SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 26, 2000 — Today at the Microsoft Enterprise 2000 Launch event, Steve Ballmer, president and CEO of Microsoft Corp., announced a new addition to the Microsoft® .NET server family: the Microsoft Mobile Information 2001 Server. In addition, Juha Christensen joins Microsoft as the new vice president of sales and marketing in the Mobility Group. Previously code-named
“Airstream,”
the Microsoft Mobile Information Server is a scalable and reliable mobile applications server that will provide enterprise customers and mobile network operators with a rich platform for delivering real-time mobile data services to any wireless device. Mobile Information Server will be in limited trials in the next 30 days and is expected to ship in the first half of 2001.
Ballmer also announced Microsoft Outlook® Mobile Access, which will ship with the new Mobile Information Server. Outlook Mobile Access is the initial application available for Mobile Information Server and enables real-time access to Microsoft Exchange Server-based personal information management applications such as e-mail, calendaring, contacts and tasks — all from a mobile phone.
Mobile Information Server is a core component of Microsoft’s overall mobility strategy. In addition to providing mobile users with real-time access to their inbox, calendar, contacts and tasks via Outlook Mobile Access, Mobile Information Server will enable knowledge workers to wirelessly access and interact with enterprise applications as well as other corporate intranet resources such as Windows® 2000 Server Web-based applications or solutions built with Microsoft SQL Server™
. In addition, Mobile Information Server will provide a platform for future mobile applications such as speech access or wireless instant messaging and can be extended to support new types of devices.
Also announced today was Outlook Mobile Manager, a stand-alone desktop application that extends Outlook rules and gives users greater control of their communications. Outlook Mobile Manager, which can function independent of Mobile Information Server, provides users with the ability to set up
“mobile profiles”
for notifications to their wireless devices that go beyond the notification functionality offered with Outlook Mobile Access.
“Microsoft’s Mobility Group has been working very hard to develop a secure mobile platform that builds on our expertise in developer tools, application software and platforms – and that provides key service opportunities for carriers, enterprise customers and partners,”
said Paul Gross, senior vice president of the Mobility Group at Microsoft.
“With Microsoft Mobile Information Server, combined with the Outlook Mobile Access and Outlook Mobile Manager applications, organizations will be able to take advantage of our investments to create an end-to-multiple-end solution for mobile data services.”
“As the heartbeat of business continues to accelerate, mobilizing enterprise applications like e-mail is becoming critical. The announcement of Mobile Information Server is a big step forward for Microsoft,”
said Bob Egan, vice president of Mobile and Wireless, at Gartner.
“Microsoft seems to understand very well that the leaders in this market will be those Group Inc that provide fully integrated solutions, and to that extent Microsoft has been gathering an arsenal of mobilizing assets for mobile services, in software development and now this platform announcement.”
Mobile Information Server: Enterprise Edition and Carrier Edition
In an effort to provide customers with solutions that closely fit their needs, Microsoft is creating two versions of the Mobile Information Server: one engineered for the enterprise organization, and one tailored for the mobile carrier. Both editions enable corporate applications for Windows and the Web to be mobile-enabled and securely accessed from any mobile device, thereby extending the corporate communications infrastructure to users when they’re away from the office and putting critical intranet information and applications within their reach. In addition, both can be linked in a cascade configuration that offers enhanced security and improved message formatting benefits to mobile professionals.
Mobile Information Server Enterprise Edition provides enterprise customers and application service providers (ASPs) with a mobile data platform and enables them to provide their users with wireless access to corporate data stored on Microsoft servers and applications, as well as on existing enterprise intranet applications. Mobile Information Server Carrier Edition enables carriers and large ASPs that provide hosted Exchange services to use a single platform to rapidly deploy new mobile data services for their corporate and end-user customers, thus reducing the complexity of their overall services and ultimately reducing operations costs.
Microsoft has already begun working with and gathering feedback from mobile operators, hardware vendors and corporations to refine and bring Mobile Information Server to market.
“Secure wireless access to corporate information is one of the key elements in deploying new mobile data services to our business customers,”
said Tom Trinneer, vice president of product development for AT & T Wireless Services Inc. (ATTW).
“Microsoft Mobile Information Server offers us a unique platform for building cutting-edge mobile voice/data services that will allow our customers to realize the benefits of a truly mobile office.”
“Our work with Microsoft and key global telecommunications providers has proved that the Microsoft mobility strategy delivers significant added value to our customers,”
said Jeff Lynn, vice president and general manager at Compaq Global Services.
“Compaq Global Services has enjoyed a leadership position in the development of Microsoft Exchange with more than 6 million seats deployed, and with the availability of new access devices like the Compaq iPAQ 3600 Pocket PC, is positioned to be the leader in Exchange 2000 deployments as well. Mobile Information Server will help all our Exchange customers become more mobile and more productive.”
Wireless Knowledge, a Microsoft and QUALCOMM company, is another key industry partner for Mobile Information Server. Wireless Knowledge contributed to the development of Mobile Information Server, and Wireless Knowledge has been designated a primary service partner for enterprise mobility services including strategic consulting, application development and education. Further, Wireless Knowledge’s Workstyle Server 3.0 is the designated mobile access solution for Microsoft Exchange 5.5 that is available today. Microsoft and Wireless Knowledge will provide customers with a smooth migration to Mobile Information Server when it becomes available.
Mobile Information Server is expected to become publicly available in the first half of 2001; beta 1 versions have been distributed to a limited set of leading carriers with whom Microsoft has already signed strategic industry partnership agreements: ATTW, British
Telecommunications PLC, Telefonica Moviles SA and Vodafone Group. Beta testing also will be conducted with industry partners and enterprise customers.
More information about Mobile Information Server, Outlook Mobile Access or Outlook Mobile Manager can be found by visiting the Mobile Information Server Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/mobileinformationserver/ .
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software – any time, any place and on any device.
Microsoft, Outlook and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/ on Microsoft’s corporate information pages.
