I got so desperate to get a solution up and running that I actually re-installed Mobile Services for Domino 1.0. This did indeed work great with the Mitsubishi T250 phone, but it didn't work at all with the BlackBerry. Finally, I pretty much gave up. I had tried everything I could think of to get it working properly and had not been successful. I then had to send the painful message to my boss that I couldn't make the solution work, and he had to tell the executive.

Valuable lessons
I learned three very important things from my experiences:

First, don't underestimate the amount of planning or work that will go into not only successfully implementing a wireless solution, but keeping it working properly and expanding it as well.

Second, put functionality first, thinking about exactly what you need and want the solution to provide you, and then find the server software that's going to give you what you want. Afterwards, you can look at the devices that will work with that solution. Trying to start from the device end and work backwards like I did doesn't guarantee that you're going to find the best solution or even one that will work properly. Don't limit yourself to the technology you already have, especially considering a lot of new cool and powerful devices have recently been released or are coming soon that will give you much more functionality than you ever dreamed possible.

Third, use simulators/emulators to speed your development/testing process. It certainly beats having to get up and walk outside for better coverage, although we could probably all use more fresh air.

Putting functionality first: push versus pull
What most wireless solutions boil down to is a question of push versus pull. Do you want to push the information to your device automatically, which is what the BlackBerry Enterprise server promises, or do you want to pull your information when you need it, which is what the Domino Everyplace Access solution provides? One thing I've found through this process is that I really want some combination of both. I want to have important emails automatically forwarded to my wireless device and also want to be able to push a button to access/synchronize all of my mail, calendar, and address book information. Neither one of the solutions above really provides the ideal results I'm looking for.

If the project involved wireless email access alone and money was not an issue, I would probably have gone with the BlackBerry Enterprise server solution. If I had a lot of varied wireless clients who just needed to pull the information from their wireless phones, I would go with the Domino Everyplace Access solution. But, since neither of these solutions offers exactly what I'm looking for, I've also begun to look at other products that promise to do more. Next month, I'll go into some of the various hardware and software solutions I've explored.

Kai Wilzer is a Principal CLP R5 for both System Administration and Application Development. Kai works for the European Headquarter of a global big player in hardware (Notebooks, servers, etc.) and runs the site http://www.dominotools.de.