Open-Xchange and Funambol (News - Alert) announced their partnership as a result of which they will offer mobile email and PIM sync for popular handsets such as iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry (News - Alert) and other mobile phones.

 

Users of these mobile phones can easily receive push email and synchronize with contacts, calendar and other information on their desktops by using open source software from Open-Xchange, the leading provider of open source collaboration software, and Funambol, the leader of open source push email and mobile sync.

 

The Funambol connector for Open-Xchange Hosting Edition enables push email and mobile sync of contacts, calendars and tasks with virtually all common wireless phones on the market. Funambol supports more than 1.5 billion devices, including BlackBerry, iPhone, Windows Mobile, Android (News - Alert), Java ME and SyncML-capable handsets.

 

"After thoroughly researching the market, the combination of Open-Xchange and Funambol resonated as the solution we were looking for," said Oliver Mauss, CEO of 1&1 Internet Inc. "We believe in the success of Software as a Service, especially at small and medium-sized businesses. As Open-Xchange and Funambol could be seamlessly integrated into our open source infrastructure at 1&1, we will continue to offer innovative products and services at disruptive pricing."

 

Open-Xchange Hosting Edition provides the full set of PIM (personal information manager) functionality including email, calendaring, contacts and task management along with advanced groupware features such as Documail and Smart Document Sharing.

 

The solution enables small businesses and individuals to work remotely by providing low-cost communication and collaboration via the Internet cloud. Leading SaaS (News - Alert) providers like 1&1 Internet are using the joint Open-Xchange Hosting Edition and Funambol push email and sync solution to enable mass market mobile teamwork.

 

"Business users and consumers want easy-to-use mobile messaging and collaboration capabilities such as personal information management services, on all the devices they use, anywhere, anytime, at a reasonable cost," said Rafael Laguna, CEO of Open-Xchange. "Our work with Funambol combines leading open source technologies to drive the latest SaaS innovation for small and medium enterprise (SME) users."

 

"The tandem of Open-Xchange Hosting Edition and Funambol provides an open source Mobile'We' for the rest of us," said Fabrizio Capobianco (News - Alert), Funambol CEO. "Beyond just working on the iPhone, it also supports the most popular smart phones, including the BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and Android, and common feature phones. This enables everyone in the workplace to have push email and mobile sync for low cost."

 

Open source software also facilitates integration within the SaaS providers' back-end email systems. Moreover, Open-Xchange's and Funambol's open standards and APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) enable a seamless integration into SaaS providers' business processes, such as user provisioning, systems management and billing processes.