GroupWise Synchronization for iPhone is here- tell your IT department!

The day I thought would never come, arrived much sooner than expected! NotifyLink, a provider of server-side synchronization software for mobile devices, has just announced the availability of NotifyLink for the iPhone/iPod Touch. Of course, to make use of this technology, your organization has to have the NotifyLink Server.

There is a great support page which lays out how you setup your account (done though the Exchange option when adding an email account). There are pictures walking you though setting your email to configuring and accepting meeting invitations to using the Global Address Book for looking up your organizations contacts!

A quick summary, after the break!

iPhone Functionality and Overview

NotifyLink Enterprise Server allows iPhone and iPod touch devices to synchronize email, calendar and contacts using the native software contained on the device. There is no application software to install.

This section overviews NotifyLink functionality based on the parameters of the iPhone/iPod touch native software.

Email

•      Uses the iPhone native email client to send, receive, reply to and forward emails

•      Folder Mirroring allows email folders from your mail account to be synchronized to the device

•      Email Filters, set on the NotifyLink server, filter mail sent to the device

•      Attachment viewing is supported using device’s native viewers.  Emails with attachments can be forwarded.  With the exception of picture files in the device’s Camera Roll album, attaching a file residing on the device to an email is not currently supported.  You cannot save an attachment on the device.

PIM (Calendar and Contacts)

•      Interfaces to the iPhone native Calendar and Contacts

•      Synchronize calendar events in a configurable Look-Back/Look-Ahead range

•      Choose Address Books (on groupware servers that support this)

•      Remote Lookup (Global Address List) retrieves contact information from an LDAP directory using the iPhoneContacts application

•      Receive and respond to meeting invitations

•      Meeting invitations cannot be initiated from the device

•      Task synchronization is not supported

Push Types

•      Direct Push (Push) and Scheduled Push (Fetch) options

Security

•      SSL encryption protocol for data-in-motion between the device and NotifyLink server

•      Remote Wipe for devices lost or stolen

•      Require password on device (Enabled via the NotifyLink Admin Web)

•      Inactivity Timeout (Set on device via Auto-Lock)

The solution appears to work just like an Exchange account. What does this mean? For people that are already using MobileMe, it won't interfere and you can keep both accounts. This is truly great and exciting!