Vodafone leads charge with Moso mobile phone link-up

By CHRIS BARTON

Mobile internet takes a step forward today with the launch of Vodafone Moso, a service providing businesses with access to their company e-mail and intranet from mobile phones.

The first customer, electricity generator Genesis Power, is using the service with 16 staff to access Microsoft Outlook, including e-mail, calendar, contacts, "to do" lists and shared public folders.

The company says the service may be extended to 80 staff across the company.

The new application developed by Ericsson Microsoft Mobile Venture can be used from most Wap (wireless application protocol) phones.

In New Zealand, Ericsson Synergy is delivering the service to Vodafone which is on-selling it to businesses.

Users simply connect their Wap mobile phone to a preassigned web address, which links them to their company Moso server - in much the way one would access web-based e-mail.

Based on Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, Moso provides secure access to Exchange 2000 and prompts the user for a password.

Vodafone's installation cost for Moso is around $1000, plus the time required to incorporate the software into that of the customer's. The monthly cost is $30 a user, plus the cost of the calls.

Circuit switch data using Vodafone's GSM (global system for mobile) network works out at about 39c a minute. On the company's new GPRS (general packet radio services) costs start at $30 a megabyte.

The Ericsson Microsoft Mobile Venture was established to give users access to business and personal information, any time, any place on any device.

Links

Ericsson Microsoft Mobile Venture