Event-source applications react to events. Mobile Information Server predefines some events; developers of custom event-source applications will provide event sources for additional system and application events. Mobile Information Server sends notifications to devices depending on the event source's rules. For example, Outlook Mobile Access uses Exchange 2000 event sources to notify users when important messages are delivered to users' mailboxes.
Administration components provide administrative functionality for carrier connectors, device modules, event sources, and applications. The Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Mobile Information Server snap-in lets administrators configure and control Mobile Information Server components. This snap-in, in conjunction with other MMC snap-ins (e.g., for AD and Exchange Server), lets you control the entire Mobile Information Server system through the MMC interface.
As I mentioned, Mobile Information Server includes the Outlook Mobile Access and Intranet Browse applications. Outlook Mobile Access works like Outlook Web Access (OWA) for wireless devices: Outlook Mobile Access gives users access to their Exchange 2000 and Exchange Server 5.5 email, calendar, tasks, and contacts and to the Global Address List (GAL). Outlook Mobile Access users interact directly with their mailboxes to perform actions such as reading, replying to, forwarding, and deleting messages. Mobile Information Server carries out all actions in realtime and records updates immediately in the user's Exchange mailbox. Outlook Mobile Access requires Win2K and AD.
Intranet Browse provides access to any WAP application that the enterprise can host on intranet Web servers. The WAP application can be an out-of-the-box solution, such as a wireless sales automation application module from Siebel Systems, or a custom application that uses Wireless Markup Language (WML) and Active Server Pages (ASP). When you configure access to an intranet-hosted WAP application through Intranet Browse, you specify the WAP application's intranet location. Users access Intranet Browse applications by entering the appropriate URL from the wireless device. When the user connects, Mobile Information Server authenticates the user, then redirects the request to the intranet-hosted Web server.
In addition to the application and server components I've mentioned, Carrier Edition includes connectors, which connect Mobile Information Server to the carrier network and provide secure notification access to the device. When a carrier hosts Carrier Edition, the carrier's connector settings specify the URL for the carrier's Mobile Information Server. Enterprise Edition then uses HTTP to communicate with Carrier Edition.
Each network requires its own carrier connector to support devices. For example, AT&T Wireless Services, Sprint PCS, and VoiceStream Wireless network carriers require different carrier connectors. Carrier Edition enables Mobile Information Server to deliver SMS messages directly to the carrier network's SMS Center without requiring unencrypted SMTP transfer. When you don't use Carrier Edition, Mobile Information Server uses the SMTP carrier connector to deliver notifications to wireless devices.
As Mobile Information Server matures, more built-in and third-party applications will appear from Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and wireless application service providers (WASPs). The number of wireless solutions that vendors could develop and deploy on the platform is endless. For example, a developer might create a Mobile Information Server stock trading application that lets the user set stock trading preferences through a Web browser. The application could use notification functionality to alert the user when a particular stock reaches a certain price point, and the user could use browse functionality to respond to the notification with a stock trade.
Microsoft also bundles Microsoft Outlook Mobile Manager with Mobile Information Server. Outlook Mobile Manager is client software that runs on a desktop and redirects messages to the mobile device as notifications. Outlook Mobile Manager features natural language processing, Microsoft IntelliShrink text compression, and mobility preferences to facilitate delivering Outlook data to the device. But because Outlook Mobile Manager runs on the user's workstation, the software's features are available only when the workstation is running. Thus, until Microsoft moves some of this functionality to the server, Outlook Mobile Manager isn't directly relevant to enterprise mobility solutions.
Infrastructure and Hosting
The infrastructure you need to support Mobile Information Server is similar to the infrastructure you need for other Internet applications. Figure 1 shows a sample infrastructure that includes the primary Mobile Information Server components and shows how those components interact with other enterprise servers. An enterprise, a carrier, or a WASP can host various infrastructure components. You might configure the components differently depending on your requirements, the number of users you want to support, and the security level you need.
Hosting Mobile Information Server in the enterprise data center provides maximum control and security. Because corporate hosting requires appropriate hardware, software, physical infrastructure, and staff resources, this approach usually is more costly than carrier- or WASP-hosted approaches. But now that WAP has officially entered the US market with Cingular Wireless's WAP service and VoiceStream Wireless's WebStream WAP service, corporate-hosted WAP gateways are possible in some cases.
Hosting Mobile Information Server will become a source of increasing revenue for carriers. Many carriers include WAP gateway services as part of their wireless Internet services and will use Carrier Edition to offer enterprise solutions. Such a carrier service will let wireless subscribers access corporate email systems through the carrier's infrastructure. An advantage of carrier-hosted solutions is that carriers will support the entire Mobile Information Server infrastructure. Economies of volume and a per-userper-month billing model should help carriers lower costs. Also, carriers can enhance security by implementing direct enterprise and carrier frame links (i.e., leased lines) to prevent data from entering public networks.
A WASP-hosted enterprise infrastructure will be another option for implementing wireless solutions. A WASP is a company that implements Mobile Information Server and other wireless infrastructure in addition to offering enterprise solutions. As with a carrier-hosted approach, the initial costs for the enterprise are lower than with a corporate-hosted solution. WASP hosting is likely to be the best choice for small companies. For large companies, a carrier or WASP's per-userper-month billing model can become a large ongoing expense that might exceed the cost of a corporate-hosted solution.
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