Integrated messaging comes to smartphones

Mobile staff get access to range of applications

A new integrated messaging tool from Intellisync lets mobile staff access a range of applications including email, instant messaging (IM), text messages, voice communications and contacts, all from a single client on their smartphone. Intellisync Unified Messaging, available from November, can link with corporate email servers running Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino. It supports all major IM systems, including AOL, Yahoo and ICQ, plus Lotus Sametime and Microsoft's Live Communications Server. The client runs on Windows Mobile, Palm OS and Symbian devices.
Intellisync said it aims to give users the kind of integrated messaging that has so far centred on PCs and desktop phones. ”We will enable you to work where you want, when you want, and with all the information you need right at your fingertips," said chief executive Woody Hobbs.
A key feature of the tool is its presence capability, to let staff see whether or not colleagues are available. Someone in a meeting could set their status so that colleagues know to contact them via IM rather than by voice call, for example.
Intellisync Unified Messaging can be deployed on a server behind the corporate firewall or as a service hosted by a mobile carrier. The firm has yet to disclose licensing costs.
Microsoft is also developing a client for Windows Mobile smartphones that will link to its Live Communications Server. A beta is set to ship before the end of this year.