THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF THE SBS "DIVA"

Engadget blogs about how the Iphone must connect to Exchange to be the true business killer app.  http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/14/will-the-iphone-support-exchange-direct-push/  Yup.  If you don't connect to Exchange, you won't get into many businesses.  Even Blackberry has a problem when there's a SBS box in the house.  Why spend money on a BES box when you have nearly all the ingredients you need in house.

Sure that looks cool...but where's the keyboard for it? All I'll end up is my cheek makeup smeared all over the shiny front anyway...and what?  What's this?  no 3G?

I just got my 3G card for my Vista laptop and granted... I don't get 3G coverage all the time...but when I do, it's just long enough and good enough that I don't know if I would buy a phone right now, that would give not only Exchange direct push coverage but also the ability to have internet access to a laptop without 3G included.  In fact during Seattle's big wind storm, some folks without power were using cell phones for ISP coverage when their cable connection was down for days.

So what ingredients do you need to have email on a phone?  Step one you need to go to the carrier in your area and look for the Smart Phones for PDAs.  In this case I'm using examples from Cingular as that's my company locally.. or AT&T..whatever...Now keep in mind for us gals, I prefer the smart phone size versus the PDA...but that's just me, and the Cingular 3125 will fit the bill. When you get a phone plan, look for that Smart phone data only add on, which actually was cheaper than the PDA plan (go figure). But I will admit, I don't email from my phone, I only read email and if I need to respond, I fire up the laptop. This 3125 also isn't 3G and thus couldn't double as a web connection for your laptop.  I prefer to have a separate card in fact for that purpose only.  My current phone the Audiovox isn't sold anymore so if I was looking for a replacement phone, this would be my choice.  The key you are looking for as to compatible phones with SBS.... is merely a Mobile 5 platform.  As that will hook into Exchange which is already in SBS. 

So then it comes down to... do you like the PDAish style with the slide out keyboard like the Cingular 8525.... or...

Do you like the blackberry-ish style with the keyboard on the bottom like the Palm Treo 750

Or maybe you want the Samsung Blackjack.  The key to look for is to ensure you are getting a Mobile 5 device.

So once you find the phone, the next step is pretty easy.. you run the CEICW wizard and set up the server for OWA/OMA if you haven't already done so and then, these days... I would probably say... you know... forget the self signed cert way... how about you just buy a third party cert and be done with it.

So ... your next shopping list item is to purchase a certificate from a Small Biz friendly partner... of which they are linked here:
https://partner.microsoft.com/global/partner/40027352 and Godaddy even has one: https://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/ssl/ssl.asp?isc=microsoft

And in case you are not sure how to install that Godaddy cert on your SBS box?  We have a pdf with info linked on Amy's blog -- http://isainsbs.blogspot.com/2006/10/replacing-sbs-self-signed-ssl.html

More info is in this white paper http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=678d2589-4a71-4618-b4b8-e619a4709ca1&DisplayLang=en 

So .... do we have our shopping list in order now?

Phone 

• 3G or no?
• Keyboard or not?
• Data plan (either one for smartphone or PDA)
• Third party cert

And we have our Action plan

• Install cert on SBS
• Ensure OWA works
• Get cert on phone
• Put username/password/domain...and...

Voila...

Okay ..one last thing... add a dash of paranoia while we're at it... http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2007/01/11/remote-wiping-a-device-with-no-user-input.aspx

.... I'll leave the ring tone shopping to your discretion...  (boy are some of them annoying aren't they?)