Microsoft Corp. today announced the worldwide beta launch of Microsoft� Outlook� Mobile Manager, a desktop PC application that extends the power, reach and functionality of the Microsoft Outlook messaging and collaboration client to a wide variety of mobile devices. Mobile Manager enables 68 million users of Microsoft Exchange worldwide to take greater control of their mobile communications by allowing them to intelligently filter and prioritize e-mail notifications. Mobile Manager will also tightly integrate with Microsoft Mobile Information 2001 Server, offering increased security and functionality, as well as the upcoming release of Office XP (the newest version of Microsoft's suite of productivity tools and programs), due for release toward the end of the first half of this year.

Mobile Manager determines when to send calendar entries, contacts and tasks to mobile devices. Using smart technology, the application considers input from users about their Outlook-based communications and automatically constructs personalized message filters that govern which messages should be sent as urgent notifications to wireless devices such as text-enabled mobile phones. The system integrates the use of personalized filters, sets of rich profiles that capture a user's preferences, and an analysis of a user's activity to make decisions about mobile alerting.