All the essential components required to implement WhiteBerry now exist. As discussed in Section 4.1, all the technological components (devices, modems, networks) are well established and readily available.
The necessary open protocols are also ready and available: the LEAP protocols are complete and have been published as Internet RFCs, and open support organizations for their continued revision and enhancement are up and running at LeapForum.org, ESRO.org and EMSD.org.
In addition, a framework for the development of WhiteBerry solutions has been established. This framework consists of:
Each component of this development framework is described in the following sections.
Open-source software implementations of the LEAP protocols are available for all major device and Message Center platforms.
Reference Protocol Engines have been implemented in the form of portable code, which has been ported to a wide variety of platforms and end user devices. On the device side, software has been implemented for pagers and cell phones; for palmtop devices (Windows CE, Pocket PC, Palm OS, EPOC) [17] [6]; for Windows 2000, Windows 98/95, and Windows NT; and for Pine (UNIX, Windows, DOS). On the Message Center side, software is available for Windows NT, Solaris, and Linux.
All of this software is freely and publicly available at the MailMeAnywhere open-source software distribution center. The software is available as free software, subject to the General Public License (GPL) [15]. For complete details visit MailMeAnywhere at http://www.MailMeAnywhere.org.
The protocol engines provide the basic message submission and delivery capability for the mobile environment. But this capability must be supplemented by a variety of other tools and capabilities in order to bring a complete, well-integrated solution to the end user.
Among other things, the user must be provided with flexible tools for selecting which e-mail messages are forwarded to the mobile device, and which can remain in the fixed mailbox for later review. The end-user solution must also include facilities to ensure proper synchronization and continuity between the mobile account and the fixed account.
In addition, there is a need to provide Mobile Messaging solutions in a variety of contexts. A mobile user may have a fixed e-mail account in any of various shapes and sizes, such as a corporate account or an ISP-based account, and he may wish to control and administer his mobile capability in various ways, such as via his desktop mail application, or via his corporate or ISP-based mail server.
In order to deliver this broad heterogeneity of Mobile Messaging implementations, the integration and development community requires a variety of tools for accessing and processing the user's fixed mailboxes. In particular, comprehensive and close integration of the LEAP protocol engines will be required with mail routers, mail retrievers, mailbox synchronizers, inbox filters and rule- and directory-based fowarders.
For this purpose, MailMeAnywhere includes an open public forum for the development and distribution of the necessary tools and capabilities. The MailMeAnywhere development forum is a public framework for the collective development and enhancement of LEAP integration tools on a continuous, on-going basis.
This open development model, based on open protocols and open-source software, ensures the availability of a rich and expanding suite of tools and accessories for integration of the WhiteBerry solution in various configurations and across multiple platforms.
This open, heterogeneous development model is in sharp contrast to BlackBerry's narrow focus on Microsoft Outlook and Exchange.
The open WhiteBerry paradigm must address a classical bootstrapping problem: a useful WhiteBerry solution requires implementation of the LEAP protocols in both devices and Message Centers, each of which cannot function without the other.
A set of Subscriber Services has been created to address this problem. The ByName Services are a set of comprehensive, well-integrated, and highly personalizable computing and communications services. They are fully WhiteBerry-enabled, and can provide complete and immediate support for WhiteBerry end-user devices.
In addition to playing this WhiteBerry support role, the ByName Services are also the world's first Libre Services. Libre Services are an extension of the principles of the Free Software movement to the domain of Internet Application Services. As Libre Services, the ByName Services are based entirely on patent-free protocols, and implemented exclusively in free and open-source software. As a result, the entire ByName construct can be copied and redistributed by anyone. Everything required to recreate the ByName Services in their entirety is freely available at the MailMeAnywhere software distribution site.
The ByName Services are implemented as a pair of sister sites:
My.ByName.net is a showcase site, demonstrating the concept and capabilities of Liber Services. My.ByName.com is a hands-on look-and-see environment, provided for try-out by the public. Anyone can sign up for a free account at My.ByName.com.
The two sites provide identical services, including complete WhiteBerry support. In particular, anyone can sign up for completely free WhiteBerry service at My.ByName.com.
The WhiteBerry Resource Center is a central location where developers can pick up everything they need to begin implementing WhiteBerry solutions. A set of starter kits are available, providing the resources required by various types of implementor: individual, corporate, ISP/ASP, or systems integrator. For complete details visit the resource center at http://www.mailmeanywhere.org/wbStartKit/
The starter kits provide complete step-by-step descriptions of how to build a WhiteBerry solution. As a case-study example, we will describe the experiences of an individual implementor--let's call her Lisa Simpson. The steps Lisa followed and the choices she made in assembling her WhiteBerry system are summarized in Table 2. The numbered steps in this table correspond to the generic steps described in Section 4.5 and Figure 3.
At the end of this process Lisa had her very own, fully functional, true Mobile Messaging solution--and so can you.
The WhiteBerry Resource Center also provides an initial WhiteBerry implementation, which can be freely used as a development tool by anyone--for examination, enhancement, or as the starting point for further implementations.
An initial base implementation, of course, is not the same thing as a comprehensive, market-ready messaging solution. But the existence of this implementation clearly demonstrates the viability of WhiteBerry as a complete, end-to-end messaging solution. It means that WhiteBerry is not just an idea--it is an actual working system, which is up and running today.