Aileron is a business-quality mobile messaging solution for
Palm-powered handheld devices. Its intuitive design helps
mobile professionals to completely manage corporate and
personal communications from anywhere. Aileron enables users
to manage entire conversations from one window, allowing them
to easily send and receive e-mails with attachments, and even
faxes. Users of convergent devices such as the Handspring Treo
have the added option of responding to e-mails directly by
phone. Aileron is completely network independent and can operate
with wireless and wireline connections. It provides end-toend
security, regardless of type of connectivity. Most users will
utilize any connection that supports wireless data. This includes:
Mobile professionals who have access to more than one computer often maintain multiple mailboxes for business and personal communication. Aileron eliminates this need, simplifying the process by allowing all communication to flow through a single device. Aileron maintains user-friendly functionality, routing data through the company's server and providing optimization to Palm format before transmitting to the handheld device. Aileron provides comprehensive support for attachment data, offering users the option of downloading, editing, and uploading attachments, i.e., Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, Adobe Acrobat files, images (i.e., bitmaps, JPGs, GIFs), and more. For enterprises, Aileron Enterprise Server extends corporate mail securely with a transparent wireless sync while maintaining the user's ability to retrieve and respond to all e-mail messages and their attachments.
Getting Started with Aileron
Aileron is designed to be device and network independent. It
supports all devices that operate on Palm OS 3.1 or higher.
However, certain features are operational only on more recent versions
of the Palm operating system. Your host computer must also
have HotSync installed (and of course a docking cradle). Installing
Aileron on a Windows machine is as simple as running the setup
executable; a PRC file can be run to install Aileron on other platforms.
The setup program is available on Corsoft's Web site.
User Interface
Aileron provides a rich and easy-to-use handheld interface that
integrates well with native Palm applications like Address Book and
Date Book. It integrates with third-party applications like browsers,
office document solutions like Documents To Go, Quickoffice,
WordSmith, Adobe Acrobat, Image Viewers, and much more.
Setting Up a Mailbox
With the one-user license ($49.95) Aileron can be configured
with any mailbox using the IMAP4 and POP3 mail protocols. It
includes SMTP services to avoid searching for mail relay servers.
Aileron provides SSL support to access university mailboxes and
mailboxes provided by broadband cable providers like AT&T.
Aileron also provides rich access to mailboxes on portals like
AOL, MSN, Hotmail, and Yahoo (without paid services). Users
with supported devices can enjoy "always-on e-mail." For
Handspring Treo devices, Aileron provides push-enabled data
notification for new messages using SMS. Palm's Tungsten/C
device based on Wi-Fi can also get new message notifications.
For corporate users, Aileron Enterprise Server ($2,495) can be
configured to provide secure and native access to corporate mail
servers like Microsoft Exchange. It maintains a wireless sync
with the user's mailbox to reflect all activity managed from
handheld devices, e.g., messages read, deleted, or sent; corporate
address book; fax transport; etc.
Attachments
The user can download e-mail to a Palm device with or without
attachments. Documents transmitted as e-mail attachments
may be downloaded in native desktop format or for supported
applications, in Palm handheld format.
Attachments are converted by the Aileron Server. The server provides the horsepower and speed needed for the document conversion. A handheld format file, with any of the supported document management options, is a much smaller size file than the desktop format. Data transmission of smaller size files results in increased performance (read faster) as compared to the native desktop file format, regardless of the type of network in which it's traveling. Performance is the key – Aileron uses a multitiered architecture to optimize on network bandwidth and any computing-intensive operations to provide robust performance. Typical download for business documents like Word and Excel is within 15 seconds.
Security
Aileron uses an advanced algorithm for Advanced Encryption
Standard (AES) with 192-bit keys to secure data between the handheld
and the Aileron Enterprise Server. This eliminates the need for
Virtual Private Networks (VPN) and maintains an end-to-end secure
communication that is essential for all corporate deployments.
Closing Thoughts
Aileron is attractive to anyone who wants a rich full-featured email
client without lugging around his or her laptop. And at $49.95
(US) Aileron is worth it for the document conversion alone. Higherend
corporate users who require secure access will likely choose
Aileron Enterprise Server – if they can get over the sticker shock. A
five-user Enterprise license will set you back $2,495. Either or, Aileron
provides a scalable, one-size-doesnot-fit-all, mobile e-mail solution.
With such an easy and functional
interface, it will soon be appearing on a PDA near you.
COMPANY INFORMATION
Corsoft Corporation
1710 S. Amphlett Blvd., Suite
209, San Mateo, CA 94402
Phone: +1.800.3CORSOFT
URL: http://www.corsoft.com