News
Microsoft, Ericsson Join Forces for Mobile Venture
- By Scott Bekker
- 09/11/2000
Microsoft Corp. and Ericsson today launched Ericsson Microsoft Mobile Venture AB. The previously announced joint company will develop and market mobile e-mail solutions for operators. The company is part of a strategic alliance between Ericsson and Microsoft, and the first products from the joint company are expected to be seen by the end of the year.
Ericsson Microsoft Mobile Venture AB is based in Stockholm, Sweden, and will have regional centers around the world. The company will develop solutions, based on Ericsson's (www.ericsson.com) and Microsoft's (www.microsoft.com) products, that enable mobile operators to offer secure mobile e-mail to both corporate and consumer customers. The solutions will also include calendar, to-do lists, and other personal information management tools, and will provide professional users with full access to corporate data.
The solutions will integrate Windows 2000 Server and Exchange platforms with Ericsson's infrastructure and mobile Internet technologies. The joint company will provide solutions for mobile operators' existing networks.
The alliance that formed the new company also includes cooperation on the use of the Microsoft Mobile Explorer browser for Ericsson's feature phones, licensing of Ericsson's WAP technology for use in Microsoft solutions, and distribution of the Microsoft Outlook messaging and collaboration client together with applicable Ericsson phones. The two companies will also work together to support open standards and new technologies, such as Bluetooth, WAP and Universal Plug & Play (UPnP). - Isaac Slepner
About the Author
Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.