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The UK based mobile operator, which controls BT Cellnet, VIAG Interkom, Telfort Mobiel and Digifone, said the new corporate GPRS services will allow mmO2 customers to securely access corporate intranets and Microsoft Exchange data, including e-mail, contacts and calendar information, as well as full-colour HTML browsing and secure access to VPNs (Virtual Private Networks). The service is based on Microsoft Mobile Information Server Enterprise and Carrier Editions.
The new service will be available to Digifone GPRS customers in Ireland following the launch of the company's high-speed wireless data network in the next two weeks, company spokespeople said.
"In a nutshell, the service will let customers access a range of corporate PC applications through a wireless device," explained Simon Gordon, a spokesperson for mmO2. He said that the key markets for the application would be the UK and Germany but insisted that Irish users can expect to have access to the full range of mmO2's corporate services when it is launched in the spring of 2002.
"Data now represents more than 10 percent of mmO2's service revenues and, with the launch of these types of services, we expect that to increase to 25 percent within three years," said Peter Erskine, chief executive of mmO2.
The company also revealed on Tuesday that its GPRS customers in Ireland would be able to roam in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands following the launch of the new high-speed data network here in the coming days. In these markets Gordon said the company has close to 100 percent coverage for its GPRS services. Roaming agreements in other markets are in the process of being established, he added.
While mmO2 says that customers will be able to access the service using a range of mobile data devices, including laptops, personal digital assistants, smart-phones and WAP phones, the company has particularly emphasised its highly anticipated, O2 branded PDA/mobile phone called the XDA.
The XDA is a pocket PC with integrated mobile phone and data application capabilities based on Microsoft's Pocket PC 2002 software platform. It will be a prime component of the unified mmO2 GPRS offering, Gordon explained, and it is set to be released in the spring of this year as well.
The XDA, previously codenamed "Wallaby," is made by Taiwanese company HTC which also makes phones for Compaq and Toshiba. It is a sleek looking device containing Intel's much awaited ARM-based 206MHz StrongARM central processing unit and includes e-mail, WAP browsing, games, Java support as well as software for integration with back office systems. The price of the device is not yet known but early estimates peg its cost at around EUR500.
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