Sprint adds business services; Verizon offers new business rates & push-email

- Gary Thayer, Editor

May 16, 2005 -- (MobileVillage) -- Sprint (NYSE:FON) and Verizon each announced new business. Verizon announced new data plans for businesses, and Sprint announced what it calls its Business Mobility Framework, a program that includes applications for mobile worker access to enterprise applications, location-based services, messaging and geographic notifications.

Verizon Wireless is offering new data pricing for enterprise customers for its NationalAccess and BroadbandAccess services, as well as Intellisync's wireless "push" email software which Verizon has respectively rebranded as "Wireless Sync Workgroup" and "Wireless Sync Enterprise Server".

Verizon is offering businesses unlimited use of NationalAccess for $59.99 per user per month, a savings of $20 a month from the consumer rate, while unlimited use of BroadbandAccess is $79.99 monthly. Because BroadbandAccess's EV-DO technology is backward compatible, customers who travel outside a BroadbandAccess coverage area with an EV-DO device will switch to Verizon Wireless' existing NationalAccess network, according to Verizon.

Effective May 23, Verizon Wireless customers purchasing any Blackberry or PDA/Smartphone through the carrier will have the option of data plans that include 10 MB for $29.99 or unlimited data service for $49.99. Customers adding data plans to any plan of $39.99 or higher will receive a five dollar discount on their chosen data plan.

Verizon's Wireless Sync Workgroup software keeps up to twenty users up-to-the-minute with their groupware-based e-mail, calendars, contacts and tasks. The solution provides software that can be quickly downloaded and installed on a standard PC to monitor e-mail and PIM data in Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Domino, and then push the information to the users' Treo, Pocket PC, or Smartphone device.

Wireless Sync Enterprise Server is a behind-the- firewall mobility platform for large enterprises, and is capable of scaling to support thousands of users. It provides mobile data delivery for e-mail, calendar, contacts, tasks and other enterprise data to Verizon Wireless Smartphones and PDAs. The Enterprise Server also has features that enable enterprises to secure mobile devices and disable lost or stolen devices over-the-air (OTA).

The new Verizon services support all of the devices currently offered to Verizon business customers, as well as the new palmOne Treo 650 Palm OS handheld and Samsung i730 Windows Mobile handheld. The Treo 650 costs $400 with a two-year agreement and will be available after May 23 at all Verizon stores, with the exception of stores at Circuit City.

Sprint announced what it calls its Business Mobility Framework, a reseller and certification program that includes applications for mobile worker access to enterprise applications, location-based services, messaging and geographic notifications.

Application development platforms already integrated with the framework include those from IBM and Microsoft, with future development platforms to include ESRI, says Sprint. In addition to the partnerships, Sprint says it has certified mobile applications for purchase from a variety of third-party application vendors. The framework's capabilitities include:

• Presence - provides a status indicating whether a mobile device is on or off.
• Cell Sector Location - provides the latitude & longitude of a mobile device's CDMA cell sector, along with accuracy estimate; accuracy is dependent on conditions and cell tower density.
• Precision Location - provides the latitude & longitude of a device along with accuracy estimate; depending on conditions, accuracy can be within 5 meters.
• SMS Alerts (Text Messages) - enables application server to send a text message to a device.
• Voice Alerts - enables an application server to call any phone and play a message using Sprint text-to-speech technology or via a prerecorded audio file.
• Presence Notifications - allows application to be alerted when a device is turned on or off.
• Location Notifications - allows application to be alerted when a device crosses a specified geo-fence boundary.
  

More information about Sprint Business Mobility Framework is available at sprint.com/business.

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