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Corporate E-Mail on the iPhone

Posted on: Wednesday, 29 August 2007, 12:13 CDT

Ben Knieff's suit pockets are a little bulky these days. Two weeks ago, he purchased an Apple (AAPL) iPhone -- which he loves for Web surfing, maps, and news -- but he still needs his BlackBerry to access corporate e-mail at the financial-services firm where he works in Minneapolis. "The iPhone wasn't supported by my corporate office, so it wasn't a choice," says Knieff, a product manager. He now checks two devices compulsively.

Knieff is hardly a unique case. More executives are packing dual mobile devices these days because many companies such as American Airlines' parent AMR (AMR), Qwest Communications International (Q), Bank of America (BAC), and BusinessWeek's parent, The McGraw-Hill Companies (MHP), discourage iPhone users from connecting to corporate e-mail systems such as Microsoft (MSFT) Exchange or IBM (IBM) Lotus Domino, citing security concerns [see BusinessWeek.com, 6/29/07, "Not Everyone Wants an iPhone"].

Clever Workarounds Since the iPhone's arrival, Corporate America has reacted in various ways. Some have let employees connect to the corporate network but deny tech support for the devices. Others, such as Bank of America, Qwest, and American Airlines, are not allowing workers with iPhones to connect to corporate e-mail systems at all. Of course, resourceful employees may elude corporate defenses, and their success doing so typically depends on how much security each company has installed.

Cisco (CSCO) subsidiary WebEx wants to help executives empty their coat pockets and shed unwanted phones. On Aug. 29, the company will give corporate users a way to access Outlook e-mail via their iPhones with its PCNow service. In March, WebEx began offering PCNow as a way to remotely access computer documents, e-mail, and calendars via mobile devices. The service is now available for the iPhone and will let workers access e-mail, contacts, and files on their PCs. WebEx is offering a free one-month trial, and then the service costs $12.95 per month for one PC, with discounts for those who buy in volume or sign up for an annual contract.

WebEx joins a growing number of companies that have announced or demonstrated services to help iPhone users connect to corporate e-mail since the new smartphone was launched in June. Those companies include Visto, Synchronica, Funambol, and Sybase (SY). On August 2, Synchronica began offering a 60-day free trial of its Mobile Gateway 3.0 service that provides mobile synchronization between Microsoft Exchange and Apple's iPhone. Visto will begin a free trial of its service late in the third quarter of 2007. On Aug. 7, Sybase demonstrated the use of one of its iAnywhere products to sign into corporate e-mail, calendars, and address books at its user conference in Las Vegas but has not announced a product.

Testing Tolerances It's not likely that chief information officers will be very happy about these services, says Ken Dulaney, vice-president at consulting firm Gartner (IT). "All these methods are creative, but they generally would violate most enterprises' security policy," says Dulaney, adding that some of these products can open up holes in a corporate network. Dulaney contends that the iPhone isn't enterprise-ready and that security on the e-mail client is weak, with limited controls and no mechanism to force users to enter a secure password.

"What we are introducing may not be a solution for large enterprises but it's a good solution for SMBs [small to midsize businesses] and individuals," says Jack Chawla, senior director of product management at WebEx. Chawla adds that the WebEx PCNow product uses SSL, or secure sockets layer, security. "A lot of people want to ditch their BlackBerrys and go to iPhone but there is no good solution for e-mail."

In fact, workers at large companies have devised their own means of using the iPhone for corporate e-mail, such as automatically forwarding corporate e-mail to Web-mail accounts, such as that offered by Yahoo! (YHOO), and using their iPhones to check the Web-mail account. IT administrators frown on such tactics. Some companies have explicit policies forbidding corporate e-mail access on the iPhone but have quietly implemented the Internet Message Access Protocol [IMAP] standard so that some workers can use their iPhones. And some people are charging ahead with third-party solutions under the radar of the IT department. "Lots of companies don't have good security policies, are not aware [of security risks], or simply don't care," Dulaney says.

For instance, Cisco doesn't explicitly support the iPhone, says Chawla of WebEx's parent company. WebEx's corporate IT is still run as a separate entity since it was acquired by Cisco on May 29. "In general Cisco has a policy of supporting some devices and tolerating some other devices," says Chawla. "My guess is that iPhone will fall into the tolerating category."

Licensing Opportunities Ultimately, a better alternative for corporate users, says Dulaney, is for Apple to follow Nokia's lead and license Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync as Nokia (NOK) did so its Eseries devices could have wireless synchronization for calendar and contact data as well as mobile e-mail from compatible Exchange Servers. In July, BusinessWeek reported that Apple had been in discussions last year with Good Technology (MOT), a leading provider of secure mobile e-mail, about putting Good Mobile Messaging software on the iPhone, but those talks broke down [see BusinessWeek.com, 7/23/07, "Making the iPhone Mean Business"].

"I wouldn't be surprised if there's a small line of people waiting outside someone's door in Cupertino, saying let's talk about corporate e-mail and the iPhone," says Dana Gardner, principal analyst at Interabor Solutions, a consulting firm in Gilford, N.H. For its part, WebEx says that it delayed the launch of the most recent release of PCNow until it could get Apple's approval.

As for Knieff, he's not willing to meddle with his corporate e-mail so he can access it on his iPhone -- and he refuses to wear the devices on his belt. So for now, he'll just have to live with bulky suit pockets.

Source: Business Week

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