Mobilizing the Office

Amidst all leading service providers enticing enterprises with innovative

applications, Reliance Infocomm recently stole a march by commercially

commencing its first enterprise offering for corporate houses on its Reliance

Application Platform. Called Mobile Office, this application enables employees

to access their office e-mail and office directory on their Reliance IndiaMobile

(RIM) handsets.

The application currently offers three components to the enterprises-office

mail, office directory and group communication. OfficeMail is a messaging

solution targeted to meet the emailing needs of enterprise users when they are

away from their offices. Using the solution, an enterprise can access emails

from their enterprise mail servers using POP3 and IMAP4 protocols.

Mobile Office n Email access on RIM using PoP3 and IMAP4 n Anytime anywhere access to organizations telephone book using RIM for SMS, calling etc. n Group messaging facilities

The Office DIR application is targeted at mobile executives of enterprise.

The application provides anytime anywhere access to organization's telephone

book using Reliance India Mobile. The key components of the application: the

executive's ability to search any employee detail based on name, location,

department and grade in real-time, users can send SMS or call the employee by

selecting the specific employee detail from the search results.

The Group Communication application provides group messaging facility to the

mobile executives by providing access to different user profiles based on group

and location within organization. The executives can view users based on name,

group, location (city) or organization hierarchy in real-time and send SMS or

e-mail to all or selected users.

Says Mahesh Prasad, president, Reliance Infocomm, "We have been working

on this solution for the past few months and have now perfected architectural

issues related to the email servers. We believe that an enterprise with this

solution would be able to scale up productivity from its employees. And though

other service providers also claim to offer similar applications, Mobile Office

comes with certain unique advantages."

One of the biggest advantages, Reliance claims, comes on the security front.

According to Prasad, several enterprises have been reluctant to use similar

applications earlier since a few service providers were replicating mails and

there were concerns regarding security. "We are not replicating the mails

at the Reliance servers. We are providing total security supporting both

end-to-end 128-bit encryptions as well as SSL. Besides enterprises can use

applications on the Internet, leased line or VPN."

The data interchange between handsets is covered by enhanced CDMA data

network security features. Office mail can communicate data using standard

Internet data security as well as secured channel access using SSL over POP3/IMAP

protocols. Alternately, the enterprise could also adopt secured password

authentication model with/without SSL/TLS.

But more than security, accessibility in a mobile environment is one of the

biggest advantages Mobile Office offers to corporates. Mobile Office allows

employees of the customer organization to access their enterprise applications,

chiefly their office e-mail, from their Reliance IndiaMobile handsets. Mobile

Office already supports 90% of all popular enterprise e-mail products such as

Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes and other e-mail servers. Another possibility

would be access through Reliance IndiaMobile to the office directory, apart from

the complete range of regular e-mail features. (In addition, see table How

Enterprises and Users Benefits) "This application will suit large

enterprises, medium and small enterprises as well as the small-office

home-office (SOHO) market," adds Prasad. Since Reliance Infocomm's

telecom infrastructure as well as the fact that nearly 90% of handsets sold by

the company are Java-enabled, with download speed of 144 kbps, it will mean that

there are no restrictions on text matter, said a statement from the company.

In fact, for many purposes, Reliance Infocomm officials see the Reliance

IndiaMobile replacing the cumbersome laptop for mobile corporate employees.

"It would be like having one's desktop on one's mobile handset,"

explains Anil Pande, the chief architect of Prasad's applications and

solutions group. Besides, there is no need for additional capex requirement at

the enterprise level. Even the application is not limited to certain handsets

and there is no need for laptops or PDA phones. The enterprise can avail of this

application at a flat monthly subscription rate.

Mobile Office can turn out to be a strategic masterstroke for Reliance too.

It means that all employees of a customer who is allowed Office Mobile access

would be customers of Reliance IndiaMobile. In addition, of course, would be the

charge for the office service itself, roughly at Rs 100 per head or seat for

unlimited usage. Only specific RIM mobile handsets would be used by customers of

this service, though Prasad assures that barring the entry-level phones this

would include all models. Incidentally, Reliance Application Platform (RAP) on

which Mobile Office is based, is the first platform from the company's stable

sought to be patented. The company has applied for patents in the US and Europe.

In the first month since its inception, Reliance has bagged 15 customers

including blue-chip names like Asian Paints, HDFC Bank, Dabur and Eicher. Plus,

the application trial like all Infocomm pilots was also run on Reliance

Industries. Says Manish Choksi, VP-strategic planning and IT, Asian Paints,

"Attempts at deploying pervasive computing applications in India were

severely hampered due to the non-availability of robust telecom infrastructure.

The improved telecom infrastructure in India provided by integrated vendors such

as Reliance Infocomm presents organizations such as ours with the capability to

allow our employees secure access to enterprise IT systems including mobile

email while they are away from their place of work. This convenience has helped

enhance their productivity and decision making capability." Adds CN Ram,

CIO, HDFC Bank, "Our single minded focus has been the customer and we have

always been open to embracing technology to serve him better. Mobile Office

keeps our executives on the alert about any new query generated in any sector

and helps link up information anytime, anywhere."

Rajneesh De in Mumbai

How the Enterprises and Users Benefit

Enterprise Benefits

• No Capex on special devises
• No Capex for backend enabling of mail servers
• Connects to all types of mail servers including Notes, MS Exchange, POP3/IMAP
• Total privacy-no replication of mails at Reliance end
• Security-supports end-to-end 128 bit encryption and SSL

End User Benefits

• Single mobile devise for mail and office directory
  
  access. No need for laptop or PDA.

• Enhances productivity-faster, anytime, anywhere
  
  information access even while roaming.

• Enhanced responsiveness-for internal communication as
  
  well as external communication

• Ability to synchronize your desktop mail with your mobile
  
  mail

• User friendly interface-similar to Outlook Express