Last week the Hill newspaper (via arstechnica) reported that "iPhones are a must-have for Congress". According to the Hill "The Chief Administrative Office (CAO), which oversees the communications systems for the House, has begun testing a small number of iPhones within its ranks to see if they are compatible with the working needs of lawmakers and staff.". The article goes on to say that their email system is currently not compatible with the iPhone because they use the Blackberry Enterprise server, but that is incorrect.
The House and Senate use Microsoft's Exchange server as their main internal email system. With version 2.x of the iPhone's firmware you are able to connect to the Microsoft Exchange server directly. There is no need for Blackberry's convoluted architecture (it was innovative in the 90's, but now seems archaic) which requires messages to be funneled to/from Exchange via Blackberry's Enterprise Server then to RIM's Network Operation Center (NOC) in Waterloo, Canada and finally transmitted to/from the cellular network. With the iPhone and Exchange everything happens over a secure SSL Internet connection directly to the House or Senate's Exchange server (Windows Mobile devices work the same way). There is no intermediary server or NOC required.
As pointed by the Hill, the major issue with the iPhone is whether the available functionality provides what congress needs. The lack of some key Exchange ActiveSync functionality like email search, and creating appointment invitations may hamper its adoption, but I understand the move is on by many staffers on the Senate side to switch to the iPhone even though they are paying for the devices themselves and have to sign a document stating that they will not receive any support. It is now up to Apple to ramp up its Exchange ActiveSync functionality and make it harder for congress' IT organizations to stem the trend towards the iPhone.
Comments