Good Technology extends email to iPhone and Android

Users want corporate email on their iPhone, according to Good Technology

Good Technology has added support for Apple's iPhone and Google's Android platforms to its enterprise mobility suite, allowing organisations to provide email access to users via these increasingly popular handsets.

Available immediately, the Good for Enterprise client for the iPhone can be downloaded from Apple's App Store, while the Android client is available from Good itself and via Android Market.

The move allows customers to expand their client options for enterprise mobility, while enabling IT departments to secure and manage the devices, the company said.

Both clients are free downloads, but require a client access licence before they can be used to access corporate email via a customer's Good for Enterprise server.

The firm said that IT departments have seen an increase in employees wanting to use their own mobile devices in the past six to 12 months.

Good Technology, which is now owned by Visto Corporation, commissioned an independent survey of 500 IT departments in the US and UK, and found that nearly 80 per cent of IT directors have been asked by staff to allow use of their own device, while more than half would let employees use their own devices if they were assured of security and configuration.

The majority of user requests were for the iPhone, but interest is also growing in Android, due in part to the open nature of the platform.

"We expect to see even more demand within the next year for the ability to let these devices access corporate networks. Only Good for Enterprise provides a seamless and secure way to give employees access to the network on the devices of their choice, without any compromise to corporate data," said Good Technology chief marketing officer John Herrema.

Good for Enterprise uses a behind-the-firewall server to link with corporate email systems based on Microsoft Exchange 2000, 2003 and 2007, or IBM's Lotus Domino 6, 7 or 8. It also provides mobile device management with over-the-air capabilities for zero-touch administration.

On the client side, Good for Enterprise already supports Windows Mobile, Symbian devices with Nokia's S60 user interface and Palm's WebOS platform used on the Pre smartphone.