As PDAs become increasingly powerful and the need to access and store larger amounts of data rises, so does the need to secure that data. When deploying mobile devices and granting users remote access to local network resources, be it email, an intranet site, file shares or specific line of business applications, the administrator needs to know that those devices are doing so securely, will automatically lock themselves if left unattended and can be remotely wiped if they are suspected of being lost or stolen.

In this article I shall look at the foremost products available today, in the author's opinion, as well as the features that should be considered when evaluating a device management solution. If you are interested in knowing more, or have any questions relating to any of the information in this article, call Brightpoint today on 0870 849 0225.

Service Pack 3 for Exchange 2007 is now available for download. Weighing in at 895MB, the update can be found here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=1687160b-634a-4...

A complete copy of the Exchange 2007 installer files, the service pack provides support for installation on Windows Server 2008 R2 as well as numerous fixes and enhancements. A list of the new features available can be found here:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff607226(EXCHG.80).aspx

Microsoft have released a beta preview of the forthcoming Service Pack 1 update for Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, available for download here - http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=193120

The update includes several new archiving and mailbox search improvements which are beyond the scope of this blog to look into, but there are also several additions to the Outlook Web Access application and Exchange ActiveSync protocol which are worth a mention from a mobility perspective.

Nokia have published an updated Mail for Exchange client to the OVI Store, freely available for download on compatible handsets.
To check whether your device is supported, view the Ovi web site - http://store.ovi.com/content/5919

The updated client can be downloaded quickly and easily by searching for Mail for Exchange in the device's built-in Ovi Store client application:

Ensure that Exchange 2010 Update Rollup 1 is installed on the Exchange 2010 server. This package is available here - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=371add31-d7a0-4...

Create a domain user account called BesAdmin

On the Exchange server, in the Active Directory Users and Computers console, create a domain user called "BesAdmin" and assign it an Exchange mailbox. Set the user account password to never expire.

When choosing a remote email solution there are a number of approaches that you can take: you may have decided on a client device type and wish to know what solutions are compatible; you may have a specific feature set you need to be available to your users; or similarly a set of features you don't want to be available. You may have specific security concerns or may have a policy regarding which manufacturers you are able to consider.

RIM have officially added support for Exchange 2010 to BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5. Following hot on the heels of SP1 for BES 5 (http://blog.brightpointuk.co.uk/service-pack-1-bes-5-released), both RIM and Microsoft have released updates for BES 5 and Exchange 2010 to enable compatibility.
The pre-prequisites are therefore:

• BES 5.0.1 MR1 (ie BES 5 with Service Pack 1 and Maintenance Release 1)
  

With the release of Android 2.1 SDK it is possible to play with Google's support for Exchange ActiveSync which is included with the SDK emulator package.
It is important to note that just because the build of Android supports it, it is down to individual device manufacturers as to whether they choose to implement Exchange support - presumably due to licensing costs - and they may develop their own client software.
This post is for general geek interest only.

As Microsoft license the Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) protocol to an ever wider range of device and software manufacturers, it is important to understand how the technology operates and what to check when it doesn't work.

Exchange ActiveSync is the Microsoft protocol that enables the remote push-based bi-directional synchronisation of user mailbox data, including email, contacts, calendar and task information over the air.

As Microsoft licenses the Exchange Server ActiveSync protocol to a wider range of device manufacturers and software companies including Apple, Nokia, Google, IBM, Dataviz among others, users can enjoy push-based mailbox synchronisation from a wider range of devices - which is good for the user, but potentially a nightmare for the network administrator who needs to ensure that all of these devices conform to corporate security and usage policies.