Push e-mail

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Push e-mail is used to describe e-mail systems that provide an "always-on" capability, in which new e-mail is instantly and actively transferred (pushed) as it arrives by the mail delivery agent (MDA) (commonly called mail server) to the mail user agent (MUA), also called the e-mail client. Most of today's clients are smartphones.[citation needed]

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[edit] Comparison with traditional e-mail

Traditional e-mail access over network connections was and still is "pull" based: at login and later in intervals, the Mail User Agent (e-mail reader) polls the Mail Delivery Agent (server) to see if there is new mail, and if so downloads it to a mailbox in the user's home directory. However, mail has always been pushed from the origin to the final Mail Delivery Agent. Extending this push to the last delivery step is what distinguishes push e-mail from traditional e-mail systems.

The reason that pull is the usual method for the last stage of mail delivery is that, while the server Mail Delivery Agent would normally be permanently connected to the network, it does not necessarily know how to locate the client Mail User Agent, which is likely to not only be connected only occasionally, but also to change network address quite often. For example, a user with a laptop on a WiFi connection may be assigned different addresses from the network DHCP server every once in a while and have no persistent network name, and when new mail arrives to the mail server, it does not know what address the client is currently assigned.

Post Office Protocol (POP3) is a popular example of a pull based mail delivery protocol.

The Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) provides support for polling and notifications. When a client receives a notification from a server, the client may choose to fetch the new data from the server. This makes retrieval of new messages more flexible than a purely-push system, because the client can choose whether to download new message data.

[edit] Mobile users

Although push e-mail had existed in wired-based systems for many years, one of the first uses of the system with a portable, "always on" wireless device outside of Asia was the BlackBerry service from Research In Motion. In Japan, "push e-mail" has been standard in cell phones since the year 2000.

[edit] BlackBerry

BlackBerry uses wireless Mail User Agent devices and a BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) attached to a traditional e-mail system. The BES monitors the e-mail server, and when it sees new e-mail for a BlackBerry user, it retrieves (pulls) a copy and then pushes it to the BlackBerry handheld device over the wireless network.

BlackBerry became very popular, in part because it offers remote users "instant" e-mail experience; new e-mails appear on the device as soon as they arrive, without the need for any user intervention. The handheld becomes a mobile, dynamically updating, copy of the user's mailbox. As a result of the success of BlackBerry, other manufacturers have developed push e-mail systems for other handheld devices, such as Symbian based mobile phones.

[edit] emoze

emoze is the world's first free push email solution. emoze supports wide range of mobile devices, such as Windows Mobile, Symbian, pop3 devices, and many more. With emoze you can synchronize your Outlook account, Gmail account, home mail, corporate mail, and OWA.

[edit] Palm OS

Palm Smartphone devices such as the Treo have had IMAP IDLE[1] available through the use of 3rd Party software ChatterEmail as early as 2004. There is no additional server software required.

[edit] Windows Mobile

Microsoft began offering a simulated push experience with Windows Mobile 5.0, and true push technology in 2007 with the release of Windows Mobile 6 under the name "Direct Push Technology". 'Direct Push' technology is an additional feature added to Microsoft Exchange 2003 with a new service pack that adds messaging and security features currently also known as AKU2. Exchange Server enabled to push Outlook messaging directly to a phone device running Windows Mobile 5, using a subscriber's existing wireless phone account (instead of the device having to "pull" e-mail from the server). To achieve pushmail with any e-mail provider (i.e. other than Exchange) there is a plug-in from for emansio (formerly VGS Mail) that enables push mail with any e-mail provider, i.e. google mail etc.

[edit] DME by Excitor

DME is a mobile/wireless mobile solution for medium and large size enterprises. It is a solution for companies that look for high data security, easy administration of many users and low data cost. DME is device, network and operator independent. This means that DME works on most business mobile phones and PDAs – Nokia, SonyEricsson, HTC, etc. and allows companies to switch operators that are either cheaper or give better coverage. DME also includes voice and data statistics, connection management and device control, giving the enterprise full control of user behavior, traffic cost and IT policy enforcement.

[edit] Helio Ocean

Helio began adding support to its "ultimate inbox" for push e-mail to the Helio Ocean in July 2007 with support for Yahoo! Mail, Windows Live Hotmail, and AOL Mail. On April 23, 2008 push support was added for Gmail, along with automatic notifications for POP and IMAP services.[1]

[edit] iPhone

The Apple iPhone has supported Yahoo! push e-mail since the phone's initial release in 2007. Since July 2008 the release of iPhone 2.0 software brings Microsoft's Exchange ActiveSync platform to Apple's handheld thus allowing the iPhone to synchronize e-mail, calendars, tasks and contacts with a Microsoft Exchange Server. The software which will add features commonly found in enterprise mobile devices will be available through iTunes as a free download.[2] MobileMe stores all your email, contacts, and calendars on a secure online server — or “cloud” — and pushes them down to your iPhone, iPod touch, Mac, and PC. When you make a change on one device, the cloud updates the others. Push happens automatically, instantly, and continuously. You don’t have to wait for it or remember to do anything — such as docking your iPhone and syncing manually — to stay up to date.

[edit] Other mobile users

Sony Ericsson Smartphones (M600,P990,W950,P1,W960,G900,G700) feature push e-mail using IMAP IDLE or with the built-in ActiveSync client. Most other Sony Ericsson phones support IMAP IDLE push e-mail quite well (only the inbox however).

Other open push e-mail solutions available in the market today are NotifyLink, SEVEN, Visto, and Good Technology (part of Motorola).

NotifyLink supports the following backends: Alt-N Technologies, Communigate Pro, Kerio, Meeting Maker, Microsoft Exchange 2000/03/07, Mirapoint, Novell GroupWise, Oracle, Scalix, Sun Communication Suite, and Zimbra, plus other solutions for e-mail only. The supported mobile devices/operating systems include Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, Symbian OS and Palm OS.

The key benefit of Visto Solution is that it works on any SmartPhone Treo680, 700w, and the new MotoQ. SEVEN supports more than 200 devices, covering devices using Symbian, Palm, Microsoft Mobile, BREW and Java/J2ME.

Good Technology's Good Mobile Messaging (formerly known as GoodLink) supports Microsoft Exchange 2000, 2003 and 2007 as well as Lotus Notes.

Visto supports Exchange 5.5/2000/2003, Domino all versions and works with any ISP e-mail.

SEVEN supports all Exchange and Domino versions plus POP and IMAP.

Another company to offer a push e-mail solution is Critical Path, Inc. under the brand name Memova Mobile, the only requirement of this is that the handset have GPRS and MMS capability.

Most of these non-proprietary solutions are network independent, meaning that as long as a device is GPRS enabled and has an e-mail client, it will have the ability to send/receive e-mails in any country and via any telco that has GPRS on its network. It also means that so long as the device itself is not SIM locked, the constraints of BlackBerry such as Network locking, vendor locking (BlackBerry devices and BlackBerry Connect devices) and GPRS-roaming charges (for non-home access) are not an issue. Pop in a local SIM card in any country the user is in, have the correct APN settings and get your mail at LOCAL rates.

[edit] Simulation using traditional e-mail

Traditional mobile mail clients may poll for new mail at frequent intervals, without downloading the mail to the client, thus providing a similar user experience as push e-mail.

IMAP in fact allows many notifications to be sent at any time, but not message data. The IDLE command is often used to signal the ability of a client to process notifications sent outside of a command running, which effectively provides a user experience identical to push.

[edit] Protocols

In contrast to traditional e-mail, most of the protocols used in popular current systems are proprietary; for example, BlackBerry uses its own private protocols developed by RIM. Both the Push-IMAP standard and parts of the SyncML standards are attempting to develop more open solutions.

The Lemonade Profile is an IETF modification to IMAP and SMTP to make them more suited to the demands of mobile e-mail, it relies on the existing IDLE (RFC 2177) command to provide instant e-mail notification on the client device. IDLE is not strictly push e-mail although it does provide the same user experience.

[edit] Products

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Gmail (and POP/IMAP!) gets Push support in Ultimate Inbox - heliocity.net
  2. ^ Corporate E-mail Coming to iPhone - Look Out BlackBerry! - Switched
  3. ^ Recent Thunderbird Work
  4. ^ SeaMonkey Suite