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Microsoft unveiled the on-device client to enable push e-mail on Windows Mobile handhelds and smartphones in February, at the 3GSM show in Barcelona Spain. The Direct Push software completed the mob-e-mail puzzle the software giant started with the backend deployment last fall of Service Pack 2 for Exchange Server 2003.

A couple of months later, Palm, Inc.- on the second day of another wireless conference (CTIA) - announces the long-awaited Direct Push software update for its inaugural Windows Mobile handset, the Treo 700w.

The free update - called Windows Mobile Messaging and Security Feature Pack (MSFP) - is expected to be available from for later this month from Palm and Verizon Wireless, the carrier that offers the smartphone, which is only shipping in the United States at this time.

With push e-mail (available most famously in RIM's BlackBerry solutions) when a server receives a message, it is automatically sent to a mobile device instead of the user having to manually pull it down or schedule retrievals at set intervals. In addition, with Direct Push enabled on the Treo 700w, enterprises can also deliver wireless updates of calendar items, contacts and tasks directly from Exchange Server 2003 SP2 as well.

Employees can also perform over-the-air lookups of their company’s Exchange Global Address List and administrators can remotely wipe the data from a device and enforce passwords wirelessly.

The purpose of the software update is to enable the Treo 700w - a member of the best-selling smartphone series in the U.S. - to better compete in the enterprises space against the likes of the BlackBerry and other Microsoft-based handhelds and smartphones.

Palm's senior VP of worldwide sales & customer relations Josh hartnett said, "Enterprise CIOs have told us that the addition of MSFP to the Treo 700w is key to their wider deployment of the 700w across their companies and deep into their lines of business."

"We believe this high-ROI, easy-to-deploy push e-mail and messaging solution will delight CIOs and end users alike. Our collective enterprise sales teams have hundreds of companies lined up and ready to initiate trials, which we expect will soon be under way with the availability of MSFP," he added.