A forthcoming mobile messaging service is set to offer businesses similar capabilities to RIM's BlackBerry but at a fraction of the cost, and will also support standard mobile handsets. However, unlike BlackBerry, it will not integrate with existing infrastructure such as Exchange servers.

Simdesk's SimMobile provides workers with messaging and collaboration, secure file sharing and mobile printing, and is compatible with over 600 phone handsets, according to the firm. The service will be launched at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February, and is expected to be available from early April.

Initially, SimMobile will be available as a hosted service provided by carriers, but in future the company aims to let enterprise customers operate a server behind their corporate firewall. It can operate on any handset that is Java J2ME compatible or supports the SyncML protocol, and the firm supplies a SyncML client for Windows Mobile devices. Users can also access their account via a desktop browser.

Simdesk said it is initially targeting small-to-medium organisations or public sector bodies, which may have held back from mobile messaging because of the cost. But it also expects that BlackBerry customers may see it as an attractive way to mobilise email across more of their workforce. The service may cost as little as $5 (£2.55) per seat per month, compared with $60-$80 for BlackBerry, according to the firm.

"I've yet to see a company that's willing to give a BlackBerry to all its employees, yet all of them want their employees to be able to keep in touch," said Simdesk president and chief executive Louis Waters.

The service offers more than just mobile email, enabling users to upload files to online folders for sharing with colleagues, and the ability to send files for output to shared printers in their organisation.

But enterprises may not find the service to their liking. As a completely hosted service, SimMobile does not integrate with existing corporate mail systems running on Exchange or Domino, and such firms may also have concerns about data being hosted off site.

However, Waters said that the firm offers a secure "carrier-grade service", and that its transaction-based architecture means it can scale up to many thousands of users much more easily than can Microsoft Exchange.

"And if you want to control your [mobile messaging] costs, this is the way to do it," he said.

Another potential drawback is that the platform enables the service operator to carry advertisements, but Simdesk said this is an optional feature, and that the software will not examine the content of emails to deliver targeted ads.