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R E V I E W

E-Mail Without Wires

May 29, 2003
By Dave Molta

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Good Technology

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	In this article
	Introduction
	Selection Criteria
	Synchrologic
	Extended Systems
	Good Technology
	Research in Motion (RIM)
	Sprint-Seven
	T-Mobile
	Executive Summary \| Scenario \| Evaluating Wireless E-Mail ROI
	Responses To RFIs

Good Technology is a three-year-old company that has emerged as a force in this industry by combining an effective bidirectional wireless sync architecture with support for BlackBerry devices and its own state-of-the-art handheld device. The company has solid venture backing and claims to have systems installed in more than 500 enterprises. Good's proposal was excellent, though there are some significant limitations, notably limited device support, exclusive reliance on the Mobitex network and support for Exchange only.

Good's bidirectional sync is its biggest selling point against RIM, clearly its most visible rival and the litigant in four lawsuits against Good (see "RIM To Take Good to Trial").

The system is, in fact, quite compelling from a user perspective. There's no need for cradle synchronization or for desktop software--of significant interest to IT. When you delete a message on your Good handheld, it is also deleted from Exchange. Likewise, if you make changes in Outlook on your desktop system in an Exchange environment, those changes are propagated to the handheld automatically.

The GoodLink Server is a behind-the-firewall system that integrates with Exchange. When new messages arrive at the user's inbox, the GoodLink Server compresses them and sends them over a secure connection to the GoodLink Operations Center, which routes the message to the appropriate device using 3DES encryption and a positive acknowledgement architecture that addresses both security and reliability. The server runs on Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000 and tightly integrates with Exchange 5.5 or 2000.

GoodInfo is Good's solution for integration with other enterprise applications, allowing for the delivery of Web-based contents to Good clients using a query/response architecture. The system does not appear to be as mature as competitive offerings, and we cringed when we read Good's assertion that the system is so easy that corporate developers could create wireless applications in minutes. Right. At the same time, we were impressed that Good included a detailed description of a GoodInfo application developed by Bechtel, a company whose business resembles MSE, our fictitious engineering-services company.

Good's response to our request for ROI models resulted in citation of a study by research and analysis firm Ipsos-Reid (now Ipsos-Insight), but instead of focusing on e-mail processing efficiency and reduced downtime, Good emphasized the system's potential to reduce monthly dial-up costs by 54 percent and cell-phone costs by 15 percent. Good also suggested that some organizations might save on laptop-deployment costs, presumably with users who would use handheld devices instead of notebooks.

Good's device support is limited to RIM BlackBerry and its own G100 device, but the company says it plans to add support for Palm OS and Pocket PC this year. Given its support for BlackBerry, we're comfortable that Good will be able to port its application to the other platforms, but we wonder whether there will be much in the way of device management available.

While Good touts its system as designed to work with a variety of wireless networks, it runs only on Mobitex. Support for GPRS and CDMA 1x is scheduled to be added soon after press time, making its offering significantly more credible.

The price of the GoodLink system includes both upfront and recurring costs, and we appreciated Good's easy-to-understand pricing model. The GoodLink Server costs $2,000 plus $50 for each user. Recurring maintenance is 18 percent of the system purchase price. Good's G100 devices cost $399, and the per-user charge for use of the Mobitex network and Good's Operations Center is $34.99 per month plus a $25 activation fee.

Good Technology, (408) 400-4800l, (866) 7-BE-GOOD. www.good.com