Wicksoft Mobile Documents - access shared contacts, calendars and files from your BlackBerry
WICKSoft (http://www.wicksoft.com) develop remote access solutions for BlackBerry that extend the native functionality of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) solution, enabling access to shared and public address books and calendars, as well as network file shares and Sharepoint workspaces. Sharepoint and Exchange versions 2003 and 2007 are currently supported.
Although the solution is currently limited to BlackBerry clients, the company have a version for both Windows Mobile and the iPhone in the works scheduled for release imminently.
Features
- Access Exchange public and delegated calendars
- Access Exchange public and delegated contacts
- Access Exchange shared mailboxes
- Access Sharepoint workspaces
- Mobilise forms
- Access network shares
- Upload and download documents
- Download email attachments
Architecture
The Wicksoft solution requires a Windows-based server running IIS, and also requires that the BES has the Mobile Data Service (MDS) enabled and running.
A client application is required on the BlackBerry device itself.
Client requests are the sent from the client device to the BES server, which is then passed by the Mobile Data Service to the Wicksoft server, which proxies the request and retrieves the target data before returning it to the BES for delivery back to the handheld.
The Wicksoft server could be the BES itself (NOTE that BES 5 uses an Apache instance to display the BlackBerry Web Administration rather than IIS), or another server that does not necessarily have to be in the domain.
Users are prompted for their Active Directory credentials on the client and authenticate against the domain as themselves, rather than as the BesAdmin user.
When accessing Exchange data, the Wicksoft server accesses the Exchange server using the WebDAV (Outlook Web Access) protocol, therefore this feature also needs to be enabled on the Exchange server. The OWA web site does not need to be accessible from the Internet if not desired: it simply needs to be accessible to the Wicksoft server across the local network.
Administration
The solution is administered via a single console and allows the administrator to add shared folders, Exchange address books and calendars as well as Sharepoint sites.
Access controls can be defined controlling which users and groups can access the network resources.
Size limits can also be defined controlling the maximum size of files that users can download to their handhelds:
Network resources are added by entering the path to the resource and the protocol that should be used to access that resource:
Together with the specific data areas in that resource that should be accessed:
That resource is then listed in the admin console:
Multiple resources can be added, with individual permissions assigned to each resource:
Client Deployment
The Wicksoft Mobile Documents client is available in a single JAD file that can be deployed to BlackBerry handhelds as a software configuration on the BES, or can be downloaded simply by typing in the address of the Wicksoft server into the client browser - again this server does not need to be accessible from the Internet, simply from the Mobile Data Service across the LAN.
Usage
The Wicksoft Mobile Documents client is added to the Downloads folder on the client:
When the client is launched, the user is prompted to enter the Active Directory username and password:
Users are displayed a list of all resources they are allowed to access:
(in this example I am not added to any resources)
As new resources are added to the admin console, these are reflected on the client automatically:
Exchange Public Folders as well as shared network drives can be accessed, as well as Sharepoint workspaces and more:
For more information visit the Wicksoft web site - http://www.wicksoft.com