"Together with them, we will use our expertise in devices, as well as the combined channel footprint and customer base, to deliver a range of unbeatable end-to-end offerings for business," said Niklas Savander, EVP, Services & Software, Nokia, said back then.

Of the 20 November 2008 announcement, "This is another strong affirmation of our business mobility vision, which is to establish partnerships with the world's leading enterprise vendors," said Soren Petersen, senior vice president, Nokia.

"This collaboration means nearly 90 percent of business email can be mobilized with Nokia devices, without needing to purchase additional servers, middleware or licenses. With the presence, position and technology that IBM have in the corporate email market, they are an essential partner for us in enterprise," Petersen added.

"People need to be connected to their email, information and network when they are out of the office and that has to be done conveniently and on their terms. Lotus Notes Traveler for Nokia devices is a great example of that."

And Kevin Cavanaugh, vice president of IBM Lotus Software, said: "We are excited about IBM's growing relationship with Nokia and what this does for the build-out of the mobile Web."

"We are literally freeing millions of people using Nokia's Symbian platform from having to rely on a desktop or laptop to access their important business communications."

"Working with the market leader like Nokia is a natural fit for attaining IBM's goals of maintaining the flow of business, regardless of time, distance or location -- all for no additional charge for both of our companies' current customers and a new opportunity for new customers."

IBM sees this announcement as a major development in its efforts to expand mobile support for the Lotus software portfolio. The ability to connect securely to business email, they said, is an example of Tomorrow at Work, an IBM initiative that examines a changing work environment and anticipates trends in technology, business, society and culture.