Mobile e-mail solution maker Good Technology today announced the latest version of its mobile business solution, Good Messaging 5. I was able to get a sneak peek of Good 5 a few weeks ago, and it looks like Good is ready for Web 2.0. Or at least moving in that direction.

Stephen Wellman, Contributor

June 25, 2007

2 Min Read

Mobile e-mail solution maker Good Technology today announced the latest version of its mobile business solution, Good Messaging 5. I was able to get a sneak peek of Good 5 a few weeks ago, and it looks like Good is ready for Web 2.0. Or at least moving in that direction.The first thing that struck me about Good 5 is that it offers a lot more personalization than most push e-mail clients. The latest upgrade gives more than a nod to Web 2.0 (or is that Enterprise 2.0?) with new tools such as an RSS reader and prioritized contacts.

On the messaging front, users can now sort and find e-mail threads by conversation (similar to the way Gmail works) or by sender. This looked cool when I saw it, but I couldn't tell if this newest feature also works with text messages.

You can now edit and send Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint and Adobe PDF documents through Good Mobile Intranet. This upgrade allows users to also e-mail these edited documents back out.

The latest version of Good also beefs up the calendar, letting users invite attendees to meetings and even book conference rooms.

From the IT point of view, Good's biggest improvement is with device management -- an area that has quickly emerged as the new battleground for mobile business vendors. Here is a look at Good's enhanced device management system:

Mandatory applications: helps set and enforce the installation of mandatory applications like anti-virus checkers to ensure that users have what they need-both to do their jobs and to comply with corporate security policies Application lockdown: blacklists and prevents the launch of unapproved applications Device lockdown: locks down the camera, infra-red (IR), WiFi and/or Bluetooth wireless technology ports; enforces SD card encryption Advanced password management: enables administrators to set granular criteria for password characteristics, restrictions, and expirations Advanced encryption management: provides rules-based enforcement of SD card and database encryption policies Simplified load balancing: enables IT to move users across servers to facilitate load balancing-without the need to re-provision.

This all looked really impressive when the Good guys showed it to me. But I have yet to actually use Good 5 so I cannot say how well it all works. If I get my hands on a review copy, I'll let you what I think.

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