SmartPhones and the Global Address List
Microsoft has released a small piece of software
that allows mobile devices to access the Global Address List within your
Exchange environment. While ActiveSync is the agent most think of when
SmartPhones are mentioned, this particular add-on actually leverages the
Public Virtual Directory in IIS and not the ActiveSync agent. In this
article, I will show you the program’s features and what you need to do
to get it working in your environment. There are a few assumptions here;
you are using ActiveSync to keep Pocket Outlook up to date with your
Exchange Server 2003 mailbox and you have network connectivity to a
Front End server or your Mailbox Server/Front End Server. Also, for this
tool to work, the server you connect to must have the /Public virtual
directory loaded in IIS. (It is there by default)
If you have read my blog, then you already know
that I had a boating mishap during Spring Break. My MPX220, Garmin GPSV
and my pride got dunked in salt water and damaged. The next week was
spent discovering all the new features of Windows Mobile 5 on my brand
new Cingular 8125 (HTC Wizard). Two irritating things I found right away
was that my new $500 phone did not have the new AKU 2.0 up-to-date
features and Windows Mobile 5 still has no access into the Global
Address List. After days of searching, I found that Cingular may one day
post an update for AKU 2.0 and Microsoft has an excellent add-on for
mobile devices called Microsoft Global Contact Access.
Microsoft Global Contact Access
There are two flavors of this application. One is
roughly 400K and is designed for the smaller SmartPhone screens and the
other is 700K and is better suited for Pocket PCs. The Samsung i700, the
Palm Treo 700W and Cingular 8125 devices are technically both, but you
would be encouraged to use Pocket PC applications for the most part
since those are formatted for the larger screens and usually comes with
a few more features. The download locations for each are located on the
downloads page of the Windows Mobile add-on site:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/downloads/global/default.mspx
Installation is easy as you need only to run the
setup on your machine and let ActiveSync install the application. For
you propeller heads, you can still just copy the CAB file to the device
and launch it to install the application.
Once installed, you should notice three additional
applications in the Start Menu; Find Contact Online, New Email and
New Meeting. If you are running the SmartPhone version you will not
get the New Email application. |
