SymbianOne originally spoke with John Drewry VP marketing at Orative back in 2005. At that time Orative were announcing the Orative Enterprise Solution, a collaboration system that makes use of presence and IP technology to ensure enterprise workers can effectively communicate in the modern, mobile business world. Or to put it another way, simply a system designed to eliminate telephone tag. Orative have now announced the commercial availability of the solution, with a Series 60 client, following extensive beta testing with a number of US based multinationals.

Richard: What where the key issues Orative wanted to address in beta testing?

John: Obviously we wanted to prove that our software was robust and functional, which I believe we have done. Beyond that beta testing was an opportunity to ensure our server and deployments systems worked in live enterprise environments.

The first real-world implementation, including full integration with Microsoft Exchange, was a real milestone. Having it work in an enterprise, rather than our lab, was very satisfying.

Then seeing our over-the-air deployment system working was another key achievement, as we had invested a lot of time and effort into ensuring the software could be deployed easily and simply. Knowing users could, with the web based portal, download the software and provision the setting to their phones was very pleasing.

Richard: Why have you not relied on IT support setting up the system?

John: It's about total cost of ownership. By allowing the user to do the set-up we have eliminate the need for a IT support person to bring the phones to their desk, do the set-up and then arrange distribution. Then downstream, for software updates or handset upgrades, this system eliminates the need to recall handsets. These features all helps with keeping ownership costs down.

Richard: When we last spoke you were targeting Brew and Series 60 for launch, yet this announcement only covers Series 60. Why the change?

John: There has been no change in our plans, BREW is simply taking us a little longer and we have not completed all the necessary certification yet.

Richard: So would you say Brew has been harder to work with than Series 60?

John: No. The fairest way to describe it would be simply to say that the platforms are different. Each has its own particular nuances and we have had to adapt to them throughout the development process.

Richard: Series 60 is considered to be more successful in Europe and Asia than the US, how has this affected the launch?

John: There are certainly a good range of Series 60 phones available now in the US, a change from 6 or 12 months ago, and our software has run on all the new model straight out of the box. We have also been showing the phones to our beta testers and they have been very excited about them. The Series 60 model range represent the types of devices they want to use, and will use, day to day in their business.

Richard: Do you have plans to take the solution to other markets?

John: At this stage we are concentrating on the US market. The US is where we are based and where our resources are. The software has been developed so it can be easily localized to other markets, but we have not completed those localizations yet.

Richard: You mentioned Brew certification earlier, do you plan on obtaining Symbian Signed for the Series 60 client?

John: We certainly do. We expect to go through the Symbian Signed process in the coming few weeks.

Richard: Symbian Signed will become a requirement for applications like Orative Solution in the new Symbian OS 9. Have you started to plan for the impact of these changes?

John: We will certainly be porting to the new version of Symbian. In fact we are eagerly awaiting Symbian OS 9 phones and are excited about the updates to the operating system. In many ways we feel they will make running enterprise applications in the Symbian environment even easier.

Richard: Why do you say that?

John: Security is obviously important to our clients and we have addressed it head-on from the outset. So the Orative Enterprise Solution is already a secure environment, end-to-end. It has features such as enterprise grade authentication and data melting if handsets are lost or stolen. The new security features in Symbian OS 9 will help underpin our existing security features and enable us to offer our clients even more assurance as to the security of their communications and data.

For more information on the Orative Enterprise Solution visit the Orative web site, www.orative.com.