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DataViz ships RoadSync
Exchange synching for cost-conscious smart-phone users
DataViz has begun shipping RoadSync, its budget-priced push email system for Symbian-based smart phones running the UIQ user interface.
RoadSync taps into Microsoft's Exchange Server 2003's ActiveSync system to transmit email, contact and meeting data to mobile devices that don't inherently support the Microsoft technology. That means pretty much all smart phones and communications devices running Symbian, Palm and other non-MS operating systems.
Initially, DataViz is pitching RoadSync at Sony Ericsson's P900/P910, though the code should run on other UIQ devices. A version for Java MIDP 2 and Palm OS-based devices will ship later this month. The latter will not support calendar and contact synchronisation, while the Java release will not handle those forms of data, or email attachments.
In August, DataViz will ship the Symbian Series 80 version of RoadSync, followed by the Symbian Series 60 incarnation in September, the company said.
RoadSync uses a scheduled synchronisation system to keep devices up to date, but DataViz pledged to incorporate true push email when Microsoft releases Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 this coming Autumn.
DataViz is well known for its file-format translation utilities and, more recently, its DocumentsToGo mobile Microsoft Office document reader and editor software. RoadSync's support for email attachments taps into DTG. DataViz launched a version of DTG for Symbian UIQ in May.
RoadSync for Symbian UIQ costs $100 per user, while the less feature-rich Palm OS and Java releases will cost $50 per user. That's a one-off, 'shrink-wrapped' purchase, which DataViz hopes will appeal to cost-conscious small to medium-sized business who want a mobile email solution but have been put off by the regular subscription fees demanded by other mobile email solution providers, such as RIM/Blackberry and Good, who are generally targeting large-scale enterprises. ®
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