New Microsoft Mobile Messaging Guide for Exchange 2003 Drives Another Nail In BlackBerry’s Coffin

For many network managers, deploying Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 SP2 Mobile Messaging with Windows Mobile 5.0 devices has been the great white whale of their careers. Awfully enticing, but incredibly difficult to capture.

Attempts to simplify the process have not been characterized kindly by early adopters. That’s why Redmond has taken another stab at cleaning up the procedure with the Step-By-Step Guide To Deploying Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 SP2 Mobile Messaging With Windows Mobile 5.0-based Devices.

Be warned. If you’re an Exchange newbie, this is ground better left untrod. You need to be more than conversant with Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access, Exchange ActiveSync, HTTP, basic Exchange Server 2003 concepts, and Microsoft Windows IIS.

In addition to Microsoft Windows 2000 Server SP4 or 2003 SP1, you’ll need Exchange Server 2003 SP2, Exchange ActiveSync Mobile Administration Web tool, Windows Mobile 5.0-based devices with the Messaging and Security Feature Pack, Active Directory, and IIS 6.0.

Along with the promised instructions, Step-By-Step Guide gives lots of Hints from Heloise-type “best practices” advice for everything from ISA Server security to using SSL to web publishing with basic authentication. For instance, when networking with mobiles, you should:

Adjust the connection timeout of your firewall to ensure that Direct Push functionality works efficiently. In order to optimize battery life, we recommend a timeout period of between 15 and 30 minutes.

Having trouble bridging with Exchange ActiveSync web publishing? It’s not easy, but the Guide marches you through it… in many, many steps.

Want to remotely shred a hijacked mobile device? The guide tells you how to wipe it clean, check to make sure it’s clean, then restore it once it’s back in safe hands.

If you’re considering a Windows Mobile matchup with Exchange, you’ll find the 67-page Guide quite useful. It’s not yet available on Microsoft’s site. But you can download it from Microsoftie Jason Langridge’s Weblog, which is a pretty good source for Windows Mobile insights… from a Microsoft point-of-view.

This feels like a show we’ve seen before. Sit back while others build a market, then release a relatively sloppy “me-too” product, let the early adopters help you grow it into a contender, undercut the competition, and eventually marginalize them.

Noting that Research In Motion’s BlackBerry licenses that cost hundreds of dollars can’t compete against free Windows Mobile Messaging and Security Feature Packs, Tom Keating of TMC Labs concludes, “If this were a wrestling match, NTP would be the company that slammed RIM over the head with a steel folding chair, but it could be Microsoft that “snuck” into the ring to pin RIM down for the count.”

As both Microsoft and RIM are seasoned courtroom grapplers, feel free to refer to the step-by-step guide as “Exhibit A.”

Email Battles Backgrounder:

• Bloated Exchange 12 Begs For Atkins; Email Battles; 22 November 2005
• Buzzards Circle Over RIM; NewsByte; Email Battles; 31 January 2006
• Microsoft Push Mail Not Available In US; NewsByte; Email Battles; 27 February 2006
• Tag Teams: Blackberry & Microsoft vs NTP & Visto; NewsByte; Email Battles; 15 December 2005
• Will Direct Push Make Windows Mobile?; Email Battles; 26 October 2005