Synchronica announced Mobile Gateway 3.5 with new back-end support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 and Sun Java Communications Suite 5.

Mobile Gateway 3.5 also introduces support for the Java Content Repository (JCR) standard, allowing it to be integrated with third-party personal information management (PIM) systems, reducing the development time. The new product incorporates a billing API (Application Programming Interface) to facilitate both prepaid billing, predominantly used in the consumer sector, and post-paid billing favored by corporate accounts.

Mobile Gateway 3.5 further features a new mobile registration interface that allows consumers to sign up easily and quickly from their phone by using WAP, activating the service directly from the device without requiring access to a PC.

In the business sector, Frost & Sullivan predicts that mobile email will become a must-have application, with revenues estimated to grow from EUR 1.86 billion in 2007 to EUR 6.65 billion in 2012.

By adding support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 and Sun Communications Suite 5, Mobile Gateway 3.5 enables operators to provide a carrier-grade mobile email and PIM synchronization service to the majority of users working in businesses, without forcing them to use a specific device. This makes the use of a single device for both business and private email a reality, removing the headache of carrying multiple devices for executives on the move.

"The enormous popularity of the Apple iPhone has demonstrated that consumer and business use of mobile phones is converging, and operators are starting to look at how best to serve both markets on a single device", says Synchronica CEO Carsten Brinkschulte.

At the same time that mobile email becomes a must-have application in the business sector, Visiongain predicts that consumer mobile email accounts will increase to 184 million users by 2011. Because Mobile Gateway 3.5 supports popular consumer email services such as Gmail, AOL, Yahoo, or any POP3 or IMAP mailbox, it is equally attractive to operators introducing consumer mobile email services.

Using the open standards Push IMAP and SyncML, Mobile Gateway 3.5 integrates with the native email and synchronization clients built into more than 1.5 billion devices from all major handset manufacturers like Sony Ericsson, Palm, Nokia, Samsung, Motorola.

This is ideal for business users who need secure mobile access to corporate email and calendar information, as well as users in the prosumer and consumer markets, as it supports both smartphones and mass market feature phones without requiring an additional client to be installed on the device.

As a key advantage, unmatched by other products, Mobile Gateway does not require any additional software installation on the users' PC or firewall modification in the corporate network. Instead, Mobile Gateway is operated in the data center of the service provider and connects to the user's mail server through a secure connection.

The combination of this zero footprint architecture with an additional over-the-air provisioning module eases service activation and improves adoption rates.

"By extending our back-end support to include Microsoft Exchange 2007 and Sun Communications Suite 5 and continuing to support open standards and popular consumer email services, Synchronica can provide a single solution that can deliver carrier-grade mobile push email and PIM synchronization to both consumer and business users on a wide range of devices", says Synchronica CEO Carsten Brinkschulte.

"We are delighted to announce these important enhancements to our flagship product Mobile Gateway. This is another important step in our mission to bring carrier-grade push email, PIM synchronization, and backup and restore services to every phone on the planet, whether it is in the hands of a European executive on his Sony Ericsson P990, a U.S. prosumer on his Apple iPhone, or a consumer in Bangladesh accessing emails on his Nokia 1101", adds Brinkschulte.