Digital Rum announces IM for customers using Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005
Digital Rum(dR) today announced an extended Mobile Service that will be offered to all industry segments and sees immediate application in the Retail, Utilities, Wireless Operator and Leisure Industries, where dR services are recognised today for Mobile CRM.
The service will allow Symbian OS and J2ME enabled devices to access Microsoft Office Live Communications Server systems through a dR implemented client, either pre-configured prior to purchase for direct install on the mobile device or provisioned over the air through a web interface.
• Two different clients are available, and these support the Nokia Series 60 (Symbian OS) phones and all phones which support Java MIDP 2.0. Ovum, ARC, and the Wireless World Forum have stated there are more than 280 Java handset models available from 32 manufacturers, deployed over 93 carriers.
• The clients give users access to their secure IM system and presence sharing capabilities on the move, using mass market phones on mobile networks worldwide. This enables users to stay in touch with colleagues, partners, and customers while in the field, to handle time-sensitive requests and to make decisions faster. For ease of use, the clients are based on the Microsoft Office Communicator 2005 desktop experience, but modified to take into account the different phone screen size, layout and functionality.
• For users with legacy phones, dR provides an SMS extension to Live Communications Server, so that users who are not able to connect to Live Communications Server by any other channel can conduct conversations into the secure IM network via SMS from anywhere in the world.
• dR provides an end to end service, from provisioning the clients to support in the field. The provisioning of the client onto the phones is a key issue in order to maintain security and conform to the businesses’ IT/IS policies. The clients are preconfigured before being downloaded from the dR platform, minimising the support requirement and maintaining network integrity.
• dR designed this service to dovetail into its existing mobile CRM services and created a billing capability that will allow the evolution from SMS to IM in a trusted service that provides full functionality for m-ordering, m-commerce, m-merchandising and all aspects of the platform.
Bob Pike, CEO at Digital Rum (dR) said “The new initiative reinforces the long-standing efforts in the market to have secured mobile instant messaging that can potentially evolve to naturally replace short messaging in the IP world and working with Microsoft’s Live Communications Server programme, we see a great future in these new services. Digital Rum (dR), together with dR investors Cross Atlantic Capital Partners, researched the market and is convinced this service will be in demand.”
“Instant Messaging and presence are playing an increasingly important role in helping information workers stay in touch with critical business contacts and make better decisions, faster,” said Marc Sanders, senior product manager, Real-Time Collaboration Group, Microsoft Corp. “We are excited that Digital Rum has joined our vibrant industry partner ecosystem, building a valuable mobile service on our Microsoft Real-Time Collaboration platform that will further extend and enhance the secure Live Communications Server experience.”