’s wireless server has until now linked only with Microsoft Exchange. At the same time, the name of its platform is being changed from GoodLink to Good Mobile Messaging.

Mobile access to email and messaging for Lotus Domino/Notes users is currently an underserved market, according to Sue Forbes, vice-president and general manager of Good’s new IBM Business Unit.

“Sixty thousand companies still use Notes, so there’s an immense market opportunity. We found that there is a real need for an alternative to BlackBerry that will offer security and manageability on all the various mobile devices out there,” said Forbes.

Good already provides client support for Windows Mobile, Palm OS and Symbian devices in its system for Exchange servers, while RIM’s BlackBerry system largely restricts users to BlackBerry handhelds. With the new product, firms running Domino will get support for newer handsets such as Nokia’s E61 and HP’s iPaq hw6900 series at launch.

While Exchange users get Outlook-like functionality, the new version has been designed to replicate key features of the desktop Notes environment identified by users, according to Good Technology.

The client thus has mobile versions of Notes’ Calendar, Address Book, To-do, and Journal. Users can also keep multiple email windows open simultaneously, and switch to the Calendar while writing an email, for example. “So, you don’t need to close an email or save it as a draft to go and check your availability in the Calendar,” Forbes said.

For administrators, the new release keeps the security and management features of the vendor’s existing platform, such as a monitoring portal that lets IT staff access the management console remotely from a wireless handheld, and over-the-air provisioning and upgrade of clients.

“This means an IT manager does not have to touch the device at all. The user could be in a different country, in fact,” Forbes said.

Good Mobile Messaging for Lotus Domino is priced at £820 for the server licence, plus £54 per client. There is also a charge of £131 per seat each year.