First off, I must warn that implementing push mail for any organization with more than a dozen staffers can get complex pretty quickly. Beyond the mere question of cost are issues related to security management. What are the procedures to be followed when a smartphone linked to the corporate e-mail system is lost or stolen? Do you really want the new system administrator hire to be fiddling with the CEO's smartphone?

For today's blog, though, I will focus on some of the more common options that an SMB keen on providing push mail to their employees can look into.  I will be assuming a Microsoft Exchange implementation, since it is possible to implement Exchange either in-house, or as a hosted service.

Company pays for smartphones

For company-owned devices, an SMB might want to purchase a fleet of either BlackBerry smartphones or Windows Mobile devices. Both are mature products and have been in use in the enterprise for years. I have used four BlackBerry smartphones and three Windows Mobile devices in the past, and personally consider RIM's BlackBerry to be superior in terms of reliability and manageability.

Implementing RIM's solution will result in an additional cost for a RIM middleware server. For SMBs intending to implement 30 or less smartphones, it will be a better idea to go for the BlackBerry Professional Service (BPS), which is cheaper than the enterprise-centric BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES).

There is no need to purchase additional software for use with any of Microsoft's Windows Mobile smartphones currently sold in the market. In case you are thinking of it, it would be a better idea to forgo supporting Apple's iPhones or Google's Android devices for now.

Leverage user-owned smartphones and mobile devices

If you would like to rely on user-owned devices, then you will want to look at DataViz's RoadSync software suite. It enables a range of mobile devices and smartphones to connect to Microsoft Exchange to obtain push mail services.

Supported devices range from Symbian Series 80, Symbian S60, Symbian UIQ, Palm OS and various Java MIDP 2.0-compatible mobile phones.

Together with recent post on questions to ask before implementing push mail, I hope I am able to shed better light on the options for you to bring it into your small and medium business.