Wireless e-mail company Etrieve Inc. scored two major deals with two major carriers in separate announcements today, moves that will make its services much more widely available to businesses across the country.
In its agreement with Nextel Communications Inc., the carrier will sell Etrieve’s e-mail, calendar and contact service, which allows business users to wirelessly keep up with their desktop information.
“Etrieve is clearly offering a unique product today,” said Peter Taft, senior product manager for Nextel’s mobile office solutions. “The breadth of their solutions allows us to go to our large business customers … and our small business customers.”
Taft said business people are the mainstay of Nextel’s subscriber base, and because Etrieve’s offerings are primarily designed for businesses, the match is perfect.
Etrieve’s service allows users to access e-mail, calendar and contact information from mobile devices through a variety of methods. Users can check their in box by either reading it on the phone’s display-through Etrieve’s WAP function-or they can listen to their e-mails through a verbal reading program. The service also provides access to attachments. To respond, users can verbally reply by sending a WAV audio attachment, manually type out a message or even choose from among several canned responses, such as “out of the office, will reply later.”
Users also have wireless access to Microsoft Corp.’s Outlook and Lotus Notes calendar and contact information, which can be synched with the desktop application.
Through Etrieve’s agreement with Nextel, the carrier’s customers can either download an individual wireless e-mail program for small businesses, or can purchase a large business version that supports the calendar and contact functions and resides behind the firewall.
Taft said the deal significantly expands Nextel’s wireless access offerings. First the carrier offered wireless access to Hotmail e-mail accounts last year, then added other Internet e-mail accounts, and can now provide wireless access to Outlook and Notes.
“What we’ve really tried to do is look at our customers in the business space,” Taft said. “Our Etrieve relationship is an extension of that strategy.”
Etrieve’s second carrier deal today is with Qwest Communications Inc. The carrier licensed Etrieve’s technology in order to offer a Qwest VirtualDesk product. Qwest subscribers will be able to use the wireless e-mail access functions through their desktop computer.
“It’s a good week for us,” said Sarah Van Dyck, vice president of marketing for Etrieve. The deals “give us absolutely wonderful reach.”
Today’s agreements follow another significant one for Etrieve. Dell Computer Corp. recently agreed to offer Etrieve’s e-mail service through its Mobile Office Server product.
