In recent weeks, we’ve highlighted several organizations that are working to incorporate the BlackBerry 10 platform into their mobile strategy, such as Air Canada and Ricoh. We’ve been pleased with the positive feedback from these organizations, along with the strong early customer reviews for both BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10.

Today, we’d like to share how McCain Foods Ltd. is building on their long-term partnership with BlackBerry with BlackBerry 10. Headquartered in Toronto, McCain Foods sells food products in more than 160 countries around the globe. The company has incorporated BlackBerry devices in all of its markets.

We chatted recently with Mark Kirby, the Vice President of Global Technology Services at McCain Foods Ltd. to get his first impressions of the BlackBerry 10 platform. He discussed his ideas for incorporating BlackBerry Balance and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 into McCain’s mobile strategy, as well as how BlackBerry 10 will help address employee demands.

“Employees are…demanding the ability to be unchained from their traditional desktop or laptop environment. BlackBerry 10 is going to enhance that experience.”

-Mark Kirby, Vice President of Global Technology Services, McCain Foods

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What kind of mobile experience are your employees asking for? Share with us in the comments section below.

The best defense is a good offense, including when it comes to your BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 settings for enterprise mobility management. By regularly reviewing your settings, you’re helping your business maintain its important connectivity to the BlackBerry infrastructure and ensure the best possible BlackBerry experience.

BlackBerry executives want to ensure our customers are fully equipped to maximize their investment in BlackBerry technology and services. “BlackBerry has invested in the expansion of our infrastructure in an effort to continuously improve resiliency and scalability to meet the ever-evolving needs of our customers and BlackBerry’s continued global growth,” said Jeff Holleran, Senior Director of Enterprise Product Management. “We want to help ensure our customers have the best possible BlackBerry experience, and one way to do this is by encouraging administrators to regularly check that the correct SRP and IP addresses are being used to connect to the BlackBerry infrastructure.”

Here are five tips to optimize your BlackBerry Enterprise Server connectivity to the BlackBerry infrastructure:

1. Review Knowledge Base (KB) articles KB16738, KB03735, and KB04359 available at www.blackberry.com/btsc/. These include technical information on the recommended BES configuration settings.
2. Conduct a BlackBerry SRP test before making changes on your firewall to confirm whether or not your firewall is configured properly and validate the intended SRP path. (This applies to both BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.x and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10)
• Fig. 1: Here is a screenshot of the “bbsrptest” tool what you will see when conducting a BlackBerry SRP test. Note: You would substitute the host name for the SRP address/host that your company connects to (or proxy if you are using a specific proxy), as well as a custom port.



• Fig. 2 If you’re a BES 5.x customer you can also go into the BlackBerry Server Configuration panel settings and click on the BlackBerry Router tab. Here you will find the Router settings which includes the SRP Address, SRP host port (outbound), and BlackBerry services connection port (inbound). There is also a “Test Connection” button which displays which SRP address and port it is attempting to connect to and whether it is successful.



3. Verify that the appropriate country SRP address and IP ranges are allowed through your corporate network firewall.
4. If you are using proxy servers, view recommended configuration for SRP connections through a proxy here KB19236.
5. BES administrators should review settings regularly as updates are added to the KB articles as required.

The knowledge base articles referenced will help ensure your BlackBerry Enterprise connectivity and corporate firewall settings stay up to date, are configured correctly, and help you determine if these changes apply to your business. To check for any changes that can impact your business, take a look at the KB article links provided in the tips above for more details.

So there you have it – five tips to maximize your BlackBerry Enterprise Server and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 settings by ensuring you are configured correctly. We are committed to keeping your business moving!

If you have any questions that are not answered in the KB articles, please follow your standard BlackBerry support path. In addition, you can head on over to the BlackBerry Community Support Forums – Business Support Forums.

We’ve enjoyed hearing feedback from business customers who have started using BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 over the last month. Upgrading to BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 is an important step for businesses preparing to deploy the new BlackBerry 10 smartphones and manage them securely.

To help you and your business transition smoothly to BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, we’ve launched the BlackBerry Enterprise Service License Trade Up Program. This program will allow you to leverage your existing license investment to secure and manage your new BlackBerry 10 smartphones. The trade up process is easy and can be done in minutes – here’s a five-step guide to show you how:

1. Preparation

Before beginning the trade up process, you’ll want to make sure you have the following items at hand:

• Client Access Licenses that you want to trade up
• The BlackBerry Enterprise Server IDs currently in use in your environment
• The BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 ID to which you are migrating

2. Setup

Once you’ve collected the three items listed above, head over to the BlackBerry Enterprise Service License Trade Up Program webpage. You’ll then be greeted by the following welcome screen, where you can select which language to proceed in.

You can choose either to complete the trade up process by yourself as a customer, or your carrier and/or IT partner can do so by changing the drop-down selection as seen here:

3. Account specifications

For the next steps, input the Client Access License keys, BlackBerry Enterprise Server ID, and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 ID you collected earlier in Step 1. You will also need to provide shipping details, including your company address, email address and, if registered, your BlackBerry Technical Support Services Subscription Code.

4. Trade Up

Based on information you’ve already entered, you will then be presented the quantity of licenses available for you to trade up. Partial trades are allowed. This means that if, for example, you currently own 2,000 BlackBerry Enterprise Server CALs, you can trade up 1,000 CALs on today’s transaction and redeem the remaining 1,000 on a later date. Once you’ve selected a quantity, you will be asked to accept the terms and conditions of the Trade Up.

5. Review and Download

After you’ve accepted the terms and conditions of the trade up, you can confirm and submit your order! Once you’ve submitted, you’ll see a trade up license download screen, pre-populated based on the information you’ve already entered. Now you’re set to download BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 and start deploying BlackBerry 10 to employees.

As you can see, we’ve really tried to make upgrading to BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 a quick and straightforward process. If you have any questions, concerns, or feedback, feel free to share in the comments section!

Have you already completed a BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 Trade Up? Tell us about your experience on our LinkedIn Company Page or in the comments below!

Many businesses rely on desktop enterprise instant messaging so that employees can instantly chat with co-workers, collaborate in ad hoc groups, or even check their availability before calling them. With Enterprise Instant Messaging on BlackBerry smartphones, we’ve extended this benefit to those who are mobile, allowing seamless integration with the unified communications that many customers already have running within their businesses.

We’re pleased to announce that BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0.4 Maintenance Release 2 is now available. This server update extends support for Microsoft Lync 2013 to BlackBerry Enterprise IM. No new BlackBerry Enterprise IM client is required – the current client available on BlackBerry World for end users on BlackBerry OS 5.0-7.1 smartphones will now support Lync 2013.

BlackBerry Enterprise Instant Messaging Client: A Free and Secure Mobile App

Did you know that BlackBerry Enterprise IM Client is a free application for BlackBerry OS smartphones (versions 5.0 to 7.1) that are connected to BlackBerry Enterprise Server Version 5?

At the time of this update, BlackBerry Enterprise IM supports most popular messaging platforms, including:

• Microsoft Office Communications 2007 R2
• Microsoft Lync 2010
• Microsoft Lync 2013
• IBM Lotus Sametime
• Novell GroupWise Messenger

Enterprise Instant Messaging will be coming to BlackBerry 10 smartphones later this year.

Features and Benefits

BlackBerry Enterprise IM offers a number of features and benefits:

• Instantly collaborate, securely
• It integrates with native Email, Phone, and BlackBerry Mobile Voice System so that employees can instantly collaborate with individuals or groups.
• The combination of BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5 and BlackBerry Enterprise IM Client ensures that all communications are encrypted and kept confidential and private.
• Check presence
• Check the presence status of a co-worker, set your presence status manually, or let the BlackBerry Enterprise IM Client display your availability based on your calendar appointment or whether or not you’re on a phone call.
• Escalate a chat to a phone call
• Help put an end to long email threads by starting an IM chat with the email sender, or escalate a chat to a phone call with just a few taps.
• Contact Management
• Employees can manage their contacts with diverse functionality including search, view, add, and delete. You can also create contacts and group distribution lists on the fly.

BlackBerry Enterprise IM is available globally wherever BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5 is available. For more information including how to get it, visit www.blackberry.com/eim.

Already a BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 customer?

Learn more about installing this BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 upgrade to get Microsoft Lync 2013 support by browsing our knowledge base articles.

BlackBerry Enterprise IM Clients can be downloaded today at no charge today from BlackBerry World, but can only be used when a BlackBerry OS 5.0 to 7.1 smartphone is connected to BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.

Does your organization use enterprise instant messaging? How would extending capabilities to the mobile space improve your collaboration? Share in the comments below.

We haven’t forgotten about small businesses – we love the passion and drive that small business owners and employees have for taking on challenges and working towards their goals. We have a rich history with SMB’s. In fact, we recently launched the Better Business Hub in the United Kingdom designed exclusively for small businesses looking to improve their mobility and use of social media.

BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express was a revolutionary product that helped businesses get up and running with corporate email and manage BlackBerry smartphones – all for free.

For those businesses using BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express to manage BlackBerry smartphones, we’ll be continuing to support you and to support BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express with updates through to 2015; that’s a promise. But, the mobile landscape is changing – and we’ve heard that straight from our customers.

The Need for Multi-platform Management

Particularly if a Bring Your Own Device model is being adopted, as is the case in many small businesses, you’re likely beginning to see multiple devices being brought into the workplace. Tablets, BlackBerry, iOS and Android devices, and all manner of personally preferred mobile ware are making appearances that pose challenges to centralized management and connectivity to corporate email services.

The Addition of ActiveSync Functionality for BlackBerry 10 Devices

We’ve worked to help keep you prepared to tackle this changing mobile landscape in two particular ways. First, we’ve adopted Microsoft® ActiveSync protocols to allow connectivity of BlackBerry 10 smartphones and BlackBerry PlayBook tablets straight into your mail servers at no cost. No extra servers or software required. And, you get to manage the devices using the built-in ActiveSync policies. From my perspective, this actually makes things much easier.

Is ActiveSync with BlackBerry 10 secure? We’ve answered that question in a recent blog post from our Senior Director of Enterprise Product Management.

Say Goodbye to Server Licensing Costs

For those looking to step up their mobility management game and take on multi-platform smartphones and tablets, BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, launched this week, is the evolution of our enterprise mobility management innovation. Our portfolio of management products has been streamlined, and efforts poured into providing free and direct connectivity with ActiveSync, and the enterprise server option for staying on top of a diverse mobile landscape. To make it easier for our customers to adopt BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, we have removed the server component of the licensing and moved to a device license only model. BES 10 device licenses are very cost effective – only $99 USD per device with bulk discounts.

At the end of the day…

You have options. Your end users can connect their BlackBerry 10 devices either directly (for free) using ActiveSync or using BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 for enhanced management capabilities and behind the firewall application access without expensive VPN infrastructure. Try out BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 today at:
http://www.blackberry.com/bes10

We’ve streamlined and consolidated our various management products into a solution set that has the capability to meet the needs of small and large businesses alike, with a strong focus on the changing mobile landscape and helping you to address future challenges. Both RIM and our customers are adapting, innovating, and moving forward.

Communication is crucial. We welcome your questions on these topics, as we know that they’re a concern for you. Share your thoughts in the comments below.

With the launch of BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, now is the perfect time to prepare your business to tackle future trends in mobility, and to harness the advantages of a mobile strategy. We know that implementing new enterprise mobility management solutions is a serious consideration, and so we’ve worked to provide you with the tools that you need to explore, learn, and save as you look to upgrade to BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10.

The BlackBerry Technical Preview program served to provide top enterprise and government customers with BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 and BlackBerry 10 test devices ahead of launch. The BlackBerry 10 Ready Program serves to provide a robust set of tools and educational resources for all businesses to get up to speed. The launch of BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 offers a free 60-day trial. And today, we’re offering the BlackBerry Enterprise Service License Trade Up Program to make it even easier to upgrade.

The trade up program runs until December 31, 2013, and offers customers who purchase new BlackBerry 10 smartphones the ability to trade up their existing BlackBerry Enterprise Server licenses on a one-for-one basis, for free. The new standard license will allow you to manage and secure BlackBerry 10 smartphones with BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10.

Get the details at the BlackBerry 10 Ready program web site, and start the trade-up process at www.blackberry.com/licensetradeup. You’ll need Client Access Licenses that you want to trade up, BlackBerry Enterprise Server ID’s currently in use in your environment, and the BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 ID to which you’re migrating.

With this set of tools, offers, and resources, we’re hopeful that you have everything you need to transition smoothly to this re-engineered and enhanced mobility management solution.

Tis’ the season for planning a BlackBerry Enterprise Server upgrade, particularly with the recent BES 5.0.4 update for Novell GroupWise, and the upcoming BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 on its way in the new year. When planning and implementing an upgrade for your mobility management solution, it’s critical to consider and minimize downtime, maximize the speed and convenience of the upgrade, and make sure that the impact is low so that you can start enjoying the benefits of new features and functionality as an organization.

United Bank is a North American financial services company that has been in business since 1839 (just a few years before the first BES server). The company uses Novell GroupWise as their preferred mail platform, employing over 1,500 experts in over 100 full-service banking offices across the United States. Recently the Technical Services team at United Bank pursued an upgrade of their BES server to a pre-release version of the latest 5.0.4 update for Novell GroupWise deployments. In the financial services industry in particular, it’s important to minimize the impact of server upgrades.

“BlackBerry Enterprise Server for Novell GroupWise – 4.0 had worked perfectly for the longest time and we were reluctant to upgrade because it was a rock solid build. I knew it was time to upgrade and I knew our success would be evaluated on our ability to provide bank employees and executives with complete continuity throughout the process.” -Willem Bagchus, Computer Systems Analyst at United Bank

Experts from Research In Motion (RIM®) were able to come alongside the United Bank technical team and aid with both planning and execution. “RIM was there when we flipped the switch,” said Bagchus. “We know it was a seamless and successful transition because through our monitoring, we verified that we didn’t receive a single call from users experiencing any issues with our internal upgrade.” Minimal downtime and business continuity allows an organization to experience the benefits of a server upgrade, rather than dreading the potential interruptions.

One of the factors that allowed such a seamless upgrade was the fact that BlackBerry Enterprise Server for Novell GroupWise can be broken down into components and installed over a series of days. This allows for a thoughtful construction of the upgrade and the achievement of reliability and availability of services. We know that major technology upgrades, particularly those that can affect the flow of information and mobile data, are a serious concern. The BlackBerry technical support teams are available to assist with these types of upgrades and to help ensure that your business continues uninterrupted.

Does your business have a BlackBerry customer success story? Let us know at success@rim.com.

We’re pleased to announce that BlackBerry® Enterprise Server version 5.0.4 for Novell® GroupWise® is now available. The update continues to build on BlackBerry Enterprise Server as the most trusted mobility platform for Novell GroupWise. This latest release delivers additional features as well as quality and performance enhancements, helping to ensure that BlackBerry customers continue to get the best enterprise mobile communications experience.

New Features Included with this Release for GroupWise

• BlackBerry® Balance™ technology support
• BlackBerry® Mobile Fusion integration
• Microsoft® Office 2010 attachments are now supported, including password-protected attachments
• Email pre-population changes; the full body of a message can now be delivered to the smartphone and the default number of messages can be increased to 1000 or 14 days
• Email pre-population now takes place on every activation (it’s no longer dependent on PIN change)
• The Maximum Allowed Attachment size for viewing or downloading is increased to 10MB
• Common features and fixes for all BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0.4 updates from version 5.0.2 and 5.0.3 – including over 200 individual fixes
• All BlackBerry Enterprise Server for GroupWise maintenance releases and quick-fixes delivered since BlackBerry Enterprise Server for Novell GroupWise 5.0.1
• BlackBerry Monitoring Service will not be included as part of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0.4 installation package

Improvements for BlackBerry Administration Service Console

• Administrator can choose which columns are displayed and also have the ability to sort them
• Export data into .CSV or .XML files for reporting and reference
• Improved Online Help features
• Added efficiencies for IT policy and software configuration deployments, allowing for group or individual assignments

Protect Work Data and Manage BlackBerry, iOS, and Android Devices

A few key features worth noting are the support for BlackBerry Balance technology and compatibility with BlackBerry Mobile Fusion – an exciting development for administrators of Novell GroupWise deployments. BlackBerry Balance enables the use of personally owned BlackBerry devices for work by creating a secure and manageable perimeter to hold work data, complete with policies for restricting work data from being accessed by personal accounts or applications. This also provides peace of mind for employees, as when corporate data and accounts are wiped from the device, personal information remains intact.

The ability to integrate with BlackBerry Mobile Fusion is also an important consideration for enterprises looking to deploy BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablets, and/or Android™ and iOS® based devices. BlackBerry Mobile Fusion provides functionality to manage smartphones and tablets in your organization from a single unified, web-based console. The component within BlackBerry Mobile Fusion for managing current BlackBerry smartphones would be your current BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0.4 deployment, providing a simple and straightforward upgrade path.

Get the Update Today

Head over to www.blackberry.com/besupdate to get the service pack update.

Does your organization use Novell GroupWise and BlackBerry smartphones? What features are you most looking forward to in the 5.0.4 update? Share in the comments below.

For many organizations, BlackBerry® Enterprise Server or BlackBerry® Enterprise Server Express is the essential platform for mobilizing employees worldwide, and Research In Motion® (RIM®) continues to make improvements and enhancements to the solution. BlackBerry Enterprise Server is recognized as the gold standard in Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM), which also encompasses Mobile Device Management (MDM).

Features and Enhancements

BlackBerry Enterprise Server version 5 Service Pack 4 is available today for Microsoft® Exchange and IBM® Lotus® Domino®, and coming in November 2012 for Novell® GroupWise®. This free update introduces new features for both administrators and end-users. The service pack and all feature updates apply to both BlackBerry Enterprise Server and BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express deployments. Check out the details below:

Improvements for administrators

• Access control rules for groups
• BlackBerry Administration Service improvements
• The latest security patches and bug fixes are included

Improvements for the End User experience

• Improved handling of HTML email messages
• Support for larger email attachments
• Improved graphics rendering for Microsoft® PowerPoint® attachments
• Support for Microsoft Office password-protected attachments
• Calendar & message enhancements

Enterprises that utilize Novell GroupWise as their business email platform will be pleased to learn that BlackBerry Balance is now available to address the needs of their employee-owned BlackBerry® smartphones, or to extend the full BlackBerry experience to their corporately-owned BlackBerry smartphones. The BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0.4 update will be available for Novell GroupWise in November of 2012.

Getting ready for BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10

We’ve heard it from our customers – your enterprise mobility management needs are changing as you face new trends and challenges, and as you prepare for the future. We’re expanding and consolidating our enterprise product portfolio alongside you to make sure that you’re well prepared, by releasing solutions like BlackBerry Mobile Fusion and designing BlackBerry® Enterprise Service 10.

While these are exciting changes, RIM does remain firmly committed to supporting the BlackBerry Enterprise Server well into the future with care and attention paid to keeping security and management up to date with service packs and maintenance releases.

Upgrading to BlackBerry Enterprise Server version 5 Service Pack 4 prepares you for BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 which will be launching with BlackBerry® 10 smartphones, with an update planned for BlackBerry World™ in May 2013. The May update is designed to enable BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 to be installed on the same physical server that is currently running BlackBerry Enterprise Server version 5, enabling organizations to securely manage all of their BlackBerry smartphones & tablets, in addition to iOS® and Android™ devices, from a single platform.

Get the Service Pack Today

This Service Pack is available at no additional charge for existing BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5 customers, and can be downloaded from www.blackberry.com/besupdate

There is no change in server or Client Access License (CAL) pricing. If you currently run BlackBerry Enterprise Server 4, you can upgrade to the latest version of BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5 for $999 USD (plus any applicable fees/taxes), or for free for those with Advantage or higher BlackBerry® Technical Support Services subscriptions.

Need help upgrading to the latest Service Pack? Don’t forget that you can always contact BlackBerry Technical Support Services to assist you. BlackBerry Technical Support Services offers both incident-based pricing or annual subscriptions which provide 7x24x365 end-to-end technical support for BlackBerry Enterprise Server, BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, and BlackBerry smartphones and BlackBerry® PlayBookTM tablets. For more information on BlackBerry Technical Support Services, check out www.blackberry.com/btss

What is BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10?

BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 represents a consolidation of our enterprise mobility management (EMM) product portfolio, which includes our mobile device management (MDM), security, infrastructure, and app management products. It will prepare your organization for the future of mobile diversity, as well as integrate with your existing BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) deployment. From a single unified web-based console, BES 10 will manage the following devices:

• BlackBerry 7 OS and prior smartphones
• BlackBerry 10 devices
• BlackBerry PlayBook tablets
• iOS and Android™ smartphones and tablets

BES 10 will be the ultimate management solution for all BlackBerry platform devices, as well as iOS and Android devices. BES 10 will launch with the first BlackBerry 10 devices in Q1 of calendar year 2013.

RIM remains committed to our enterprise customers by providing advanced, innovative, and flexible options for a straight-forward migration to BlackBerry 10 smartphones, as well as cross-platform management of your mobile device deployment.

What will the components and requirements be for BES 10?

BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 will be a complete solution that includes several components to manage multiple smartphones and tablets. Management occurs through a single, unified web-based administration console that will provide one place to manage all of the devices listed above.

In addition to the unified management console, the components of BES 10 will initially include current products already in market:

• BlackBerry® Device Service (BDS) – supporting BlackBerry PlayBook tablets and BlackBerry 10 smartphones when they launch in Q1 2013 through the use of Microsoft ActiveSync for email and PIM synchronization
• Universal Device Service (UDS) – providing Enterprise Mobility Management functions for iOS and Android devices
• Integration with existing BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) 5.0.3 and above

During 2013 we will consolidate the multiple names that we have in our portfolio today into one single product name. The terms “BlackBerry Mobile Fusion”, “BlackBerry Device Service” and “Universal Device Service” will be phased out in favor of BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10.

What about servers? Will multiple physical deployments be required?

With the initial launch of BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, BES 5+ will require its own server, while BlackBerry Device Service and Universal Device Service can reside on separate servers or be combined on the same physical or virtual server. Should you opt to work with virtual servers, we fully support this type of deployment. Today, BlackBerry Mobile Fusion operates in a similar fashion, with BES 5+ requiring one server, and both BDS and UDS able to be deployed on a single server or on separate servers.

The future of BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10

The roadmap for BES 10 includes an upgrade currently scheduled for BlackBerry World in May 2013. This upgrade will consolidate BDS and UDS into a single component, and will allow for BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 and existing BlackBerry Enterprise Servers (BES 5.0.3+) to run on the same physical server; both seamlessly managed using a single fully featured management console. Additionally, with BES 10 there will no longer be a requirement to have the server connected to the same Local Area Network as the mail server. These developments will centralize mobility management into a single point and provide flexibility, convenience, and added functionality.

We are excited to share more about BES 10 through this autumn. Stay tuned for further details on pricing, the path forward from a current BES 5 deployment, and details on IT policies and management configurations. BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 will launch with the first BlackBerry 10 devices in early 2013.

Frequently Asked Questions about BES 10

Is this a net new service or a name change?

BES 10 represents both an evolution and consolidation of RIM’s enterprise mobility management (EMM) offer to make things simple, flexible, and scalable for your organization. New functionality for managing BlackBerry 10 devices will be included, and existing functionality (currently in BlackBerry Mobile Fusion) will be incorporated into a single product offering.

The “BES 10″ name builds on our heritage as the leading provider of enterprise mobility management solutions. We are working to consolidate our product offerings, including our operating systems, smartphones, tablets, software, cloud services, and enterprise mobility management (EMM) solutions.

If the platform is changing to BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, should I install BlackBerry Mobile Fusion today?

Yes. BlackBerry Mobile Fusion will allow you to manage BlackBerry PlayBook tablets as well as iOS and Android devices today; it will also prepare you for a simple and straightforward upgrade to BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 once it’s available in early 2013, when it launches together with the first of our new BlackBerry 10 smartphones.

I have an existing BlackBerry Enterprise Server. Why should I add BES 10 to my infrastructure?

BES 10 is designed to integrate with your existing BlackBerry Enterprise Server deployment, allowing you to seamlessly manage not only your existing BlackBerry smartphones, but also upcoming BlackBerry 10 devices and BlackBerry PlayBook tablets, as well as iOS and Android smartphones and tablets. It will work with what you have, and set you up for success in the future.

How does RIM plan to support BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) moving forward?

We will continue to provide support for the many existing BES deployments, as well as provide updates and patches to make sure that you’re running the most secure mobile device management solution available. We’re committed to protecting your investment, while anticipating the challenges that your business will face moving forward when it comes to enterprise mobility. Updates for current BES deployments are planned throughout this Fall: The 5.0.4 update for BlackBerry Enterprise Server and BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express running Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino is scheduled for September 2012, with support for servers running Novell GroupWise planned to become available later in the Fall of 2012.