Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) of Waterloo, Ont., and IBM Corp. are making plans to jointly take RIM’s BlackBerry wireless e-mail device to companies internationally. Current plans for the collaboration state IBM Global Services will add BlackBerry-based devices to its wireless solutions portfolio. IBM will also create a competency team with delivery capability for mobile enterprise systems to focus on BlackBerry integration with enterprise e-mail and intranet back-end systems. The team will provide business consulting and design and systems integration services. According to the two companies, the partnership will provide clients with wireless e-mail, access to corporate intranets, the ability to update calendar and access to automated sales tools via the devices.
Expanding from its original base in Microsoft Outlook, Metamail Inc. of Toronto has released a version of its Metamail Reader software for both Microsoft Outlook Express and Qualcomm Eudora. Using its XMI messaging technology, Metamail allows e-marketers, call centre operators, systems integrators and customer relationship management (CRM) vendors to deliver WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) e-mail documents with graphics, logos, signatures, photos, file attachments and textured papers. According to the company, Metamail is useful for e-marketing campaigns, enhancing auto response systems, presenting electronic bills, customizing e-mail alerts and publishing newsletters. Metamail Reader versions for Netscape Mail, Lotus Notes and Novell GroupWise are planned for the future.