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February 18, 2003
SMARTNER LAUNCHES MOBILE OFFICE ACCESS FOR CUSTOMERS OF WIRELESS SERVICE PROVIDERS BASED ON IBM TECHNOLOGY AND SERVICES
Smartner, a leading provider of business mobility solutions, today announced a new wireless e-business solution based on IBM Technology and Services at 3GSM World Congress. The solution enables wireless Service Providers to launch, in a rapid, cost-effective and low-risk manner, new revenue-generating subscription services to their business customer market.
The turn-key solution is based on the Smartner Office Extender suite, a highly scalable application which facilitates a low entry business model, yet is readily adaptable to increasing, and very large volumes. It is aimed at wireless Service Providers whose customers require fast, easy and cost-effective deployment of mobile access from a variety of commonly used devices (mobile phones, PDAs, laptops) to their email servers. Built on open standards, Smartner Office Extender supports Lotus Domino and Microsoft Exchange, as well as any POP3/IMAP4 mail servers. The solution operates over GSM, GPRS and UMTS networks, and can be hosted on behalf of the wireless Service Provider in one of IBM's e-business Hosting Centres, or in a data centre operated by the wireless Service Provider.
Smartner Office Extender, combined with IBM Technology and Services, offers wireless Service Providers and their customer the most attractive total cost of ownership for mobile office solutions.
Running on IBM WebSphere infrastructure middleware, DB2 database software, and a Linux or AIX server platform, Smartner Office Extender enables high-volume mobile transactions, provides a scalable architecture which caters for a large user base, and enables wireless Service Providers to extend new e-business services to a very large target market segment.
Smartner have recently partnered with IBM through the IBM Managed Hosting - Application Enablement Program, which helps software developers enable their applications for hosting and on-demand delivery. Deployments in an IBM e-business Hosting Centre are provided with custom-built links to the network of the wireless Service Provider. Capacity can be contracted by the Service Provider in increments and for given time periods. Standard solutions are available for 1, 2 or 3 years contract duration, and for between 1,000 and 100,000 subscribers. Within the standard solutions, additional subscribers can be added on a monthly basis in minimum batches. Standard operational and application support is included in the solutions.
For deployment in a wireless Service Provider's data centre, a ‘pre-packaged’ and fixed price option is available, alongside bespoke implementations.
All options are available with bespoke Services to tailor Smartner Office Extender with the branding required by the Service Provider, and to integrate the application with the Service Provider's BSS/OSS environment as required. In addition, optional Services to assist with the market strategy, launch plans and deployment at end customer sites are also available. Smartner Office Extender can be deployed within the IBM Service Provider Delivery Environment (SPDE), substantially reducing the complexity of application and business process integration.
"We are pleased to work with Smartner to provide wireless Service Providers and their customers with an easy and fast to deploy wireless e-business solution which helps them increase their business agility", said David Homer, IBM EMEA Telco Industries Director. "Smartner Office Extender contributes to lowering the total cost of ownership and earning a rapid return on IT investment for the customers of the wireless Service Providers. In addition, the on-demand hosting option offered by IBM allows wireless Service Providers to respond very rapidly to market demand, whilst keeping associated risks and costs to a minimum."
"Deploying mobile office solutions which are hosted and managed by the wireless Service Providers, or by IBM on their behalf, thus cost effective and easy for enterprises to take into use, is key to unleashing the potential of the mobile workforce," said Jussi Räisänen, Smartner Vice President of Sales. "High-performance solutions which are easy to install and therefore rapidly adopted in the marketplace will only be realised by industry leaders working together. We are pleased to launch this solution in partnership with IBM."
Smartner Office Extender has been deployed by a number of European wireless Service Providers, amongst them Vodafone Ireland. Lorraine McGrath, Product Manager, Vodafone Ireland, comments, "Vodafone Ireland chose IBM and Smartner due to the extensive functionality, ease-of-use and quick deployment afforded by the solution they delivered. The fact that the solution is platform independent means we can meet the varying needs of all our business customers. This solution, exclusive to Vodafone Ireland customers, was launched as Vodafone EmailAnywhere in November 2002."
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