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New servers to expand handheld communicator functions by George Spain IS Technical Publisher For those of you who like to keep all of your electronic eggs in one handheld basket, a new service sponsored by the Office of the CIO Information Services (OCIO-IS) is exactly what you’ve been waiting for.  Many popular handheld all-in-one gadgets (combining cell phone, calendar, web browser, pager, etc.) will now be able to send and receive e-mail via GroupWise or IMAP. In addition, any changes in the e-mail will be reflected in the user's home account. This means that when you send, read , or delete mail on your handheld device, the action will be updated on your e-mail desktop account. Previously, if you read, sent, or deleted a message on your remote device, it didn’t sync to your workstation computer. You would have to remember which messages you already responded to or forwarded. The heart of the system is two new Dell 2650 servers and a software package called NotifyLink, from Notify Technology.  “Some physicians asked us to look into installing a Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) for two-way communication. But when we interviewed device vendors, they all said the same thing, purchase Notifylink,” said Vince Dibble, manager of the telecomm and Data Network for IS. “What we found is that by going with Dell and NotifyLink instead of the BES, we would save a lot of money and get far more functionality,” Dibble said. For example, the BES only works with Research In Motion (RIM) devices—meaning only with Blackberry devices. NotifyLink works with a wide range of devices. Until very recently BlackBerry did not work with GroupWise. Three servers would have been required to install the BES whereas only two were necessary for NotifyLink. The difference in price of the additional server and application was about $6,000. Two Dell servers are needed because MUSC has two separate e-mail systems, GroupWise and IMAP (Mulberry, Mozilla, etc.).  The NotifyLink purchase comes with 20 licenses  per server. Dibble intends to set up the boxes and distribute the 40 accounts to various handheld users for a beta testing period. After the first year, each account will cost from $9 to $12 a month for a license. But before you rush out to buy an all-in-one, understand that they can be expensive. For example a Blackberry 7290 that has all the bells and whistles runs about $300. Then there’s the monthly cellular voice plan (varies, but about $40-$50), the monthly license fee for NotifyLink ($9-$12), and to send and receive a lot of e-mail,  cell phone providers require that you purchase a data plan for (about $40-$50 a month for unlimited usage).   Friday, Dec. 3, 2004 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.