Kris Kumar
08-19-2005, 11:30 AM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,2180,1848817,00.asp' target='_blank'>http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,2180,1848817,00.asp</a><br /><br /></div><i>" Microsoft is set to release an early build of a key enabler of its promised push e-mail solution by the end of this week. ... Microsoft executives have said that Exchange Server 2003 SP2, when coupled with the Windows Mobile 5.0 Messaging and Security Feature Pack, will provide a push e-mail solution that will trump the one delivered by Research In Motion (RIM) for its Blackberry devices. Microsoft is calling this push e-mail support "Direct Push." Microsoft is playing up Direct Push as an alternative to short-message service (SMS) technology for automatical e-mail detection and retrieval. "SP2 will use an HTTP connection, maintained by the device, to push new e-mail, calendar, contact, and task notifications to the device," according to the Microsoft Web site. Direct Push also will work over Wi-Fi networks, Microsoft officials have said, and will make use of additional data compression to speed up message sending, retrieval and synchronization."</i><br /><br />Microsoft is all set to release the first Community Technology Preview build of Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2. Even though this is a major milestone, Microsoft has made it clear that some of the mobility features contained in this CTP download are not yet available for testing. The users will have to wait for the availability of Windows Mobile 5.0 devices that have the Messaging & Security Feature Pack installed. :-( The report added that those devices will be available later in 2005 and 2006. So till then we will not know as to how well the new "Direct Push" mechanism works.