eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
Good Technology is releasing its new service for IBM Lotus Domino users that will allow wireless PDA and smart phone users to have access to their Notes e-mail remotely.
The new product, Good Mobile Messaging for IBM Lotus Domino, will support a wide variety of wireless platforms, such as the new Motorola Q, Palm Treo devices including the new 700 series, Nokia E61 devices and Windows Mobile devices.
Good, based in Santa Clara, Calif., is already selling a product for Exchange which has been newly renamed Good Mobile Messaging for Microsoft Exchange.
The new product will support Lotus e-mail as well as the rest of the Notes PIM functions, said Goods vice president and general manager for the IBM business unit, Sue Forbes.
“It will be fully pushed,” Forbes said.
She added that the architectural framework will allow it to be extended to other uses, including Notes applications. She said that Goods highly regarded security will be part of the package as well.
“We provide full end-to-end security of the Good system,” Forbes explained. “Weve gone one step further with Good Mobile Defense. It does a complete lockdown. It fully encrypts information on the SD card, controls the use of the camera, Bluetooth, etc.”
Forbes said that the technology for the IBM Lotus platform will allow managers to perform compliance management of remote devices, and it wont allow non-compliant devices to connect to the network.
“The IT staff need never have to physically touch the device,” Forbes said. She added that a major goal for the Mobile Messaging product was to make sure it wouldnt burden the IT staff in any way.
IBMs Shawne Robinson said the company was delighted to see the new Good product. Robinson, senior product manager for Mobile and Wireless Solutions at IBM Lotus, said that Good brings new diversity to the users of Lotus messaging.
“The value is that they are helping to expand the mobile ecosystem and helping customers get to a broader range of devices,” he said. He noted that IBM Lotus also partners with RIM, but he said that the added choices were important to IBM Lotus.
“There are 125 million Domino users out there,” said analyst Kathryn Weldon. “Most of the middleware vendors do have support for Domino, so its a must.”
Weldon, who is principal analyst for enterprise mobility at Current Analysis in Sterling, Va., said that there are really only two enterprise-grade mobile e-mail providers, Good and RIM.
“Its important for Good, so there is pent-up demand for BlackBerry alternatives,” Weldon said.
“Theres so much out there that goes beyond BlackBerry,” Weldon noted. “BlackBerry is great for what it does, but its not the optimal device.”
Weldon said that many other companies need a mobile solution that does much more, such as running third-party applications available on the Treo.
Forbes also said that part of the reason the Good solution is so important are the recent RIM legal troubles. She said that those troubles highlight the fact that the BlackBerry is a closed platform.
“Its a potential weak point in companies to have those completely connected together,” Forbes said. “The whole system can suddenly become at risk.”
Good Mobile Messaging for IBM Lotus Domino will be available from carriers in July 2006, with availability from other sources being phased in over the course of the next 60 days.