Introducing Desktop E-Mail Redirectors

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.microsoft.com/mobile/pocketpc/downloads/redirector.asp' target='_blank'>http://www.microsoft.com/mobile/poc.../redirector.asp</a><br /><br /></div>"A desktop e-mail redirector lets you connect to your Outlook or Exchange e-mail at work. You can install the desktop e-mail redirector on both your desktop PC and mobile device yourself and start receiving and sending e-mail from your device right away. Most desktop e-mail redirectors also give you access to your calendar and contacts. Your e-mail and personal information management (PIM) data is encrypted during transmission to help protect your information. Desktop e-mail redirectors allow you "browse" your Outlook or Exchange server. Once you sync your e-mail via a wireless connection it will automatically store a copy of your e-mail and PIM data on your mobile device so you can still use or process the data even if you are out of wireless coverage. A copy of the data will sync with your Outlook or Exchange, automatically at timed intervals or on command."

[bdegroodt]

Getting closer. Now if it would just push it to you instead of needing to be pulled (This would seem especially "doable" for the PPC PE).

I wonder what sort of bandwidth useage were looking at for the query alone. Hitting the megmeter every 15 minutes with this could get expensive if it's not a small footprint.

[Janak Parekh]

I wonder what sort of bandwidth useage were looking at for the query alone. Hitting the megmeter every 15 minutes with this could get expensive if it's not a small footprint.
... unless they develop some very efficient protocol. Hypothetically, a ~ 500 byte query could be enough (authentication issues aside). Assuming 1K blocks, every 15 minutes for 12 hours would amount to 48K per day or 1.4M per month. It's a start. A further optimization would be, instead of polling, to use an SMS to notify the phone to wake up and automatically retrieve the email.

--janak

[thanos255]

Yeah but could they not use the Flux Capasitor to push the Hyperdrive from the Q-Continum?'

From there they could use the ACME shuttle protocol to get the Road Runner rocket to tell us the email is there.

What are your thoughts? :)

Thanos

[freitasm]

Sort of good. It's closely related to the MS Outlook Mobile program that used to complement the MS MIS, but was removed.

One of the reasons why this is not good is security. IT in some companies is still not managing pocket devices, and information can slip thru the cracks.

Do you have an idea of how many notebooks and handhelds are stolen or lost every day, in airports, cafe lounges, hotel lobbies?

A notebook can be protected, with encryption mechanisms, PGP disks, passwords on boot or restore from sleep. A PPC OTOH, unless using some sort of builtin security (a la H5450) is pretty much open, and some company policies would not accept this to be connected to their networks. In some case this could be the case for interruption of employment.

Also, a program running in a desktop, bypassing a firewall because the traffic is a "known" kind of traffic open even more machines to interference from third-party people. Instead of worrying about a MS Exchange Server, now the admin has to worry about all the 45,000 desktops out there working as servers, listening! Of course, the Admin can block MS Outlook mobile traffic, and then, back to square one...

It's all good (and I love technology, that's why I work in the communications industry) but some people are DUH! not prepared for this yet, and there's no infrastructure to control it.

I still think the MIS (http://www.microsoft.com/mis) is the best way to go.

[igreen]

Ugh! I want my PPC to connect directly to get my eMail. An email redirector is what AT&T touts as their solution for mobile users who want access to their email on the go. Your desktop has to be running and connected to the web. HEY....what if my desktop travels with me? Like its laptop????? Or...what if I am out of town and my desktop decides to gorp? What do I do then? No....Mobile devices need to have full access just like thier bigger counterparts.

[freitasm]

Ugh! I want my PPC to connect directly to get my eMail. An email redirector is what AT&T touts as their solution for mobile users who want access to their email on the go. Your desktop has to be running and connected to the web. HEY....what if my desktop travels with me? Like its laptop????? Or...what if I am out of town and my desktop decides to gorp? What do I do then? No....Mobile devices need to have full access just like thier bigger counterparts.

And that's why MS Mobile Information Server is better. It's a full server, with SMS, HTML and WAP notifications, plus ActiveSync services to sync over the internet. Problem is it needs an Exchange Server.

But it's much better in capabilities.

[Janak Parekh]

Yeah but could they not use the Flux Capasitor to push the Hyperdrive from the Q-Continum?'

From there they could use the ACME shuttle protocol to get the Road Runner rocket to tell us the email is there.
I was being quite serious, you know... :? Always-on email is a "holy grail", but even with RIM it's very expensive. The only current exception to the cost rule is the T-Mobile Sidekick. Lowering the cost for a broader array of solutions via clever methodologies may be worthwhile.

--janak

[bdegroodt]

Ugh! I want my PPC to connect directly to get my eMail. An email redirector is what AT&T touts as their solution for mobile users who want access to their email on the go. Your desktop has to be running and connected to the web. HEY....what if my desktop travels with me? Like its laptop????? Or...what if I am out of town and my desktop decides to gorp? What do I do then? No....Mobile devices need to have full access just like thier bigger counterparts.

To be honest, that's one of my hang ups on this as well. Redirectors aren't practical for those of us that are connected to the network primarily via a laptop. When I don't have my laptop with me, I have it closed and I manually request POP email via GPRS.

I'd love even more than this, a little application that did the "midnight wake" on the Ipaq at a user determined interval and initiated the POP request and then alarmed on new mail. Seems so simple-Apple Script can do it :P

[freitasm]

Have a read on http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=439... Just posted it :-)

The article is about the launch of the new Palm Tungsten W, and how the infrastructure for some wireless services is not completely in place. The article cites (in the original CNET) that both Handspring and Palm offer "redirectors". Actually Handspring offers a redirector from Visto, which is the same as the MS offering.

I've used Visto before with my previous Palm and it's quite intrusive, including opening TCP ports. The documentation does not clear state which ports or what services your computer will make available...

[bdegroodt]

I was being quite serious, you know... :? Always-on email is a "holy grail", but even with RIM it's very expensive. The only current exception to the cost rule is the T-Mobile Sidekick. Lowering the cost for a broader array of solutions via clever methodologies may be worthwhile.

--janak

Seems trollish Janak. I wouldn't mind it/him/her.

I agree on the data issue. I feel like the old days of cell phones when you really had to watch your useage for fear of being bankrupted by your monthly cell bill for overage. I maintain the 10MB plan with TM and that's .50 a meg at $20/mo. It was one of the reasons I was considering Sprint's service (And the now forgotten Treo combo). It was unlimited and as far as I know, the only unlimited data plan that includes use by a "pda" for a reasonable monthly fee.

[freitasm]

I'd love even more than this, a little application that did the "midnight wake" on the Ipaq at a user determined interval and initiated the POP request and then alarmed on new mail. Seems so simple-Apple Script can do it :P

I'd buy this! Even my Ericsson T39m POP client has an option to "Check email every x minutes" over GPRS!

[67stang]

maybe i am dense, but after reading this thread and the Microsoft info... I have no idea what "desktop redirector is".... if you are connected to the internet, have a laptop, and have your ppc, well why arent you just checking your email as usual?

can someone explain in laymens terms|?

[bdegroodt]

maybe i am dense, but after reading this thread and the Microsoft info... I have no idea what "desktop redirector is".... if you are connected to the internet, have a laptop, and have your ppc, well why arent you just checking your email as usual?

can someone explain in laymens terms|?

The big difference between what you are describing is that you would get your email via your PPC and a wireless connection if you leave your desktop running back at the office. No laptop required.

[Janak Parekh]

Seems trollish Janak. I wouldn't mind it/him/her.
Believe me, I'm not stressed out or something ;)

I maintain the 10MB plan with TM and that's .50 a meg at $20/mo.
I'm technically worse off than you; I'm still on the 5MB plan on T-Mo. However, I've never gone past 2MB. I use wireless in spurts; most of the time I'm in reach of fast internet access, it's only when I need to use it in 3rd party places do I start eating up the kilobytes, and the T-Mo/Bitstream compression proxies are very effective. The PPCPE is increasing my usage, though, and I'm now going to walk the support maze and get it switched to 10MB (which is the same price now :))

It was one of the reasons I was considering Sprint's service (And the now forgotten Treo combo).
The Treo is honestly a backdoor in that unlimited plan. Sprint is giving unlimited because they know people aren't going to use more than 1 or 2MB on their phone. It's like when AT&T invented PocketNet (their previous, CDPD-based solution) - they had a $10 all-you-can-eat plan, but only for limited sites.

In my opinion, the T-Mobile Sidekick solution is the most compelling - unlimited bandwidth including push email for the first year, and plenty of bandwidth in future years. My friend has one, and it's a very, very, very compelling device. If only it had Bluetooth, color, and Outlook sync, I'd be all over it. :cry:

(FWIW, the latter two are coming - it's only a matter of time...)

--janak

[rfischer]

This is how I am getting email to my T-Mobile:

T-Mobile allows you to set up a monitor for any POP3 mailbox. It's included in the service plan and can be found in the mytmobile portal. When a message comes in, T-Mobile sends me an SMS alert, which of course I can get without using my 10M of data. The SMS message will have little more than the subject and who it's from, but it's usually enough for me to determine if I should bother to connect to my server via GPRS and download all my messages.

Anybody else use this method?

[ctmagnus]

Anybody else use this method?

Unfortunately I havve an el cheapo pay-as-you-go cell phone, but Telus lets you set up something similar. You can have an SMS message sent to your phone based on subject, sender, priority...

mytelusmobility... mytmobile... Concidence?

[daveh]

Anybody else use this method?

Yes, except I skip the t-mobile part and use Yahoo! to send the SMS alert. It is my primary email account.

[BigMrC]

Our company has been using visto in conjunction with our exchange server to send and receive our work emails remotely via bluetooth mobile phones to our iPaq's. This has been working very well. Until we tried using visto on pocket pc 2003 (iPaq 2210's). Visto have not officially released a pocket pc 2003 version of their message express but they talked me through setting it up on opcket pc 2003. It works except for when you reply to an email - the reply goes into the activesync outbox instead of the visto outbox and there's no way of sending it unitl you active sync. This is a bug and visto will not help because they say they do not "support" 2003 yet. This is extremely frustrating as we have purchased the software from them and have also purchased several 2210's. Has anybody found a fix for this? Or has anybody found a better solution than visto for remote email to an exchange server? We do not want to fork out because we expect to get exchange 2003 when it is released which has remote access built in. Until then we are stumped however - it's not much use if you can't reply to emails while travelling.
Any help on this appreciated.

[freitasm]

I understand the frustation, but the WM2003 introduced features that need update in some software. Until Visto supports these features/changes it would be better to stay on Pocket PC 2002.

[Steven Cedrone]

Our company has been using visto in conjunction with our exchange server to send and receive our work emails remotely via bluetooth mobile phones to our iPaq's. This has been working very well. Until we tried using visto on pocket pc 2003 (iPaq 2210's). Visto have not officially released a pocket pc 2003 version of their message express but they talked me through setting it up on opcket pc 2003. It works except for when you reply to an email - the reply goes into the activesync outbox instead of the visto outbox and there's no way of sending it unitl you active sync. This is a bug and visto will not help because they say they do not "support" 2003 yet. This is extremely frustrating as we have purchased the software from them and have also purchased several 2210's. Has anybody found a fix for this? Or has anybody found a better solution than visto for remote email to an exchange server? We do not want to fork out because we expect to get exchange 2003 when it is released which has remote access built in. Until then we are stumped however - it's not much use if you can't reply to emails while travelling.
Any help on this appreciated.

Please jump over to this thread (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=18162&highlight=) if you can help BigMrC out!!!

Steven Cedrone
Community Moderator