Company: Good Technology Inc, www.good.com
Price: $330 direct per user (volume discounts available)
Pros: Innovative cradle-less synchronization of Exchange
data; nicely improved administration abilities; more deployment and carrier options Cons:
Occasional hiccups while hot-synching Bottom Line: Good's open-minded approach to synching
up mobile users deserves a serious look from any organization that runs Exchange and wants
to bring connectivity to its workforce.
Review With its innovative cradle-less synchronization of
Exchange data and newfound support for Treo 600 Palm OS devices, Good's new GoodLink 3.0
wireless platform delivers excellent reach in... click here for full review
Good Gets Even Better
With its innovative cradle-less synchronization of Exchange
data and newfound support for Treo 600 Palm OS devices, Good's new GoodLink 3.0 wireless
platform delivers excellent reach in enterprise mobile software. The latest version adds
some nicely improved administration abilities and more deployment and carrier options.
With this release, the company moves beyond its support for
a limited number of end-user devices (namely its own G100 unit plus RIM 950 and 957
handhelds) and lets enterprises deploy Treo 600 phone/PDA combo devices. Good has also
announced support for Pocket PC, with clients due out later this year.
As in previous releases, IT control over password and
security options is excellent. Unlike the competing BlackBerry Enterprise Server, GoodLink
now allows you to designate additional administrators with policy-based control over
additional provisioning. This release also adds Web administration support for registering
and checking the status of devices and servers via the GoodLink portal through a browser.
On the client side, GoodLink Server's claim to fame is
clearly still its over-the-air approach to synchronizing Exchange data, including e-mail,
contacts, calendars, and tasks. With GoodLink, you don't need to connect the PDA to stay
current with data.
On the Treo 600 we tested, GoodLink's client applet
mimicked previous releases, with a well-thought-out mobile interface. Features such as
automatic capitalization, auto-selection of e-mail addresses, and wider support for
attachments are welcome improvements here. You can now view rich attachments, as long as
the corresponding viewer is installed on your device.
Good's open-minded approach to syncing up mobile users
deserves a serious look from any organization that runs Exchange and wants to bring
connectivity to its workforce. |