Invasion Plans

Apple announced a beta of iPhone 2.0 that will include full Microsoft Exchange server support using ActiveSync. This is interesting since I have a small, but growing, base of iPhone users and only recently (and reluctantly), opened IMAP up to them for their mail. With iPhone 2.0, I will finally get to use the mobile and ActiveSync features on my Exchange 2007 server, which have gone unused since none of my users have compatible cell phones or devices, and there was no sense in purchasing Blackberry Enterprise Server for the small number of Crackberry addicts in the company unless everyone would be getting one. The iPhone users will be happy because they can sync calendars and contacts, etc.

The key things to planning this will be making sure all pre-requesites are in place by the time one of my users gets impatient and actually wants me to test the 2.0 beta. This is entirely possible since one of the biggest Apple fanatics in the company is the CIO.

I’ll post my adventures/results on this in a future article as I dive into using ActiveSync with iPhones. Hopefully the experience will be smooth and my iPhone users, who happen to be some of the top executives, will be happy. I know my boss and I will, because we can then turn off IMAP and breathe freely knowing they’re getting their mail more securely!