New software gives businesses the ability to change where and how people work
New York, NY, USA / Espoo, Finland - Nokia announced today the Nokia Business Center, a new software solution enabling collaborative business applications for the mobile world, starting with push email. Nokia Business Center brings mobile email to the corporate masses, changing the economics of mobile email adoption so that employees at all levels can reap the rewards of virtually anytime, anywhere access to their corporate email. Nokia Business Center complements Nokia's existing portfolio of today's popular email solutions available for its business-optimized mobile devices.
Nokia Business Center is designed to expand the universe of potential mobile users by leveraging the broad availability of standard mobile phones and by providing a two-tier client strategy. The standard client will be licensed on an unlimited basis with each Nokia Business Center server. A more richly featured professional client will be available for a minimal upgrade fee. The product is a Java-based solution that can be deployed on any Java MIDP 2.0-capable phone, once certified by Nokia. Initially, Nokia Business Center will support mobile email over the Nokia 9300 smartphone, Nokia 9500 Communicator, as well as the Nokia 6630, Nokia 6680, Nokia 6681, and Nokia 6682 integrating with Microsoft® Exchange Server 2003, followed shortly by support for Lotus Notes® and Domino®, and an expanded range of Nokia certified devices.
"Company management and IT departments face pressure from all sides when it comes to selecting an appropriate mobile email application, such as being easy to use, easy to integrate with existing infrastructure and cost savings. With Nokia Business Center, these issues are easily addressed to give companies a scalable solution that fits their needs," said Dave Grannan, general manager of Nokia's Enterprise Solutions Mobile Email group. "Nokia Business Center allows users to connect with their corporate email while on the go, and allows businesses to implement strict security measures while delivering mobile applications in a cost-effective manner."
The standard Nokia Business Center client offers the ability to compose, read and delete email, manage local folders, and provides support for working offline, in addition to push-email and state-of-the-art security. The standard client also includes support for English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. The professional client version offers all the features of the standard version as well as a rich, graphical email experience similar to using desktop email. Other professional client version features include support for handling meeting requests, sorted views, full attachment support, the ability to access any employee's contact information from the company's corporate directory, the ability to search local folders, and more.
"Today's mobile professionals require constant access to their email and corporate networks and ensuring that they have the best capabilities to do this is part of our job," said Jorge Reis, senior vice president of operations at Telstra International. "This latest initiative from Nokia further demonstrates their capability to provide state-of the-art wireless technology applications. Telstra Inc. has a long history of supporting and building solutions for Nokia and we are very pleased to be associated with this latest project."
"Nokia Business Center is an impressive email solution that will allow our enterprise customers to successfully and efficiently provide mobile workers access to their corporate email on a range of mobile devices," said Gustavo Leal, subdirector of Value Added Services at Telcel/Mexico, the leader of mobile telecommunications services in Mexico. "We are currently conducting a market trial of the solution and we are optimistic that Nokia's email solution can open the door for us to grow our base of mobile executives, increase brand loyalty to Telcel, as well as create significant customer savings through quick installation. We are pleased to work hand-in-hand with Nokia, recognized as a global leader in mobility, as they continue expanding their presence in the enterprise space."
"We have selected Nokia Business Center as our mobile email solution because it operates seamlessly with our existing infrastructure," said Duncan Scott, CIO of Sea Containers, a global transportation company. "We also believe that Nokia's platform is a great value and gives us maximum flexibility both now and in the future. In addition, Nokia's known competence in the area of security addresses our strict corporate security requirements covering information stored on devices, back-office systems and transmitted over networks."
For a secure email experience, Nokia Business Center offers a streamlined data transfer path that communicates directly with devices rather than the "store and forward" method used by most mobile email solutions. In addition, Nokia Business Center offers end-to-end encryption of data transport, storage and over-the-air synchronization.
"Nokia has a solid product portfolio that is very compelling," said Gene Signorini, Director Wireless/Mobile Enterprise Solutions for Yankee Group. "Adding a wireless email solution to their name will make their offering really stand out in this market space."
"We selected Nokia Business Center as our mobile email solution for its standards-based approach that supports variety of networks, devices and platforms that, in turn, provide us great value and maximum flexibility now and going forward," said Mark Sollazo, president & CEO for SynerComm. "In addition Nokia's legacy in the security space was the answer to our strict corporate security requirements ranging from the information stored in the device, to the back-office and even for the data traveling over the networks."
Nokia offers a comprehensive service portfolio for Nokia Business Center ranging from Technical Support to Implementation, Professional Services and Technical Training. Nokia's services are available to better serve customers and enable a successful end-to-end enterprise mobile email deployment.
Nokia Business Center can be purchased from select carriers and accredited resellers and will be available in the Americas and EMEA in the fourth quarter of 2005. Pilots will begin in other markets during the fourth quarter.
For features and technical information about Nokia Business Center, please visit http://www.nokia.com/business.
About Nokia
Nokia is a world leader in mobile communications, driving the growth and sustainability of the broader mobility industry. Nokia connects people to each other and the information that matters to them with easy-to-use and innovative products like mobile phones, devices and solutions for imaging, games, media and businesses. Nokia provides equipment, solutions and services for network operators and corporations. www.nokia.com.
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