Rockliffe sells Windows-based POP/IMAP email server software to businesses and service providers. Version 7 of its MailSite server is now available. Among other things, it provides interesting support for mobile devices.
It's interesting because it's simple to install and support, and overall has extremely low total cost of ownership. In a nutshell:
- Email notifications are pushed out by SMS message.
- The first few lines of each email are included.
- Users define their preferences--e.g., which emails should generate these SMS alerts--via a simple Web page.
This approach has its limits. You can't view attachments, many messages are truncated, and there's no ability to reply to an SMS message. To reply, you have to go to an email client, either mobile-, Web-, or PC-based. Nevertheless, it's useful for a wide variety of short emails. For example, if a field engineer needs to call a client, it's very quick and easy to send a short email, like "Call Fred at XYZ Inc., on 415 986 1414 at 10am". For more details, see the press release.
It's a nice example of how to do push mobile email without a lot of fuss.
... David Ferris