Consilient's portable, open standards-based push email software has been selected by Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) for use in a service that could bring push email to 1.2 million Asian subscribers. Consilient's “Push” products, which include a J2ME-based email client that could support Linux phones, will be used with SingTel's “MobileMail” service, due to launch in July, according to the company.

Consilient says its Push products are based on synchronization standards from the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA). They also use “Push-IMAP,” a draft standard that Consilient expects to be formally ratified by the IETF at the end of 2006 as “Mobile EMail Enabler” (MEM). MEM extends the widely used IMAP email protocol in order to allow email servers to “push” critical status information to clients, rather than requiring clients to constantly poll the servers for status changes.

Consilient's Push product comprises a server component that supports Linux, Unix, and Windows OSes, along with a J2ME-based mobile email client currently available for Nokia and Blackberry.

Support is planned for Windows Mobile handsets. Support for Linux phones should also be possible given adequate testing and verification, according to Consilient's marketing director, Dwayne Bennett. “We like to know the capabilities of each hardware platform and Java VM, and work with handset vendors on testing, to ensure optimum battery life and other performance characteristics,” Bennett said.

Touted Push features include:

• Scales to thousands of users
• Extends multiple email platforms from a single server
• Does not include or require a Network Operations Center (NOC)
• End-to-end security – 128 bit SSL encryption
• Easy to install with over-the-air (OTA) deployment of email clients

Consilient says its deal with SingTel “marks the Asian debut of a consumer mobile email product that is based entirely on open standards.” Open standards ensure low cost and scalability to high user numbers, according to the company.

Mr. Hui Weng Cheong, VP of consumer products at SingTel, stated, “With MobileMail, our customers can cost-effectively access email on-the-go with their handsets. We selected Consilient's open standards P-IMAP system to provide this service as this solution offers scalability and interoperability that helps us better serve our customers.”

Consilient CEO Trevor Adey stated, “Open standards-based solutions [put] low-cost mobile email in the hands of consumers [and] give operators a simplified offering for mobile email that can scale to hundreds of thousands of users and integrate with their existing operating and messaging systems.”

Consillient notes that about 20 million mobile subscribers currently enjoy push email access, while the number of mobile phone users globally is about 2 billion, it says.

Availability

Consilient's “Push” email product is available now, in operator and enterprise versions. The company also currently offers clients for RIM Blackberry and Nokia phones, which can be used with Consilient's servers for subscription fees that start at $5 per month.

Another vendor, Funambol, also offers push email technology said to be based on open standards.

 
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