Inside BlackBerry » Roger B.

BlackBerry Mobile Fusion launches today, including Universal Device Service!

Roger B. — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 13:01:44 +0000

Today Research In Motion® (RIM®) has launched the next-generation in enterprise mobile device management (MDM) – BlackBerry® Mobile Fusion. This tool acts as a central platform giving IT managers the ability to effectively and efficiently manage the following:

BlackBerry® 7 (and previous) smartphones
BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablets (and BlackBerry® 10 smartphones in the future)
As of today, tablets and smartphones running Android® and iOS®

I recently spoke with some enterprise customers during the BlackBerry® Innovation Forum in both Toronto and Atlanta about their thoughts on BlackBerry Mobile Fusion – clearly customers are excited. Beyond Mobile Fusion Studio and BlackBerry® Device Service – both of which we’ve discussed previously – many seem eager to deploy the Universal Device Service. Check out a video overview of BlackBerry Mobile Fusion below:

Introducing BlackBerry Device Service for BlackBerry Mobile Fusion

Roger B. — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 21:46:13 +0000

After the launch of BlackBerry® Mobile Fusion, there’s been a great response from folks on our Twitter® feed, LinkedIn® group, and across the industry in general. We’re all very excited and, as you can imagine, the office is buzzing with activity as we try and provide more information and respond to customer questions on this exciting new generation of Mobile Device Management technology.

The biggest area of interest is around the specific details of the BlackBerry® Device Service component of BlackBerry Mobile Fusion. Simply put, the BlackBerry Device Service is to BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablets as the BlackBerry® Enterprise Server is to BlackBerry smartphones. The BlackBerry Enterprise Server manages your current BlackBerry smartphones, and the BlackBerry Device Service allows you to manage and secure your organization’s BlackBerry PlayBook tablets – and, moving forward, it will also manage BlackBerry® 10 smartphones. But that’s not all that BlackBerry Device Service offers – there’s even more going on underneath the covers.

Upgrade to BlackBerry Enterprise Server v5.0 and Get a Free BlackBerry PlayBook!

Roger B. — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 14:58:33 +0000

(Originally posted on the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog)

If you’re an IT manager considering whether to update your organization to BlackBerry® Enterprise Server v5.0, you may want to act now. If you upgrade to BlackBerry Enterprise Server v5.0 before December 31st, 2011, you’ll receive a free BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet! (For the terms & conditions associated with this offer, please visit www.blackberrymoveuptomore.com)

Why update your mobile environment to version v5.0? IT administrators will benefit from:

Advanced Mobile Management through a New administrative console
Built-in High Availability and Reliability
Enhanced Application Deployment and Management
BlackBerry® Enterprise Transporter Tool
…and many more features

End-users will enjoy the benefits of:

Remote File Access
Email Folder Management
Enhanced Calendar Functionality
Synchronization of public and private contacts
Flag emails for follow up
Listen to Windows Media Audio (WMA) files
And more great features that enhance end-user productivity

Many organizations have already completed various stages of testing/piloting of BlackBerry Enterprise Server v5.0, but in addition to this offer, there is one more reason why we think you should consider upgrading today: Participating BlackBerry partners are offering $400 off the BlackBerry Enterprise Server v5.0 upgrade install service. So if your staff is busy on a hundred other projects, engage one of our resellers to do the heavy lifting and perform the complete installation, customized to your organizations’ exact requirements.

With a free BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, offers of $400 off installation services by selected partners, and a list of new server features as long as my arm, there’s never been a better time to Move Up To More!

Are you using BlackBerry Enterprise Server v5.0? What features are you finding most useful? Are you still on a previous version of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server? What roadblocks are you facing in launching your upgrade efforts?

Interview with Michael K. Brown on the BlackBerry PlayBook FIPS Certification (VIDEO)

Roger B. — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 21:21:50 +0000

(Originally posted on the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog)

(YouTube link for mobile viewing)

While the BlackBerry® platform is already synonymous in many circles with security, it’s important to our customers that the BlackBerry solution is not only functionally secure, but is recognized and certified as such. Our ongoing commitment to security was recently recognized as the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet from Research In Motion® (RIM®) became the first (and only) tablet device to achieve Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-2 security certification.

Beyond being a mandatory requirement for US government purchases and use, FIPS certification recognizes the BlackBerry platform’s ongoing commitment to security. This unwavering approach to product development is designed to enable our customers to focus on solving real business issues – navigating uncharted waters and moving their organizations forwards – instead of wasting time constantly trying to ‘batten down the hatches’ security-wise.

I was eager to congratulate my colleague Michael K. Brown, Director of Security Product Management at RIM, and was able to steal a few minutes of his time to chat further about what the FIPS certification of the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet means for our customers.

2011 Wireless Achievement Awards Winners Announced!

Roger B. — Thu, 05 May 2011 23:06:20 +0000

Hello again from BlackBerry® World™ in Orlando!

At Wednesday’s BlackBerry World 2011 General Session keynote, the winners of the 2011 Wireless Achievement Awards were announced. This year we have some outstanding achievements. These are mobility leaders whose BlackBerry solutions are demonstrating innovation in the Public Sector, Private sector and driving Business Impact.

Innovation in Private Sector: University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

(YouTube link for easy mobile viewing)

BlackBerry World 2011 Wireless Achievement Award Winner for Innovation in Private Sector – University of Pittsburgh Medical Center patient-centric care improves with better communication, increased collaboration and efficient workflow.

BlackBerry World: Wireless Achievement Awards Finalists

Roger B. — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 20:45:55 +0000

A few months ago, we let you know about the Wireless Achievement Awards (formerly known as the Wireless Leadership Awards). Today we are very excited to present the finalists to you, with the Winners being announced next week at the 2011 BlackBerry World™ conference.

The Wireless Achievement Awards are presented to customers who are doing business in new and better ways with game-changing BlackBerry® deployments. These high achievers are in a category of their own for their vision, efforts, and most of all, their awe-inspiring achievements. They partner with app development partners to mobilize corporate systems that were once only available by sitting at a desk. They increase performance, make a difference to the bottom line and simplify life for their employees.

So with no further ado – for your reading enjoyment, here is a brief summary of information and results provided by each finalist. As always, these results are specific to each organization:

BlackBerry World: Solutions Showcase

Roger B. — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 20:40:30 +0000

One of my favorite parts of WES – now the BlackBerry World™ conference – has always been the “Solutions Showcase”. Yes, the parties and concerts are fun and the keynotes are inspiring, but what really sticks with me is the exciting amount of innovation to be discovered amongst partners!

There was a time when I knew all the Alliance Members by heart – but that was when there were fewer than a hundred. Now, with thousands of partners – not to mention registered developers (corporate and individual) – all producing an increasingly diverse set of applications distributed through the BlackBerry App World™ storefront, in-house or direct, the character of the Solutions Showcase certainly has changed!

In addition to the Welcome Reception held in the Solutions Showcase on Monday May 2nd, I like to hit the showcase in between breakouts to stretch my legs and see what’s going on. Aside from reading the full list of sponsors, I wanted to get a better sense of what I could look forward to seeing this year, so I had quick chat with our Alliances Enterprise Solutions team. As expected, every conceivable category of business need seems to be addressed at BlackBerry World: vertical solutions, custom development, field automation, workflow management, and hundreds more.

Here are just some of the solutions that I’m personally looking forward to checking out during my time at BlackBerry World:

BlackBerry World: Q&A with Malcolm Gladwell

Roger B. — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 14:11:09 +0000

We’re very excited to have Malcolm Gladwell back to BlackBerry World as a keynote speaker! Malcolm Gladwell is the author of four books, a staff writer with The New Yorker magazine since 1996 and was recently named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People. I was lucky enough to be able to speak with him in advance of BlackBerry World – I hope you enjoy it!

Announcing a New Cloud-Based BlackBerry Enterprise Service from RIM for Microsoft Office 365

Roger B. — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 20:27:32 +0000

Today, we have some very exciting news to share – Research In Motion® (RIM®) and Microsoft® have entered into an agreement to make a new RIM-hosted BlackBerry®-enterprise service available for Microsoft® Office® 365. The new RIM-hosted service will offer a feature set that is similar to BlackBerry® Enterprise Server Express, and will initially be available for Microsoft Exchange Online for Office 365 on a subscription basis starting at $0 per user per month (plus a BlackBerry service plan). The service is expected to be available in closed beta in mid-2011.

MDaemon Messaging Server, BlackBerry Edition – a deeper look

Roger B. — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 20:48:04 +0000

Recently, Alt-N Technologies officially launched MDaemon® Messaging Server, BlackBerry® Edition to compliment the small-to-medium size business portfolio within the BlackBerry® family of products. This all-encompassing messaging solution is the result of RIM’s acquisition of Alt-N Technologies in 2009. The product has since been well-received by SMB customers, but has led to some new questions around the specific environments that are best suited to MDaemon and how they compare to other options that are available from Research In Motion® (RIM®) and the market at large. To this end, I caught up with Kevin, Director of Marketing for Alt-N, to dig a bit deeper into the MDaemon use case scenario.

Kevin, as you know, everyone seems to be moving to ‘the cloud’, but MDaemon is an on-premises email platform. Why would an organization select MDaemon as opposed to a hosted solution, or a cloud-based email option like Gmail?

All those products have different ways of meeting a customer’s need. For example, if a customer needs other Microsoft® application integration (e.g., Microsoft Sharepoint®), then Microsoft Exchange® or Microsoft Small Business Server® along with the BlackBerry® Enterprise Server Express, at no incremental charge, would be a good fit for BlackBerry smartphone users. For smaller, new businesses, sometimes a hosted offering like Gmail looks attractive. But according to a 2010 Osterman Research survey, over 70 % of SMB IT managers prefer deploying new email systems on-premises to better manage and control their IT environments. What they don’t want – and can’t afford – is a solution that is expensive to acquire and maintain; in other words, Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is a key driver. It is that low TCO that has helped MDaemon become a trusted alternative email platform for SMB customers around the globe.