Wireless e-mail is going mainstream in the enterprise. Progressive technological maturity and continuous benefits from adopters make its deployment viable and a priority for investment. Its adoption continues rapidly across organizations, from top executives down to other levels of employees.

Recent Gartner surveys show that most midsize and large organizations in North America and Europe already have deployed wireless e-mail, although the size and type of deployments vary significantly. Investment budgets for mobility, overall, are growing at 5% or more in 2008 over the previous year, with wireless e-mail being the top third priority (after mobility strategies and architectures). Smaller companies and professional consumers are more likely to buy wireless e-mail services from carriers and service providers.

A democratization process is ongoing and will bring wireless e-mail to most mobile users. Initially, wireless e-mail was an "elite" application used by top executives in large organizations. Eventually, it will become a commodity, adopted and used on mobile phones by business and consumer users. Thus, wireless e-mail will no longer be an exclusive application for executives, but a key communication tool for the masses. A variety of approaches is emerging, beyond thick-client "push" e-mail solutions, including browser-based interfaces, Java thin clients, native thin clients with standard protocols (for example, Synchronization Markup Language [SyncML] and Wireless Application Protocol [WAP] Push). There are approximately 100 million wireless e-mail users worldwide, of which about 30 million are business users. By year-end 2010, wireless e-mail users will increase in number to more than 300 million.

Wireless e-mail is unavoidable for any mobile-enabled organization for three reasons. First, e-mail is pervasive in most organizations and plays a crucial role in supporting workflow and communication in key business processes. Second, people and employees are increasingly on the move and need easy, efficient access to their corporate e-mail when far from their desks. Third, e-mail capabilities are available in enhanced phones, smartphones and cellular PDAs; employees will use them, even on personal tools, without IT support.

However, organizations have several challenges. The inherent complexity of mobile technologies — with fragmentation and continuous market and product evolution, together with management and security risks — still prevents more-cautious organizations from investing significantly in this area. The costs associated with scaling up deployments and unpredictable data-roaming charges also limit adoption. Often, the difficulties in estimating, justifying and controlling total cost of ownership prevent extensive deployment across organizations.

Wireless e-mail often is the first step in a wider mobility adoption plan. It is an opportunity for companies — IT departments and users — to easily familiarize themselves with the challenges of mobile and wireless technologies. Organizations should view e-mail as part of a long-term mobility strategy that encompasses broader mobility needs and objectives to guide decisions on tactical projects. With clear, long-term mobility objectives in mind, the organization will find that any wireless e-mail decision becomes simpler.

A continuous maturation of wireless e-mail products is ongoing, with further focus on interoperability, security, management, unified communications and applications. Overall, the market is transforming into a three-tier structure, with only two vendors playing at a global level (Research In Motion [RIM] and Microsoft), three vendors active mostly on a regional level (Motorola Good Technology Group, Nokia Intellisync and Sybase iAnywhere) and the others focusing on a local basis (Excitor, Notify Technology and CommonTime).

Stakeholders should use this Magic Quadrant to understand today's wireless e-mail market and its future evolution and to make tactical and informed decisions on products and services that support their long-term mobility strategies.

Gartner uses a comprehensive methodology to build Magic Quadrants (see "Magic Quadrants and MarketScopes: How Gartner Evaluates Vendors Within a Market") in relation to an established market. We select vendors to be included in the Magic Quadrant based on a list of criteria that determines the market or a relevant subset of it. Qualified vendors are invited to complete an extensive Web survey that collects information about the company, its product and services, and its market — looking at finances, marketing, sales, operations and technologies. The survey's questions focus on the vendors' completeness of vision and their ability to put their plans into practice (ability to execute). In addition to the survey, we base our assessment on extensive market knowledge, built up through continuous communication with vendors, handset manufacturers, mobile operators and many user organizations.

To decide where to place each vendor on the Magic Quadrant, we use a set of evaluation criteria. These criteria explore the most important aspects of the vendors' visions and execution. A combined rating is calculated for each vendor using a proportional average of the ratings for each execution and vision criterion. The execution ratings indicate how well we think a vendor is doing today; the vision ratings indicate how well we think it might do in the future. These results are plotted on the Magic Quadrant to give a visual representation of each vendor's position.

The enterprise wireless e-mail market has consolidated around a few players during the past 15 months. Different abilities to execute and visions made competition among the top five players — RIM, Microsoft, Sybase, Motorola and Nokia — tougher than ever. Global challenges in the handset market, specifically between the two major handset manufacturers — Motorola and Nokia — had an impact on their wireless e-mail businesses and relative positions in this market, as compared with other players. Motorola and Nokia moved, respectively, to the Visionaries and Challengers quadrants:

1. Nokia Intellisync: The company's vision rating has decreased slightly because, during the past 18 months, it did not succeed in growing its enterprise market presence, particularly in North America, despite Nokia's commitment in this region. In addition, the reorganization centered around users and services has decreased the focus on the enterprise market.
2. Motorola Good: Current troubles at parent company Motorola affected negatively Good's ability to execute. After the acquisition, there was no increased traction in Europe or other regions, besides North America, despite potential access to a wide range of mobile carriers. The ongoing reorganization and changes in business focus, including business unit spinoffs, might reduce the focus in this area, have an impact on Good's road maps and product delivery and affect its ability to build partnerships with carriers and handset manufacturers. The increased risk for overall instability is a concern for customers. The company's vision, however, remains excellent.

Overall, the market is transforming into a three-tier structure, where vendors appear to have a different scope:

• Tier 1: Global players, whose presence and offerings are well-spread across different regions (for example, RIM and Microsoft)
• Tier 2: Regional players, which tend to have a significant presence in North America or Europe but struggle to extend to other regions (for example, Sybase, Nokia and Motorola)
• Tier 3: Local players, which tend to focus on specific sectors (for example, higher education for Notify) or market segments (for example, IBM Lotus Notes Domino for CommonTime), or specific geographies (for example, Scandinavian countries for Excitor)

As the market matures, wireless e-mail will commoditize progressively (although the mobile-device side likely will remain fragmented because of personalization demands and the consumerization trend). E-mail server vendors — such as IBM, Novell and Mirapoint — will follow Microsoft's path and will extend their products to provide different mobile clients with native push e-mail/personal information manager (PIM) services. Handset manufacturers (such as Nokia, Motorola, Samsung Electronics and perhaps Apple and Google with Android) will pursue their own e-mail strategies through proprietary or third-party solutions, interoperable with e-mail server software and services.

This will reduce business opportunities for wireless e-mail gateway vendors, forcing them to differentiate their product offerings in other areas, such as applications. This will erode the advantage of RIM, gradually undermining the value of its high-quality but closed approach in favor of more-device-flexible and interoperable solutions.

In the long term, we believe that RIM must move to a more open approach or be challenged to maintain its leadership. Although we still expect RIM to continue to grow, the closed approach will not grow as quickly as the market and will result in a loss of market share.

During the past 15 months, the wireless e-mail software market has developed rapidly in many directions, reaching an even-tougher level of competition that mirrors the increasing willingness of organizations to invest in this area.

• Maturity — Wireless e-mail-related technologies, products and services are maturing, enabling further adoption in the marketplace. Despite the general lack of standardization in mobility technologies and, consequently, a significant fragmentation of products and services, wireless e-mail offerings are becoming progressively more flexible and interoperable. Proprietary and closed approaches still dominate, and products come with some degree of support for multiple client platforms, increased usability, security and manageability capabilities, and application extensions.
• Adoption — With about 100 million users worldwide (including business, professional consumers and consumer users), this is still a niche application. Enterprises are continuing adoption, as they increasingly depend on e-mail and see the mobile workforce now at up to 40% of the total employee base. Our recent surveys show that most midsize and large organizations in North America and Europe already have deployed this application. Smaller companies and professional consumers increasingly use wireless e-mail services from carriers and service providers. Investment budgets for mobility also are growing: 74% respondents indicated an expected budget growth in 2008 of 5% or more (23% expect a 25% increase), with wireless e-mail being the top third priority (after mobility strategy and architectures).
• Democratization — Initially, wireless e-mail was an elite application used by top executives in large organizations. A democratization process is ongoing and will bring wireless e-mail to most mobile devices. Eventually it will become a commodity, adopted and used on mobile phones by business and consumer users. Wireless e-mail will no longer be an exclusive application for executives, but a key communication tool for the masses. There are approximately 100 million users worldwide, of which about 30 million are business users. By year-end 2010, wireless e-mail users will increase to more than 300 million.
• Security and management support — As wireless e-mail deployment size grows, enterprises must ensure that their systems are not exposed to security threats and that mobile-device management tasks can be performed cost-effectively. This demand has driven the development of specific native capabilities in wireless e-mail platforms to support at least the basic requirements around local encryption, device lock, password protection and remote wiping.
• Service management and business continuity — Wireless e-mail is mission-critical and increasingly poses challenges to IT organizations, particularly when "power" users, such as board-level executives, are involved. With increases in large deployments and more users demanding service quality, the IT organization needs the appropriate capabilities to offer mobile-service levels for wireless e-mail. A growing range of products and services from point vendors such as BoxTone, Zenprise, Neverfail Group, InterNoded and Conceivium Business Solutions offers support for capabilities including real-time monitoring, load balancing, failover and capacity management, thus complementing wireless e-mail products.
• iPhone support — All wireless e-mail vendors have developed or plan to develop support for Apple iPhones, including security and management capabilities (at different levels). This is due to the growing interest in iPhone and other consumer products, as affected by the consumerization trend. The current iPhone version cannot support the minimum security policies of strong password enforcement and remote wipe that we set as mandatory requirements for enterprise solutions (see the "Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria" section), but will do it for Microsoft Exchange with the new firmware 2.0 that supports ActiveSync (expected by June 2008).
• Standardization — Despite ongoing initiatives, there was no uptake of the Push for Internet Message Access Protocol (P-IMAP) standard by the mobile industry. Other standard protocols, such as SyncML and WAP Push are used by "white label" vendors, such as Synchronica, Funambol and Critical Path (a white-label product does not have a brand for users, because it is sold to mobile operators or service providers that build their services based on that product and rename it with their own brand). These standards grant wide availability on mobile phones but have significant limitations on performances and functions.
• Interoperability — In the absence of visible results on a push e-mail standard, most software vendors and device manufacturers have enhanced interoperability among their products and other vendors' products on the client and server sides. RIM has extended support for the BlackBerry Connect program, which enables non-BlackBerry devices to connect to BlackBerry service, albeit with limited performance, as compared with BlackBerry devices. RIM also deployed Virtual BlackBerry, its e-mail client with Java Virtual Machine to run on Windows Mobile devices (taking full control of the device). Microsoft continued its efforts to make Exchange ActiveSync available to licensees; in particular, important deals are in place with Nokia (the Mail For Exchange application) and with Apple for iPhone 2.0. Nokia pursued interoperability with different wireless e-mail software solutions, supporting on its smartphones key vendors such as RIM, Microsoft, Motorola Good and Sybase. During the next few years, it is more likely that a de facto standard like ActiveSync will emerge, rather than an industry standard, such as P-IMAP or SyncML. By 2010, end-to-end proprietary enterprise push e-mail solutions will fail, and interoperability among the major software and handset providers will be achieved.
• Commoditization — The two trends of interoperability and democratization will cause the commoditization of wireless e-mail products and services in the long term. Despite the many options from different vendors that still will be around, these offerings will be similar, with standard features, and virtually interchangeable. They will ship in large volumes at reduced prices.
• Competition and consolidation — As a result of the acquisitions that have occurred since 2005 for major IT and telecom vendors buying up small players, five major vendors have emerged (RIM, Motorola Good, Microsoft, Nokia Intellisync and Sybase iAnywhere).
• Partnerships — Strategic partnerships are increasingly established by players to catch business opportunities emerging around wireless e-mail. For example, IBM has selected key partners such as RIM, Motorola Good and CommonTime, to support wireless e-mail in Notes Domino, in addition to IBM's own product, Notes Traveler. RIM chose the same approach; it selected a deal with Notify Technology to address the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) market (that is, push e-mail support for e-mail servers other than Exchange, Notes Domino and Novell GroupWise) instead of developing native support in the BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES).
• Mobile operators' bundles and portfolios — Most mobile operators have built a wireless e-mail portfolio encompassing third-party solutions such as BlackBerry, Nokia Intellisync, Motorola Good and Microsoft, as well as their own branded push e-mail services based on white-label products from vendors such as Visto, Seven and Nokia Intellisync. RIM's mobile operator partners offer the BlackBerry Internet Service modality, which permits subscribers to connect their personal e-mail accounts to a BlackBerry push e-mail service. These offerings are aimed at consumers, small businesses and professional consumers. Tier 1 and 2 mobile operators launched bundles of services for the enterprise market with mobile push e-mail, security and device management. Mobile operators increasingly will expand their mobility service offerings for the low-end enterprise market (small businesses and professional consumers), where demand will be more around services than products, including managed services, "e-mail as a service" and cloud computing.
• Wireless e-mail services — Service providers offer wireless e-mail managed/hosted, high availability, disaster recovery, failover monitoring (Vodafone Group is launching a wireless e-mail service with Neverfail in the U.K.) and cost management. Internet portals are offering mobile e-mail (for example, Gmail), Microsoft is developing e-mail-as-a-service capabilities, and Nokia is launching Ovi (and is pursuing "in the cloud" storage).
• Wireless data contracts — The cost of wireless connectivity, particularly for roaming traffic, and the difficulties of managing international contracts are still obstacles to mobile e-mail and further application deployments. Although not yet widespread, many local initiatives from mobile operators are meant to increase viability for companies. For example, in the U.S. and Europe, most mobile carriers offer unlimited data plans for a monthly fee; this type of contract is unavoidable in the case of solutions that are not optimized in wireless data transmissions (for example, Microsoft). With BlackBerry, where unlimited data plans are not convenient for average users, operators such as Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM) offer a pay-as-you-go contract. Although international data roaming is still a major issue, it is becoming increasingly less expensive, with some interesting flat tariffs per day (such as Vodafone). We expect a progressive reduction in international data tariffs during the next few years in Europe because of regulatory pressures on mobile operators (see "Why Mobile Operators Should Cut the Cost of Roaming").
• Devices — A variety of new models with optimized user interfaces have or will hit the market in 2008. Key players in the enterprise device market have released new models (for example, Samsung, HTC and Sony Ericsson). There have been some great innovations in user interfaces, in particular on the iPhone and Velocity Mobile.
• Mobile open source — Still a niche market and used mostly in operating systems (OSs) and development tools (such as Eclipse). Mobile Linux shipped only 10% of the total smartphone market in 2007, but Google's new Android platform may invigorate mobile open source and make it less fragmented and more attractive to developers. Mobile-open-source applications will be driven increasingly by smartphone uptake. There is growth potential, which should benefit network operators, handset manufacturers and developers of new mobile applications and services.
• Unified communications — The major vendors in this market are working to improve and upgrade wireless e-mail into a unified communication picture where e-mail, instant messaging (IM), voice over IP (VoIP), traditional voice and presence are converging. Microsoft released a full range of new features in Exchange Server 2007 to support voice and e-mail integration. RIM is working on this with Ascendant Technology.

Overall, the market evolution that has occurred during the past 12 months — in particular the availability of native push e-mail features in Exchange and an extensive range of e-mail-centric devices on non-BlackBerry platforms (in particular, Windows Mobile and S60) — indicates even further potential for large wireless e-mail deployments during the next four years. Some major changes will happen in the market, with shifts in shares and leadership.

Wireless e-mail is seen as a business opportunity by many vendors in the mobile industry, including handset manufacturers, software and hardware providers, mobile operators and other service providers. As a result, an increasing number of wireless, e-mail-related products, services and providers are available to users, with growing confusion as a consequence.

• Enterprise-class solutions — A software gateway sits behind the firewall, near the corporate e-mail server to which it is directly linked. The service may rely on a network operations center (NOC), but it normally offers support for IT administration, security and remote device management. Midsize and large organizations prefer this solution, which is managed by the IT department. Alternatively, organizations can adopt a "managed" or "hosted" service model, in which a service provider runs its e-mail server and the mobile infrastructure, manages the applications and wireless devices, provides user support and so forth.
• White-label solutions — These solutions enable carriers and other service providers to deliver their own branded mobile e-mail. They may support push e-mail, require a behind-the-firewall gateway or rely on a NOC. Simpler mobile e-mail solutions use online browsing (WAP or other) or e-mail clients on mobile devices to connect to e-mail servers via Post Office Protocol Version 3 (POP3) or IMAP; alternatively, they use SyncML. Vendors that use SyncML include Visto and Seven, as well as standards-based solution vendors, such as Synchronica, space2go and Funambol. Other vendors, such as Critical Path, offer a wireless e-mail platform based on Multimedia Messaging Service technology. Most mobile operators offer a branded mobile e-mail service based on these platforms, targeted mostly to consumers or professional consumers. Gartner doesn't recommend buying carrier-branded wireless e-mail services for large organizations, because these services tend to tie companies to one mobile operator.
• Personal solutions — This category includes software redirectors (that is, desktop computer programs that redirect e-mail to mobile devices through public e-mail accounts). Avoid this approach, because it has shortcomings in security and manageability. Organizations should ban employees from using these tools (messages can be redirected using personal rules in e-mail servers, but the same problems occur).

Enterprise-class solutions are available on the market directly from the vendor or through distribution channels, such as mobile operators, service providers and system integrators. Increasingly, these players tend to offer, in addition to a traditional bundle of data traffic packages and devices, a hosted or managed service model. In other cases (for example, Vodafone and T-Mobile with Microsoft e-mail), they tend to include security and device management services in the push e-mail bundle. Large organizations should choose enterprise-class solutions to ensure a longer lifetime for their mobile e-mail investment platforms. Small and midsize businesses may choose carrier solutions, but should check the quality of service and level of user support included in the bundle. When user organizations move from small deployments to larger sizes, it is possible to see hybrid deployments where best-in-class solutions, such as BlackBerry or GoodLink, are deployed for the most demanding users, with strong requirements in usability (for example, executives). Other solutions, such as Microsoft, are deployed for the wider audience, with diverging requirements on devices and applications.

This Magic Quadrant covers only the market for behind-the-firewall wireless e-mail software for enterprise use. Inquiries from our clients focus on these products, and they are the offerings we normally recommend for corporate use.

For this Magic Quadrant, we have defined a set of vendor inclusion criteria that covers no less than 80% of the total wireless e-mail software market for enterprises. To appear in this Magic Quadrant, vendors must offer wireless e-mail software suitable for use by organizations. Vendors also must fulfill criteria that set the minimum technical capabilities required.

The following criteria must be met by vendors to qualify for inclusion in this Magic Quadrant:

• Single data store for e-mail: All e-mail actions must be processed immediately in a central data store to avoid the confusion caused by processing multiple independent actions in multiple stores. There may be temporary copies of messages on wireless devices or on the network, but actions must be reconciled at the central store. Immediate action on PIM data is not required but is desirable.
• Data solution behind corporate firewall: To be considered secure, the technology that communicates with the central e-mail data store and routes e-mail or PIM data to wireless devices must sit behind the customer's corporate firewall. There must be a secure link between wireless devices and the central store that does not originate or terminate on noncorporate assets. The network may include devices that improve performance, but information must not reside on the network permanently or in unsecured locations.
• Offline support for at least two of these device platforms: Microsoft Windows Mobile, Palm OS, Symbian and RIM's OS (for its own BlackBerry devices or those with BlackBerry Built-In). Vendors that support more than two types of device are preferred.
• Support for multiple devices on multiple mobile networks: Products must not tie customers contractually to one mobile operator, forcing them to use its services. A vendor may operate a NOC to support different mobile networks. Alternatively, the user may manage the connections to different operators.
• Support for wireless devices' native e-mail programs, or support for an alternative e-mail client with superior functions: We favor offerings with proprietary (or standardized) e-mail and PIM clients that provide similar functions across different device platforms, because they create a consistent look and feel.
• A minimum level of security support: The wireless e-mail product must implement natively remote wiping, support a complex alphanumeric password and force password changes for at least one supported device.
• Relevant production shipments of admissible wireless e-mail products: The total installed base must be at least 100,000 seats. In 2007, market revenue must have been more than $3 million.
• Evidence of references for wireless e-mail products: We require at least three customer references with the product deployed and in operation for at least six months. Customers must be free to connect to multiple mobile networks or to change mobile carriers. The deployment must involve at least 100 users. The operator may run the system for the customer, but the central store must reside on the customer's premises or with a designated outsourcer.

Several other capabilities are desirable:

• Support for push e-mail and PIM: This is the preferred method. Other methods include server- or device-timed, user-initiated or message-based synchronization through a mechanism such as Short Message Service (SMS). In this latter case, SMS may be used to awaken a device when a mobile operator has disconnected it from the network, or when its IP address has been modified and has not been relayed to the e-mail and PIM routing software.
• Support for Microsoft Exchange Server: Products are considered better if they also support Lotus Domino, Novell GroupWise, and IMAP or POP3 systems.
• Support for reading, forwarding and altering e-mail attachments: Products that enable users to download, read and edit the original attachment file (for example, PowerPoint or Excel) are considered better than solutions that support only a simplified version.
• Support for Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) or global address lists: For example, the ability to access the directory of corporate e-mail addresses for applications other than e-mail.
• Support for filtering options: These include a two-step retrieval process in which e-mail headers are delivered first, followed, in a separate action, by the bodies of any messages the user selects. Filters may allow a partial download of attachments (the first 50 kilobytes) or of e-mail bodies.
• Support for security features: These include multiple encryption and authentication methods, especially the U.S. government's Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 certification, local encryption, remote wiping, enforcement of password policy and the use of a single password for all client applications on any supported platforms.
• Support for remote IT administration and device management: Products are considered better if they enable extensive remote management of mobile devices — for example, full, over-the-air software installation, configuration and service provisioning, security policy enforcement, mobile-device and client monitoring through dedicated portals and asset management on any supported platforms.
• Support for corporate data access, integration with corporate applications and offline deployment of client applications: Wireless e-mail software products belonging to a wider mobility platform suite that encompasses applications, device management and security are considered more complete and appropriate for enterprises to support a long-term mobility strategy.
• Support for unified communication: Wireless e-mail products for which an evolution plan and road map toward unified communication (that is, integration of e-mail with voice, VoIP, IM and presence) are defined and are considered superior and more appropriate for enterprises to support a long-term mobility strategy.
• A simplified set of processes for procuring services: The vendor provides a distribution channel with one source of support and services. Agreements with mobile operators that ease the transfer of devices to different providers are considered advantageous.
• International support: Includes help from local operators and the ability to connect e-mail devices to the home server, which may be in a different country.

One vendor has been added since the previous Magic Quadrant on the enterprise wireless e-mail software market:

• Excitor: a European company based in Denmark with a push e-mail product called Dynamic Mobile Exchange (DME).

Two vendors have been dropped since the previous Magic Quadrant on the enterprise wireless e-mail software market, because they did not provide references as requested in the qualification criteria indicated above:

• OpenHand: A company based in Iceland selling a product called OpenHand Enterprise Server for Exchange, mostly in Europe and South Africa.
• LRW Digital: A U.S.-based company that is active mostly in the government sector with a push e-mail product called Extensia that focuses on security and high availability.

Other vendors that sell wireless e-mail-related products were not included in this Magic Quadrant, because they do no meet the inclusion criteria listed in the previous section, which are mandatory for qualification.

Product Vendors

• Apriva: A small U.S.-based company selling a push e-mail solution called Sensa Secure Mobile Email for Windows Mobile devices. It didn't meet the qualification criteria for the size of reference deployments.
• Consilient: A Canadian company selling a push e-mail platform called Consilient Push, based on the P-IMAP standard. In the past, the company cooperated with RIM to provide support for GroupWise, until RIM released native support. The business focus shifted completely to a white-label offering for carriers.
• Fenestrae: A Dutch company active in mobile messaging that also sells a mobile e-mail product called Mobile Data Server, based on SyncML and browse technology and supporting a broad range of devices that is targeted primarily to service providers and carriers through a hosted model. As such, it does not belong to the market considered for this Magic Quadrant.
• Funambol: A U.S.-based company selling an open-source software platform for push e-mail and PIM — and synchronization — based on SyncML. It addresses enterprises and consumers through mobile operators and service providers (for example, the German service provider 1&1) but has not yet developed an enterprise offering.
• IBM: The company announced a product in January 2008 called Notes Traveler for wireless e-mail and personal information management, but it does not yet meet basic device security requirements (we expect IBM to add password change enforcement and device wipe with the next major Lotus Domino release in late-2008). Currently, the only viable alternative to this product is IBM's wireless e-mail strategy, based on partnerships with wireless e-mail providers that offer best-of-breed front ends to Domino to support device diversity. Partners include RIM, Motorola Good Technology, Sybase, Nokia, CommonTime and Visto. IBM is no longer pushing WebSphere Everyplace Access, which provided wireless e-mail as an add-on component to Lotus Domino and Exchange to WebSphere users.
• Oracle: Oracle no longer offers the Oracle Mobile Push Mail solution but is in the process of redefining the feature set and target segment of Oracle Collaboration Suite (code-named "Beehive") for the next big release, expected in 2008.
• Seven: A U.S.-based company with a relevant presence in Europe (thanks to Smartner Information Systems' acquisition in 2005) and some Asia/Pacific region markets. Seven sells a white-label product to service providers and mobile operators for consumers and for the low-end enterprise market of professional consumers and small businesses (for example, the Sprint PCS Business Connection service offered in the U.S.).
• Synchronica: a U.K.-based company that sells a push e-mail and synchronization middleware called Mobile Gateway to mobile operators. It focuses on industrial standards, supporting IMAP and Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, as well as IMAP Idle and OMA Email Notification for push e-mail, OMA Data Synchronization (SyncML) for the synchronization of calendars, contacts, notes and tasks. It provides OMA Device Management-based, mobile-device-management capabilities. Synchronica also has an enterprise edition (but didn't qualify because the reference criteria were not fully satisfied).
• Visto: A U.S.-based company that is holding a set of patents on wireless e-mail and is part of several ongoing patent disputes with other vendors in this market. It is purely a white-label vendor, because it sells its products only to mobile operators as enabling technologies for them to deliver branded e-mail services. Vodafone uses Visto to provide wireless e-mail services in almost any country.
• Other vendors: Many more companies claim to have a wireless e-mail-related offerings, some on a purely regional basis, others as pure startups, but with limited or no relevance for enterprises. Examples include AxisMobile, Berggi, Critical Path, emoze, Everyone.net, Momail, O3SIS, Oz, Siemens, Sony Ericsson and Sproquit Technologies.

Value-Added Resellers

These vendors are not included in the Magic Quadrant because their offerings are based on third-party products that already are included.

• Novell: It does not offer native support for wireless e-mail in GroupWise, nor does it have a stand-alone product. Its wireless e-mail strategy is based on two alternative third-party products: BES from RIM and GroupWise Mobile Server (Nokia's Intellisync platform embedded in GroupWise 7).
• Mirapoint: It does not offer native support for wireless e-mail in Mirapoint, nor does it have a stand-alone product. Its strategy is to use third-party tools that enable the addressing of a large range of devices with push e-mail. Its partnerships include Nokia, Consilient, Notify (as an official RIM partner, it can support BlackBerry devices for IMAP4 servers only), OpenHand and Visto.
• Ericsson: Its Ericsson Mobile Organizer product is based on Seven's (Smartner's) Always-On Mail and is sold mostly through mobile operators and other distribution channels, in addition to enterprises.
• Messaging Architects: It has a software component (GroupWise Connector) that adds wireless e-mail capabilities to Novell GroupWise. Extended Systems includes this component in its OneBridge product to support Novell GroupWise. In addition, Messaging Architects sells a wireless e-mail product for GroupWise (GWAnywhere), which is based on Sybase's OneBridge Mobile Groupware.

Carriers

Many mobile operators have a mobile e-mail offering; in most cases, they have portfolios of solutions for different market segments. For example, Vodafone's portfolio includes BlackBerry, Microsoft Direct Push Technology and Vodafone push e-mail (based on Visto's platform). Similar offerings come from major carriers in Europe (for example, T-Mobile, TIM and Orange) and in the U.S. (for example, Cingular, Verizon and Sprint Nextel). Increasingly, mobile operators are offering unlimited data plans, particularly with Microsoft e-mail bundles, or pay-as-you-go contracts for BlackBerry bundles. Mobile operators see wireless e-mail as a high-potential area and are trying to expand their offerings with remote device management and security services. Mobile-operator-branded wireless e-mail offerings based on white-label products are not appropriate for midsize to large organizations, because they tend to lock users into the mobile operator's network and often lack suitable business-class support infrastructure. They are intended mainly for small businesses and professional consumers.

Product or Service

Specific aspects include:

• Frequency of product upgrades and new releases
• E-mail servers and heterogeneous architectures supported
• Devices that support the vendor's wireless e-mail offering using its own client software (considered best), the devices' native client software or Web and WAP browsing
• Synchronization mechanisms for push and pull e-mail (we consider the former particularly important)
• NOCs, whether managed by the vendor or by others
• Wireless networks supported, for example, general packet radio service, code division multiple access and Wi-Fi
• Security: local, transport, data access and so on
• Additional features, such as a global address list, LDAP, attachments and management functions
• Remote management and IT administration capabilities
• Other messaging clients for IM and push-to-talk services, among others
• Support for new client platforms, applications, and security and mobile-device-management technologies
• Capability to make crucial deals with other technology providers or with mobile operators for distribution purposes

Overall Viability (Financials)

We pay special attention to vendors' financial health. Specific considerations include:

• Financial goals for the next three years and the strategy for meeting them
• Financial growth
• Profitability or strategy to become profitable
• Contingency plans
• Investments in branding, advertising and marketing
• Nature of the company: startup or established, private or publicly owned (including any plans to go public)
• Total revenue
• Revenue from wireless e-mail products (licenses, services and so on)
• Expenditures on R&D and market branding
• Capital raised, available cash and monthly burn rate
• Primary investors, previous round of funding and the ways funds are used

Sales Execution/Pricing

Specific considerations include:

• Revenue generated from the sales channel
• Performance metrics: number of customers (organizations), subscribers (individual workers) and seats (e-mail gateways), in addition to the size of the largest deployment
• Number of sales partners and how the parties apportion revenue
• Sales training and support, and generation of sales leads
• Pricing model: its simplicity, transparency and inclusion of easy-to-understand pricing for customers

Market Responsiveness and Track Record

This criterion addresses the ability of a vendor to understand the needs and expectations of its market and how it will execute to satisfy established and potential new customers.

• Compelling requests from customers or prospects during the past 12 months
• Changes to products or services to address those requests

Marketing Execution

Specific considerations include:

• Marketing alliances
• Cobranding strategy with mobile operators, device manufacturers and others
• Extent of local deals with mobile operators
• Number of direct competitors
• Structure of marketing department

Customer Experience

Specific considerations include:

• The ways in which customers receive technical and other support, reports of good and bad experiences
• Customers' freedom to use different mobile operators and to switch from their initial choice of operators to others without having to change software infrastructures or devices
• Customer feedback on products, services, prices and so on (we gather this information from a Web-based questionnaire for reference customers and from conversations with many of our clients)

Operations

Specific considerations include:

• Total number of employees in different countries and the extent of the company's presence there
• Number of staff in important departments, such as sales, marketing and R&D
• Cohesiveness of management board
• Strategy to create global presence
• Customer service and the structure of its provision
• Existence of offshore development center
• Pending lawsuits

Market Understanding

Specific considerations include:

• Support for multiple client platforms and multiple e-mail servers
• Commitment to porting e-mail and PIM client software to different hardware platforms
• Commitment to interoperability and standard adoption
• Support for corporate data access and applications
• Security and device management
• Independence from mobile operators
• Clarity of product road map
• Price simplification and reduction
• Competition understanding

Marketing Strategy

Specific considerations include:

• Go-to-market strategy: for example, selling direct to customers or indirectly via mobile operators and value-added resellers
• Focus on specific customer segments, as opposed to broadness of scope
• Branding, advertising and public relations strategy

Sales Strategy

Specific considerations include:

• Overall sales strategy
• Distribution strategy
• Strategy for distribution channels and resellers
• Cobranding deals with OEMs, such as handset makers
• Structure of sales department
• Strategy for expanding sales and distribution
• Strategy for increasing the installed base of products

Offering (Product) Strategy

Specific considerations include:

• Speed of developing and enhancing products in relation to market requirements
• Partnerships with other technology companies to speed up development of new features (for example, greater security and support for more client platforms)
• Support of and adherence to standardization efforts
• Integration of software with IM, network presence information, VoIP services and so on

Business Model

Specific considerations include:

• Strength of focus on wireless e-mail and PIM products (that is, whether the vendor also has major interests in such items as white-label offerings, desktop synchronization software and mobile applications designed for specific industries)
• Degree of focus on enterprise customers
• Partnerships with other types of companies, such as mobile operators and handset manufacturers, with corresponding revenue streams; revenue sharing

Innovation

Specific considerations include:

• Resources available for innovation
• Expertise or capital available for investment
• Recent steps toward consolidation (that is, mergers and acquisitions)
• Innovative deals with distributors, OEMs and mobile operators, among others

Geographic Strategy

Specific considerations include:

• Vendors' presence in foreign markets and their plans to be there in the short term

Vendors classified as leaders have seen continuous growth in their installed base of wireless e-mail gateways and subscribers. They are the subject of most inquiries from Gartner clients about wireless e-mail product strategy and selection. Leaders have established positions in several areas of technology and pursue innovation in different areas related to wireless e-mail product features and services. They are good at communicating the value of their offerings, have a wide geographical presence and have extensive plans for sales and distribution. Comments from clients must point to a high degree of satisfaction with the level of support provided and to operational excellence.

Challengers in the field of wireless e-mail software typically have a strong client base to which they can sell or a well-established presence in this market. However, they lack vision in one or more areas — often product design, marketing or sales.

These vendors often have a compelling technical vision but have yet to determine how to grow in other respects. Some are large companies that understand the market and have an idea of how to address its needs but have so far been unable to fulfill their plans.

These vendors are small players dedicated to a specific market geography, sector or approach; or, they are larger companies that have not shown a strong presence in this market. Both types of vendors normally have limited marketing, sales and operations capabilities. Their products support a narrow range of e-mail server products (for example, Microsoft Exchange, IBM Lotus Notes Domino and Novell GroupWise) and standards (for example, IMAP). Their overall situation (financial, strategy and organization) is weak. They may have prioritized other areas of business at the expense of investing in wireless e-mail products. We generally advise clients to choose these vendors if they offer features uniquely suited to the organizations' needs. Even then, it is worth planning for alternative support in case the niche vendor leaves the market.

• CommonTime is a U.K.-based, private company selling a wireless e-mail product called mNotes as part of a larger suite of products (mSuite), including security, device management and applications. The mNotes product works only with the IBM Lotus Notes Domino e-mail server and collaboration platforms. CommonTime supports Palm OS, Windows Mobile and Symbian OS devices using its native CommonTime e-mail client.
• There are many partnerships for distribution, comarketing and coselling in Europe and North America, including mobile operators and handset manufacturers. CommonTime also recently formed a partnership with Microsoft around System Center Mobile Device Manager.
• CommonTime now offers a NOC-based architecture (two nodes based in the U.K. and two NOCs in North America), without a temporary store of e-mails in transit and available for private deployments to carriers and enterprises.
• No proprietary e-mail/PIM client is available; the CommonTime offering uses a native client and integrates with native functionalities, where needed. It integrates with IBM Sametime but has no voice support yet.

• The marketing vision and execution are basic (for example, a poor Web site and lack of online services, as compared with other vendors in this space).
• Competition in the Lotus Notes Domino market has become aggressive, with vendors such as RIM, Motorola Good, Nokia Intellisync, Sybase and Excitor offering their platforms to integrate with IBM's e-mail server.
• The traditional partnership with IBM may weaken eventually, because of the growing number of vendors partnering with IBM on wireless e-mail. In addition, IBM now supports mobile e-mail for Notes Domino, with the recently launched Notes Traveler.
• Competition pressures are increasing for CommonTime, and new challenges may limit the company's growth and market presence in Europe, because of local competitors, such as Excitor, that also support Microsoft Exchange.

• Excitor is a small startup company based in Denmark with rapid growth in size, revenue, sales and customer base. Currently European-focused, Excitor is aiming to expand internationally during the next three years. Its financial performance is slightly better than other niche players in this market; although as a startup business, it still presents risks.
• The Excitor product, called DME, is rich in mobile e-mail and PIM functionality and offers IT support around security, management and data center disciplines, such as high availability, load balancing and service management. On the server side, DME supports IBM Notes Domino and Microsoft Exchange, and has a proprietary e-mail client integrating with native capabilities for calendar and PIM functionality on a range of different client platforms.
• The push implementation is server-based, with an adaptive keep-alive mechanism for connection performance optimization.
• Pricing, which is based on perpetual licenses, with additional charges for maintenance, technical support and system integration projects, is better articulated than that of any other niche vendor.
• The customer base in northern Europe includes large organizations with large deployments.
• Excitor has aggressive plans and execution in marketing. The company has a strong partnership with IBM around Notes Domino support in Scandinavian countries.
• Excitor has plans to differentiate its offering around managed service, hosted services and software as a service, particularly for small and midsize businesses.

• Excitor's presence is limited to Nordic countries and to certain areas in Europe. Concrete activities to support internationalization ambitions are not yet visible. A lack of partnerships with mobile operators and handset manufacturers may represent a barrier to viability outside local markets.
• Support for mobile applications beyond e-mail is minimal, despite plans for the next release to include an application integration framework.
• Competition is tough for Excitor in the midsize enterprise market, the IBM Notes Domino segment, where RIM, Motorola Good, Nokia and Sybase already are active (and IBM now has its own product), and the Microsoft Exchange segment, where Microsoft's value proposition is strong.
• Ambitions around the e-mail-as-a-service offering are challenged by long-term strategies from players such as Microsoft and Google around cloud computing.

• Microsoft's wireless e-mail solution is a native component of its Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 and Exchange Server 2007 product line. A solution with basic security is available at no extra charge, given that Outlook Web Access has been deployed.
• Exchange ActiveSync protocol is licensed for push e-mail support to a variety of hardware suppliers, including Windows Mobile OEMs (such as HTC, Motorola, Samsung, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Palm and, as of June 2008, Apple).
• Microsoft has more than 100 deals with carriers worldwide (such as Vodafone, T-Mobile, Orange and Cingular).
• No special wireless data service contract is required to link to Microsoft's wireless e-mail. Generic data contracts are sufficient.
• Extensions to Exchange Server 2007 and the addition of System Center Mobile Device Manager bring the level of available security policies closer to RIM and Motorola Good solutions.
• Exchange owns approximately 62% of the enterprise e-mail server market.
• Second to RIM's, the Microsoft solution is the most discussed during client inquiries.

• The absence of a NOC means that IT organizations must manage multiple carrier relationships. Despite the many relationships with carriers, few global service products are available.
• Wireless data transmission over wireless networks is not as efficient as RIM's, so the cost per message is higher.
• The addition of System Center Mobile Device Manager brings the cost of Microsoft's and RIM's solutions closer to each other, although Microsoft's solution has a cost advantage at lower levels of security. This platform is still new and will need to mature.
• Unlike RIM, Motorola Good and Sybase, Microsoft has no bundled application extension capability consisting of interfaces to back-end applications, combined with a client browser.
• Maximum security requires an upgrade to Windows Mobile 6.1. Nokia has not announced plans to support the full security extensions. Apple, by contrast, has agreed to match 6.1 policy enforcement.
• E-mail and PIM functionality depends on the native client supplied by the OS platform vendor.

• Motorola Good offers a best-in-class enterprise solution that competes directly with RIM for richness of user experience, security support and IT management. When it comes to product excellence, Motorola Good offers a custom client that delivers e-mail and PIM capability across multiple device platforms. The company has service resilience, with minimal service interruptions, and plans to evolve the NOC-based architecture to meet new needs in the customer base.
• Motorola Good has the potential to leverage Motorola's enterprise division presence to extend its platform to manage, secure and support applications across a variety of form factors, including ruggedized devices.
• The product offers a generic network interface, and full carrier independence does not require local support from carriers to deploy Good infrastructure outside North America.
• Motorola Good has partnerships with players such as IBM to add wireless e-mail to Notes Domino. Motorola also has a partnership with Microsoft on Windows Mobile. Good is adding about 9,000 resellers worldwide via the Motorola/Symbol PartnerSelect channel.
• Motorola Good has an expanded relationship with mobile operators, particularly in the U.S. (Sprint Nextel, AT&T, Cellular South and Centennial Wireless), O2 (U.K.), and Telstra (Australia). Verizon and AT&T, large U.S. carriers, are committed to Motorola Good.
• Motorola Good is better than its competitors in rich-client application support, and its high-end (FIPS 140-2) solution is easier to configure.

• Good Technology was acquired early in 2007 by Motorola and went through an integration process that implied an initial inclusion in the mobile-device division, followed by a move to the enterprise division, a more natural fit, given Good's experience and customer base. Since 2007, Motorola has been going through a crisis on the device business side caused by lack of product innovation and missed sales targets. This situation did not help Good Technology to unleash all the growth potential of the acquisition and limited Good's overall viability in the market. Motorola plans to spin off the mobile-device business unit and run the mobile-enterprise business unit as an independent entity, pursuing synergies between Good and Symbol Technologies. This sounds promising but must be proved with execution during the next months.
• Nokia devices are not supported in Good's release 5.0 platform due to reduced interest from Nokia in this software platform. If the situation does not change in the near term, then device flexibility in different OS platforms may decline significantly, because Palm OS shipments are declining.
• Good's growth in Europe is flat, despite the deal with U.K.-based carrier O2. Internationalization remains a challenge.
• Some issues with problem resolution have been reported by Motorola Good clients; however, the company has acted quickly to resolve them.

• Nokia Intellisync offers flexibility on the client side, with support for Windows Mobile, Symbian and Palm devices, as well as on the server side, with support for Exchange, Lotus Notes Domino and GroupWise. Nokia Intellisync is making an effort to pursue interoperability with third-party products.
• A new software release has improved e-mail/PIM client and server features, making up for previous product deficiencies. A proprietary e-mail client is provided for the Symbian, S60, Windows Mobile, Palm OS and Java Platform, Micro Edition (Java) ME devices; a native client is used for PIM.
• As part of the Intellisync Mobile Suite 8.0, Nokia's wireless e-mail platform can be extended with complementary tools to cover enhanced security, management and application development.
• Intellisync is a core element of Nokia's offering on enterprise mobility, in addition to E-series devices and their mobile security products.
• Nokia Intellisync has a corporate attitude to pursue continuous innovation, which originated with the recently renewed global strategy to move the focus from products to services. This has led Nokia through a radical reorganization and some key acquisitions, such as Avvenu (storage in the cloud) and Trolltech (Linux). There is the potential to extend the service vision to mobile e-mail and to develop a mobile e-mail-as-a-service offering for enterprises.
• Nokia Intellisync has a growing presence in Europe, leveraging carrier relations as distribution channels.

• During its global reorganization, Nokia eliminated the enterprise division, rethinking its structure around products, services and markets. Instead of business and consumer users, a more sophisticated taxonomy of user categories has been introduced to rationalize developments and the go-to-market strategies around them. This means that the company has a great innovation attitude, but it also represents a possible threat to the enterprise business. Marketing to enterprises seems to be declining.
• As a result of these issues, the company's enterprise market responsibility is less clear. Its go-to-market strategy for future growth seems to focus more on carriers, service providers and OEM relationships. While leveraging the strong presence of Nokia on the carrier side, as well as growing attempts of carriers to increase revenue in the enterprise market, this strategy may be risky, because carriers, on average, have been weak at selling to enterprises. The two marketing approaches (direct and carrier-based) could cause confusion for enterprise buyers about Nokia's commitment to enterprises in the long term.
• Overall, the go-to-market strategy for enterprises, consumers, providers, carriers seems overambitious and hard to implement.
• Nokia has shown a preference for using Intellisync to promote Nokia products in the near future. This may present a concern for enterprises that value increasing interoperability of mobile products.
• Enterprise sales are most visible in Europe and less visible elsewhere.

• Notify Technology is a small California-based company, with 25% growth in sales and revenue every year. The company focuses on North America and claims 3,000 customers.
• Notify's product, NotifyLink, is not tied to any one type of handset or individual mobile operator, and it offers wide flexibility on the server side. Traditionally focused on GroupWise, during the past 15 months, Notify has introduced support for IMAP4 and SyncML protocols, extending the range of supported e-mail servers to many products, including those from Sun Microsystems, Oracle, Mirapoint, Scalix and Zimbra. Notify also integrates with Microsoft Exchange but not with IBM Lotus Notes Domino.
• Support for IMAP4 and, in particular, for open-source e-mail server products, makes Notify a significant player in the higher education market segment.
• Notify has developed IMAP4 interfaces to connect the above-mentioned servers to different mobile-client platforms, including BlackBerry devices (as a RIM partner). Notify has a proprietary e-mail client with attachment handling.

• With a mostly North American focused presence, Notify represents a local player competing in niche market segments (higher education) for niche e-mail server deployments. The lack of international support presents a concern for U.S.-based companies with international businesses and operations.
• Notify faces stiff competition in the GroupWise market from stronger players, such as RIM and Nokia Intellisync.
• Some customers have expressed concern about the stability of the client software, although Notify's prices and willingness to tailor its software is appreciated by the customer base.
• There is limited support for security and management, as compared with other products.

• RIM has the largest installed base, with more than 14 million subscribers worldwide (as of March 2008). It is a profitable and growing company, not only in North America but in any region.
• RIM is very successful with Level C executive users, because of the usability and security profiles of its products and services. Beyond the traditional business focus, RIM aims to reach professional consumers and consumer users through its BlackBerry Internet Service and smartphones, such as Pearl and Curve.
• The company has a strong international presence, with more than 350 mobile operators partnering worldwide. With its carrier relationships and BlackBerry's highly efficient wireless data transmission, BlackBerry's traffic and international data-roaming charges are often the most convenient. The global pricing plans offer huge advantages over other products.
• RIM has strong security and manageability support, as well as a focus on IT department needs.
• The company has a unified communication strategy to merge e-mail with VoIP, presence and IM on a converging infrastructure.
• RIM has viable application development tools through its Mobile Data Services portal to deliver browser applications. The company has had a growing presence in North America for Java ME-based applications in field service since 2007.

• RIM leads in this market mostly because of device sales, but tough competition is growing for devices and service/software with other strong players.
• BlackBerry is a proprietary, single-source solution that offers the best experience to its users (the IT department and mobile workers) when homogeneously deployed (all BlackBerry infrastructures at the server and client side). Attempts to open up the environment through initiatives such as BlackBerry Connect and Virtual BlackBerry are available inconsistently and should not be considered mainstream strategies.
• Overall, a narrow set of devices is offered, although the coming year could see a material expansion.
• BlackBerry's software infrastructure is a tactical product, focusing mainly on mobile e-mail as an application and BlackBerry devices. Security and management capabilities in the BES are fully available on BlackBerry devices only.
• Cautious in introducing changes to product and service offerings, RIM tends to follow the competition in some areas of product enhancements and adds new features only when proved in the market (for example, complete attachment handling was released in 2008). RIM's attitude toward innovation ensures product reliability but occasionally lags behind other players.
• As the user base has broadened, expectations for the NOC architecture for service resilience and service-level management are growing. Activities such as configuration management have become critical, causing a stoppage of RIM's service, if not properly planned.

• As the only major independent wireless e-mail in this Magic Quadrant, Sybase iAnywhere supports a large variety of devices from varied manufacturers based on Microsoft, Symbian, Palm and Apple platforms. It also offers flexibility on the server side, supporting Exchange and Lotus Notes Domino.
• Sybase iAnywhere provides extensions to native e-mail/PIM clients (for example, meeting invitation, corporate directory and search capability) for Windows Mobile, Symbian and Palm devices. The degree of customization depends on the device.
• As part of the Information Anywhere Suite, Sybase's iAnywhere wireless e-mail platform can be extended to cover enhanced security, management, application development and offline Web browsing. The new Mobile Office component includes the ability to use wireless e-mail as a vehicle to integrate and mobilize business processes that connect to corporate applications.
• Sybase iAnywhere becomes most attractive for e-mail/PIM when further applications are being deployed/developed using its mobility platform.
• Sybase iAnywhere is particularly strong in the European venue and in organizations deploying IBM Notes Domino and/or a hybrid client base, including Symbian and Windows Mobile.

• Sybase iAnywhere lacks deals with mobile operators and handset manufacturers (except for a growing partnership with HTC).
• The company has low visibility in the market and a confusing array of product extensions. It is overshadowed by RIM and Microsoft for e-mail/PIM functionality.
• There is growing competition from Microsoft in the enterprise market segment of companies running Exchange Server and Windows Mobile devices, because of capabilities in Microsoft's offering (including the System Center Mobile Device Manager product).
• Sybase iAnywhere had limited growth of new customers in the North American region for stand-alone wireless e-mail/PIM due to competition from other key players, such as RIM, Motorola Good and Microsoft.
• The company lacks deals with mobile operators (through a NOC-based architecture and revenue-sharing service model, as RIM has), which means that IT organizations must manage all carrier relationships and must face the challenges of building international contracts.