Firm Gains Mobility with PDA's

Several of the Partners of this firm were increasingly on the road for business and wanted an easy way to stay in touch with their office emails and calendar.

Partners Start Using Mobile PDAs

Mobile Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) devices are a marvel for those spending significant time out of the office.  An array of handheld devices are supported and can be used both as a PDA and cell phone.  With these devices, Partners gained the ability to receive and respond to their Email 24 x 7 while traveling.  They could also update their calendars and other PIM related information.  All of this was synchronized with their Outlook application back at the office.  For example, emails deleted on the PDA also automatically delete back at the office.

No Server Software Needed

Many of the new devices, such as Treo's (with ActiveSync) and Windows Mobile PDA's, have built in support for Exchange Servers.  This enables the PDA to synchronize directly with the Exchange Mail Server without any additions to the firm's Email Infrastructure. An unlimited number of PDA's can be added to the system without further complicating licensing or server configurations.  

Blackberry users, for example, typically have to either install middleware on their Exchange server and purchase a license for each user, or else install the synchronization software on their workstations, necessitating that their workstation stay running at all times.  Any workstation-related problems could potentially knock the Blackberry synchronization off-line.  As these devices multiply in an office, the need to improve the reliability of the synchronization process and simplify and centralize this functionality grows exponentially. 

One Device Does It All

Partners no longer need a phone and a PDA to be completely mobile.  The new PDAs double as a perfectly useable cell phone.  For this office, the Mobile PDA has become a standard part of their road-kit.