• Is RIM getting rid of BlackBerry Enterprise Server?
• What does the inclusion of Microsoft® ActiveSync® protocols mean for security?
• Can iOS and Android devices (both tablets and smartphones) be managed with BlackBerry Mobile Fusion? Will the management be secure?
• How will BlackBerry® 10 devices be managed?

BlackBerry Mobile Fusion: BlackBerry Enterprise Server and More

BlackBerry Enterprise Server has a rich history and is recognized as the most secure enterprise mobility device management solution available. Since its inception, the solution has grown in functionality, scalability, and a wide variety of other feature sets, and is now on version 5.0.3.

In the meantime, things in the market have gotten a bit messy and more than a bit challenging for IT administrators, IT specialists, and CIOs. Organizations are under pressure to support a wide variety of devices from multiple manufacturers, as well as multiple form factors, with tablets gaining steam as business tools. As a longstanding pillar of MDM in the enterprise, we’ve worked to provide a clean, simple, and secure solution to help you manage whatever gets thrown your way. This is BlackBerry Mobile Fusion. It’s a huge leap forward for device management, and it’s built on the valued security model introduced with BlackBerry Enterprise Server. The evolution of BlackBerry Enterprise Server is BlackBerry Mobile Fusion.

Microsoft ActiveSync: What’s the Deal?

With BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0, the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet adds support for Microsoft ActiveSync technology. ActiveSync is a common email/PIM synchronization and transport protocol, which is used by Microsoft® Exchange and other on-premise and cloud mail/messaging providers. Microsoft ActiveSync on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is designed to allow consumers to connect to popular mail platforms such as Gmail® or Windows Live™. Individuals and small businesses can also use its transport functions for integration with Microsoft® Exchange, IBM® Lotus® Notes Traveler, and other Microsoft ActiveSync enabled systems.

BlackBerry Mobile Fusion leverages Microsoft ActiveSync as an email and PIM sync protocol while providing enterprises with many of the same advantages that a BlackBerry Enterprise Server does for a BlackBerry smartphone. Namely, a straightforward yet highly secure connectivity model: proven BlackBerry end-to-end 256-bit encryption, and a behind-the-firewall path for applications, the browser, email, and PIM.

BlackBerry Mobile Fusion and Corporate Data Security

BlackBerry Mobile Fusion is designed to establish and maintain a BlackBerry Secure Connection from the business network to the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, leveraging the unique RIM infrastructure that IT departments around the world know and trust. Additionally, BlackBerry® Balance™ technology on BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 and enabled BlackBerry® smartphones is designed to create a secure corporate perimeter so that all corporate applications and data remain secure on a device and separate from personal data.

With BlackBerry Balance and secure enterprise connectivity, BlackBerry Mobile Fusion provides leading platform-level security for BlackBerry PlayBook tablets and future BlackBerry 10 devices (smartphones and tablets), enabling administrators to manage, secure, and audit corporate data and applications, while preserving a seamless and personal user experience.

BlackBerry Mobile Fusion is also designed to enable companies to push applications directly to end users, or make them available for users to optionally download. The apps will conveniently appear in a tab labeled “Work” in BlackBerry App World™. End users get the rich app experience they expect, while enterprise data is kept separate and secure.

Managing iOS and Android Devices

BlackBerry Mobile Fusion extends the BlackBerry mobile device management to iOS and Android smartphones and tablets. BlackBerry Mobile Fusion supports the latest MDM capabilities available in iOS and Android, and is designed to enable administrators to apply corporate policies and configurations to manage and secure these devices. Additionally, customers will be able to leverage the application management capabilities of BlackBerry Mobile Fusion to manage the distribution of mobile applications to employees on these platforms.

Customers can of course leverage their existing investments, relationships, and support agreements with RIM to consistently and securely manage the personal and company owned mobile devices used by employees.

BlackBerry 10: How Mobile Fusion Prepares You for the Future

The benefits that BlackBerry Mobile Fusion provides customers today for managing the deployment and use of BlackBerry PlayBook tablets will also apply when BlackBerry 10 devices arrive later this year. This means that customers can deploy BlackBerry Mobile Fusion now knowing that managing future BlackBerry 10 devices will be seamless.

Conclusion: One MDM Solution to Manage Them All

BlackBerry Mobile Fusion is a unified, multi-platform, mobile device management solution. It will provide one place to manage BlackBerry PlayBook tablets and future BlackBerry 10 devices (tablets and smartphones), as well as iOS and Android smartphones and tablets.

Building on a foundation of over 10 years of experience in mobile device management (MDM), BlackBerry Mobile Fusion makes RIM the best partner for MDM solutions. This means that enterprise customers only have to contact one trusted global vendor for support.

-Alan Panezic, VP Enterprise Product Management, Research In Motion

Do you remember the days when the only way to access your email was to boot up your desktop and log-in to your corporate intranet? When the phone on your desk was simply a phone devoid of any real features, connected to a completely separate PBX system? When your mobile phone made voice calls, sent text messages and did little else? Things have sure changed since then. The emergence of new technologies is causing a re-evaluation of devices and their relevance in the office. The distinction between laptops, tablets, desk phones, and smartphones is blurring as the capabilities of these devices evolve and converge making collaboration more seamless. The “new office” is wireless, and traditional office devices such as the laptop and desk phone have the potential to ultimately be replaced.

Three technology drivers have made a significant impact on how we work: cloud computing, the convergence of voice and data, and wireless technology.

Cloud computing allows you to access applications that you use on a daily basis over a network rather than from a local computer. With the cloud, software applications are centralized and standardized. Cloud computing typically involves provisioning of dynamically scalable and virtualized resources to ensure reliability and good performance. As network bandwidth has increased along with security, accessing applications from the cloud has become a viable model for many businesses. End-users are freed from their office desktop as long as they have access to the Internet. IT has a much simpler and lower cost way to update applications and perform routine maintenance.

A second driver of change in the workplace is the convergence of voice and data. The traditional desk phone is a voice-only device. Mobile phones used to be primarily voice-only devices. The Internet has changed all that. Circuit-based systems have given way to packet-based systems, allowing voice and data streams to converge, making a voice call indistinguishable from an email – it’s just a bunch of packets. Information such as location and presence status that formerly stayed locked within the telecom network can now be leveraged for richer communications. The implications in the office are tremendous. With a fully IP-based communications system such as the Mitel® Communications Director (MCD) and BlackBerry® Mobile Voice System (BlackBerry MVS), IT departments can deliver a wireless-only solution designed to support all types of workers (desk users, mobile users and users who embody both) and avoid buying multiple devices. With this solution, users can access standard office phone features, such as conferencing, call controls and extension dialing without having to first manually dial into the corporate voice system. Calls on BlackBerry® smartphones can be seamlessly handed off between Wi-Fi® and cellular networks. You can move a call between any device in the user’s Personal Ring Group, and between cellular and Wi-Fi networks. Users have a single number for all devices in their network. Businesses may be able to significantly lower their long distance roaming costs with BlackBerry MVS since it uses optimized call routing and can make calls over Wi-Fi networks.

Wireless technology is another key driver of change in the workplace. Over the last decade there’s been an increasing trend to working remotely, in home offices or satellite offices rather than in a single corporate office. Companies can expand without the need to buy more office space while offering prospective employees the convenience and flexibility afforded by working from home. Tablet computers, like the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet, combined with a BlackBerry smartphone, Bluetooth® keyboard, mouse and headset, are designed to offer a desktop-like experience with optimal portability. BlackBerry® Balance™ technology, software that is designed to let IT departments securely separate corporate and personal data while providing a unified view into both, brings even more simplification since it eliminates the need for employees to have two smartphones.

So how does all of this come together? As an end user, your life is simplified with an all-in-one solution. You no longer have to deal with devices and applications that work only in their own silos. Applications are delivered to you from the cloud, securely over the network and available on your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet or BlackBerry smartphone whether you’re at home, in the office or on the road. In the future, the desk phone experience could be replaced by a BlackBerry smartphone and your desktop computer could be replaced by a BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. When you receive or make calls, Mitel MCD and BlackBerry MVS are designed to provide a seamless experience that looks and feels the same as when you’re at your desk. Get ready, the future is here!

To learn more, register now for the Mitel Discovery Series webinar: Office of the Future with Mitel and BlackBerry. The webinar takes place on Tuesday, June 28th at 1:00pm EDT.

- Bill Gough, Director, Unified Communications Partner Alliances

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Hello Inside BlackBerry® for Business blog community! I’m excited to join the conversation here on the blog, and I wanted to take the opportunity to introduce myself. I’m Jim Tobin, SVP of the Software, Services & Enterprise Markets business unit at Research In Motion® (RIM®). I’m responsible for setting the business direction for RIM’s software, services and app eco-system efforts. This is for our customers and partners. I also have the pleasure of guiding all the eco-system dimensions of the forthcoming, exciting BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet.

The past few months have been a fantastic progression. We’ve released a fair bit of BlackBerry PlayBook tablet product news, and have provided hands-on demonstrations recently at CES, MWC and many other events. As we continue to share news of upcoming applications and partnerships, it naturally sparks discussions around use-cases, capabilities and what’s possible with a device like this. I recently sat down to share some thoughts about what the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet means for the enterprise, and how we built this product and platform with today’s CIO in mind.

I welcome your comments. Stay tuned for more BlackBerry PlayBook tablet details, and I look forward to continuing the conversation.

- Jim Tobin