TelePassport launches TEX, SA`s first corporate-grade Outlook SMS application

TelePassport has announced the immediate launch of TEX, a revolutionary new Microsoft Outlook-based SMS application which seamlessly SMS-enables Outlook and Outlook Express.

Robert Brandt, SMS product manager at TelePassport, describes TEX from Johannesburg: "TEX is basically a small, easily downloadable computer program, that installs itself or `plugs in` directly into your existing MS Outlook or Outlook Express. (It is mail server-independent, in other words you do not have to be running MS Exchange as your mail server to run TEX.) TEX`s primary functionality is the ability to send SMS messages directly from Outlook as if you were sending an e-mail, via the addition of a `New SMS` button alongside the existing Outlook `New Email` button - of course the recipients are read straight from your Outlook contacts, and their existing mobile numbers on record are used.

"Enhanced functionality includes the integration of TEX with your Outlook Calendar, so that you are automatically SMSed your appointment and meeting reminders (along with all meeting delegates!) Further, TEX may be used to send scheduled reminder SMS messages and bulk SMS message lists. Full message tracking and delivery reports are supported, and the service is backed by TelePassport`s market leading reporting and billing engine."

Brandt continues: "The concept of a software applet to SMS-enable MS Outlook is not a new idea, and several attempts at such software are already in the market, with varying degrees of aplomb and success. However, they all exhibit one critical shortcoming, in that they are username and password-based, and as such are far more of a single user application than a true corporate solution.

"TEX differs fundamentally from all of these," explains Brandt, "in that it does not require individual usernames or passwords, and your entire corporate account is centrally managed from a secure Web interface. The company`s SMS administrator has complete and instant user control, including activating and deactivating user accounts, and daily and monthly user spend levels. As all of this functionality is customer-driven, it means there are no cumbersome application processes to the service provider or delays involved in implementing TEX service changes. And best of all, while TEX is certainly the heavyweight of the Outlook SMS pack, our pricing is so low it takes the rest head on in that department as well."

Managing Director Anton Potgieter comments as follows on TelePassport`s latest release: "We decided that Outlook SMS would be a tremendous aid to our clients` communications, as well as a great cost saver (because sending an SMS is cheaper than calling the person, even on their land line), which is after all what TelePassport is all about.

"After extensive analysis of the Outlook SMS offerings on the market, TelePassport purchased the unique basic proprietary TEX functionality from a local development company at the end of 2004, as even then it was head and shoulders above the rest in terms of IP and panache. Since then, TEX has been in an intensive product assimilation phase during which a large beta customer base has been running very successfully, both locally and abroad. Although TEX could have been rushed to market earlier, we took the strategic decision to move it from a very good product to a truly great product before offering it to the market at large. We are confident that TEX, as the only really corporate focused offering in the market, will take the lead in corporate Outlook SMS plug-ins from the word go, both in SA and abroad."

In the local context, TEX officially launches simultaneously in SA and Namibia this month. More information on TEX, including a free trial download, is available at www.texsms.co.za, or from TelePassport on 0860-03-04-03.