Mobile phone firm announces business push email service availability

Orange has announced the availability of a push email service for businesses using Windows Mobile handsets and Microsoft's Exchange Server 2003. The service also includes access to management tools to ease the configuration of many devices in large organisations, Orange said.

The Windows Mobile Email service will be available to Orange customers from 3 April and uses the Direct Push email capability in the Messaging and Security Feature Pack update for Windows Mobile 5.0 handsets. Businesses will also need to operate a mail system based on Exchange Server 2003 with Service Pack 2 to get the full benefits.

Other operators offer similar services across their mobile networks, but Orange is supporting its customers with Orange Mobile Manager, a web-based administration tool that enables IT departments to set up hundreds of devices for email without having to manually configure each one.

"Users want push email now and IT managers want rapid rollout without having to recall handsets from the field," said Orange's Shaun Orpen. A range of pre-set configurations can also be applied to match the needs of different groups of users within a company.

Orange said its push email service will be offered in three bundles covering light to heavy users and will also be available as an optional extra on top of existing data-only and voice and data contracts.

The carrier said its system also cuts costs to users by reducing the frequency of open connection "heartbeat" signals sent between the handset and server from once every three minutes to just once per hour.