Treo 700w 'Direct Push' eMail Coming This Month

Probably the most anticipated feature of the Treo 700w is native support for the “Windows Mobile Messaging and Security Feature Pack” (AKU2 ROM) which will provide Treonauts running Exchange Server 2003 SP2 with fast (EVDO) and automatic wireless email, calendar, contacts and tasks synchronisation via a free update to be made available later this month.

The so-called ‘Direct Push’ email increases the number of choices for enterprise customers looking to deploy secure, push mobile email solutions on the Palm Treo platform.  This cost-effective solution allows businesses to increase productivity by satisfying the real-time information needs of mobile professionals, without having to spend additional IT budget on new email servers or licensing fees.

Palm further states that: "The Treo 700w with the new Security Feature Pack and the Verizon Wireless BroadbandAccess network will give our business customers the enhanced mobile office experience they need to be competitive," said Rich Meigh, Verizon Wireless vice president – device marketing. "The up-to-the-minute updates provided by this new Messaging and Security Feature Pack translate into increased employee productivity, improved customer responsiveness and faster return on investment for our business customers."

Introduced to customers in early January, the Treo 700w smartphone is the newest member of the Palm Treo family and builds on the award-winning design of the Treo 600 and Treo 650 smartphones. It is the first Treo smartphone to take advantage of Verizon Wireless’ BroadbandAccess service on its EvDO (Evolution Data Optimized) network and Windows Mobile 5.0. The new smartphone delivers a unique suite of software enhancements on top of Windows Mobile, bringing the hallmark Palm ease of use to Windows Mobile for the first time.

"Direct Push Technology helps Palm Treo 700w customers stay on top of their jobs by quickly receiving and sending email and all other Microsoft Outlook information while they are on-the-go," said Suzan DelBene, corporate vice president of marketing, Mobile and Embedded Devices Division at Microsoft Corp. "The strong integration between Palm and Microsoft is an example of our commitment to build solid partnerships, creating a thriving mobile-industry ecosystem and raising the mobile experience to great heights."

"Enterprise CIOs have told us that the addition of MSFP to the Treo 700w is key to their wider deployment of the 700w across their companies and deep into their lines of business," said John Hartnett, senior vice president of worldwide sales and customer relations at Palm. "We believe this high-ROI, easy-to-deploy push email and messaging solution will delight CIOs and end users alike. Our collective enterprise sales teams have hundreds of companies lined up and ready to initiate trials, which we expect will soon be under way with the availability of MSFP."

Key Features of MSFP

• Direct Push Email Technology that enables the Treo 700w to automatically receive email, calendar, contacts and tasks wirelessly as soon as it arrives on Exchange Server 2003 SP2.
• Over-the-air lookup of a company’s Exchange Global Address List (GAL), providing employees with quick access to colleagues’ email and contact information.
• Added security features for IT administrators, such as over-the-air device password policy enforcement and remote wipe of the device in case it is lost or stolen.

Availability

The update for the Treo 700w will be available free later this month at Palm's Treo 700w Support Downloads page and included in subsequent Treo 700w smartphones and future Treo smartphones based on Windows Mobile.

Treonauts are always pushing forward…