Lagos — The Push email technology has become a convenient life management tool for people who need time sensitive email communication when they are away from their offices. It has continued to gain popularity; even new cell phones are beginning to support the technology and the speculation is heating up about whom is going to be the major player involved.

The Blackberry system was the first widely deployed mobile push-email solution and when it was introduced to Nigerian subscribers, people referred to it as a device for the "bigger boys" because of the cost of buying the device. It was targeted at a small fraction of potential users as it was seen as a solution only for senior executives, and more of a status symbol.

Another cogent issue is the security. Information sent through push email devices should be given an utmost concern because the consequences of unauthorized access to such information can be devastating.

Security does not only mean adding firewalls to a server and encrypting the user's personal data but security is about making the user feel comfortable with the system and feel in control of the information.

The information sent through the Blackberry goes through a handful of servers in United States and Britain and this information are vulnerable to probing. Recently, the French Government expressed concern over the Blackberry amid fears that the information sent through the device could be intercepted at the server thereby posing a threat to national security. All the government officials have been ordered to stop using the handheld Blackberry device until there is an alternative. It is even speculated that other governments and security conscious organizations may follow in the trend to keep the device at arms length.

There are other major operators in this market that provide a similar level of service like Blackberry.

Seven is a major operator who has shown its commitment to the push email technology and its entrance into the Nigerian market is seen as either complementary or a direct competitor to the Blackberry service. The Seven® push email solution is a full mobile office offering for mobile operators and service providers.

It delivers all the benefits of real time enterprise and private messaging with a very comfortable user experience and end-to-end security bringing all the components that users are familiar with when using their computer to check their email.

Both Blackberry and Seven® enable users to access their electronic mails on their mobile phones anywhere, anytime in the same way and functionality,

although Seven® makes for faster and easier access to emails. How? The key point about the Seven® push e-mail is that subscribers to this service tend to enjoy cost effectiveness and ease of installation unlike the Blackberry. It is 60% cheaper than the Blackberry service! The Seven® push email cost N3, 500 monthly for the enterprise edition and the service can run on over 200 models of low-end and very high-end mobile devices which invariably makes all the difference. This is because it helps get push mobile e-mail to wider groups of mobile workers.

Apart from the price advantages of Seven®, it also has different editions that can suit all pockets. The solution is ideal for personal or enterprise usage and it is also cost effective for both small and large organizations. The chief operating officer of Seven Networks Incorporated, Mr. Paul Hedman says "the main difference between Seven® and other Push email device is that the solution is a 'white label' product which means that operators can own their own brand name while using the software".

With the Seven® push email, all the messages that are exchanged between the desktop and the mobile device are encrypted using a key only available to the connector software and the mobile device. The key is never transmitted over the public Internet or the wireless network and it is never available to the relay server or its hosting organization. What this means is that there is no unauthorized access to information sent through the Seven® push email.

The Seven® push email has a broad range of supported devices and when it comes to the client side, Seven® aces the field with excellent coverage of the full spectrum of wireless devices. Subscribers using smartphones and PDAs can subscribe to Seven® without having to buy a new phone specially made for the service.

Mr. Theo Manafa, chief executive Officer, Race Telecoms Limited, exclusive providers of Seven solution services in the country said that any GPRS enabled phone that can contain large amount of data is compatible with Seven. His words: "Seven does not restrict its users to a particular network as over 120 telecommunications operators worldwide deploy the services of Seven and the software is available across 2.5 and 3G networks around the world"

-Obiaigwe is a Lagos-based commentator on technology issues and subjects.