Sprint Broadens Wireless Corporate Email Offering with Nationwide PCS Business Connection (1XRTT CDMA) Network

OVERLAND PARK, KANSAS. — August 12, 2002

Sprint today announced the nationwide availability of PCS Business Connection Enterprise Edition. The service provides enterprise customers with wireless access to corporate e-mail via their PCS Phones, Vision-enabled devices or wirelessly connected handhelds and laptops, anywhere on the enhanced Sprint Nationwide PCS Network. The network-based solution is designed to help enterprise customers increase productivity by providing mobile employees with secure, "always on" real-time wireless access to corporate e-mail and Personal Information Management (PIM) information including calendar, corporate directories, personal contacts and tasks. The core components of the PCS Business Connection were developed by SEVEN, a global wireless software company based in Redwood City, Calif. 

"The number one application our business customers want to deploy is access to corporate email while on the go. Sprint is broadening our portfolio of corporate email applications to make it easier and more affordable for companies to deploy real-time access to email and PIM with the security required for broad enterprise deployments. With PCS Business Connection Enterprise Edition, mobile employees will have a fast, always-on wireless connection to the information normally accessed at their desktops, anywhere on the enhanced Sprint Nationwide PCS Network," said Phil Bowman, vice president, business marketing, PCS division, Sprint. 

PCS Business Connection Enterprise Edition supports Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino servers, in addition to POP/IMAP email. The network-based platform provides customers with the flexibility, scalability and manageability required to easily deploy wireless data access service across the enterprise. The solution supports virtually an unlimited number of users and can be managed by a corporate administrator in the enterprise IT department. PCS Business Connection's highly efficient network-resident model means there is no enterprise software or hardware to install, which dramatically reduces the complexity and costs for the enterprise. 

IT administrators retain a high degree of control and visibility with extensive monitoring and device management capabilities, which lowers the cost of supporting a wireless infrastructure. For example, administrators can self-provision the service, add new users, track usage and manage the service using an intuitive Web-based interface. 

"This network-based solution addresses many challenges that business customers have typically faced. We've listened closely to our customers and have developed a complete, end-to-end solution that's not only affordable, scalable, and easy to install and manage, it includes a variety of security options and allows customers to choose the device that works for them. With the availability of PCS Vision enabled data devices such as the Palm powered Treo 300 by Handspring, Sprint customers now have access to an extremely compelling and very pocketable mobile computing solution," added Bowman. 

Customers can use any existing Internet-ready PCS Phone or PCS Vision-enabled device to access their email using PCS Business Connection Enterprise Edition services. Customers will need to purchase a PCS Vision enabled device designed exclusively for the enhanced Sprint Nationwide PCS Network to take advantage of faster data speeds averaging 50 to 70 Kbps, with peak speeds of 144 Kbps. 

Key features of the service include real-time push of e-mail to wireless Palm OS devices available from Sprint such as the Treo 300 by Handspring, SPH-i300 by Samsung and QCP-6035 by Kyocera. Because e-mail is stored locally on these smart devices, users can work in offline mode when they are out of network coverage, and later synchronize their e-mail over-the-air when they are back in coverage. For other devices including laptops and PCs, PCS Business Connection provides users with a robust browser-based interface to their e-mail, calendar, personal contacts and global corporate directory. Other features include user configurable alerts of important e-mail, filters, ability to manage personal e-mail accounts in addition to a corporate account, and support for attachments on Pocket PC devices and PCs. 

The service is hosted in a Sprint carrier-grade data hosting center and leverages Sprint's Tier-1 backbone to offer multiple connectivity options, ensuring secure handling of corporate data with availability and reliability backed by comprehensive service level agreements. While the service includes security features such as encryption and user-based authentication requiring a user ID and password at the beginning of each session, customers can choose from additional connectivity options to enhance security including Virtual Private Network (VPN) and Frame Relay. 

PCS Business Connection Enterprise Edition is available for a $250 one-time set-up fee, and a license fee of $10 per month per employee. Customers will be billed for usage according to their Sprint monthly service plan. Enterprise customers who sign up for PCS Business Connection Enterprise Edition before September 30, 2000, will have the installation fee and two months of licensing fees waived based on the number of seats purchased when the agreement is signed. Customers that are part of the PCS Nationwide Volume Program can apply their discount to the service. 

Individuals that want to increase their productivity with real-time access to their Microsoft(r) Outlook(r) or Lotus Notes(r) applications on their PCS Vision Phone or wirelessly connected device can take advantage of PCS Business ConnectionSM Personal Edition. The software-based version can be set up in minutes, requires no hardware installation and provides an affordable way for individuals to view, reply and delete their e-mail in real time without having to synchronize when they get back to the office. Cost of the service with PCS Vision is $5 per month with the exception of select PCS Vision plans which include PCS Business Connection Personal Edition. Customers can set up the service within minutes at www.businessconnection.sprintpcs.com. 

Sprint recently received the Frost & Sullivan Market Engineering Award for Mobile Office Solutions for its PCS Business Connection product powered by SEVEN. The award is presented to the company that has demonstrated excellence and innovation in developing new mobile office products and technologies within the enterprise space. 

In addition to the Business Connection line of products, Sprint also offers a customer premise-based service to enable wireless access to Microsoft Exchange- and Lotus Domino-based systems behind the corporate firewall with Wireless Knowledge Workstyle(tm). The companies began offering the secure enterprise solution in September 2000 with the launch of PCS Wireless Web for Business. 

About Sprint
Sprint is a global communications company serving more than 26 million business and residential customers in over 70 countries. With approximately 80,000 employees worldwide and more than $26 billion in annual revenues, Sprint is recognized for developing, engineering and deploying state of the art network technologies, including the United States' first nationwide all-digital, fiber-optic network. 

For More Information : http://www.sprintpcs.com

MobileInfo Advisory & Comments:  Sprint is pretty well on track in launching its sub-3G network based on 1xRTT CDMA. We applaud Sprint PCs in staying on the stated course. Please note that press announcements do not give you a complete picture. Here are some facts that we have gathered from other sources and our comments: