Abacus Consulting, LLC

Requirements

Treo 650 or 700P 

The first prerequisite is a Treo 650 or 700P with a data access plan. This process was tested with a both a Treo 650 and a Treo 700P utilizing the Verizon (CDMA) National Access data plan. There is no reason why this process should not work as effectively on any other network that provides data access. Furthermore, though it has not yet been tested, this process should work just as well on the Treo 600, Treo 680, and possibly the Kyocera 7135 or any other Palm based Smartphone.

Time Matters 6, 7, or 8 

The second prerequisite is that you have Time Matters installed and synchronizing properly with your Treo at your desktop computer using the HotSync cable supplied with the Treo. It may be possible to use Time Matters 5.0, but Time Matters 5.0 will not HotSync with the Treo 650 or 700P. Time Matters 5.0 will HotSync with the Treo 600. This process has been successfully tested with Time Matters 7 as well as Time Matters 8. Please refer to your Time Matters manual regarding the setup and configuration of Palm based synchronization.

VPN Gateway

The third prerequisite is that you have a VPN Gateway. OK, I said it was as little as $29.99, but I am making the assumption here that you already have a full time broadband connection (i.e.: DSL or Cable) in the office where you do your desktop HotSync. This connection must have a static IP address. Furthermore, we make the bigger assumption that you have a device that can be a VPN Gateway. The reason that I safely make this assumption is that Windows 2000 Server and Windows 2003 Server can both support VPN connections out of the box, and these servers are found in the the majority of networks operated by Time Matters users. There are also quite a few routers and network security appliances that will support VPN connections, such as models from Netopia, Cisco, Linksys and many others.

VPN Client

The fourth and final prerequisite is that you have a Palm based VPN client. The Treo 650 does not ship with a VPN client, thus it will be necessary to purchase one in order to connect to your VPN host. The two main VPN clients available for the Treo 650 are:

• Mergic VPN 1.1 ($29.99)
• movianVPN ($99.00)

It is important that you choose a VPN client that supports both your VPN Gateway and your Palm Smartphone. If you are using a Treo 650 and Windows 2000 or 2003 Server, then Mergic VPN will be the correct (and cheapest) choice. PalmOne has a nice chart of VPN software that indicates which phones and Gateways are supported by which VPN client. If you would like to test this process, Mergic VPN has a 15 day trial version available.