In March 2010, SMBs will be able to get in on the push-messaging action with BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express, a totally free offering that will help connect employees’ BlackBerries to Microsoft Exchange or Windows Small Business Server. Here’s what MSPs should know.
“In a marketplace where smartphones are becoming ubiquitous, BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express significantly raises the bar by providing a cost-effective solution that allows companies of all sizes to support enterprise-grade mobile connectivity for all employees without compromising security or manageability,” said Research in Motion President and Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis in a prepared statement.
Given that it’s going to be free, it’s unlikely that MSPs servicing small businesses will be able to cash out on BES Express installations. But it’s going to have remote administration capabilities in a web interface, so the savvy services provider can probably leverage BES Express by adding it to their portfolio of SMB offerings.
Also of note: A growing number of MSPs are offering various BlackBerry services. One name that comes to mind is Intermedia.
Still, I have to wonder at the logic of this most recent RIM move — it’s certainly going to earn RIM a lot of goodwill in the channel, but I have to believe that they make a lot of money from BES deployments. Are they anticipating more BlackBerry device sales as more SMBs are able to use the platform?
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Posted In: Managed Services
Tags: blackberry | blackberry enterprise server | blackberry enterprise server express | cell phone | e-mail | Microsoft Exchange | microsoft windows small business server | mobile | push messaging | research in motion | rim
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Finally, RIM sees the light
Stuart Crawford
Calgary, AB
http://www.ulistic.com
I see this as a move to get more SMB clients onboard. Previously, the most cost effective route for SMB’s who were using Exchange server via SBS was either the Windows Phone or iPhone to get all the features on the handsets, this lost a lot of potential clients for RIM. With this change it should see a lot more SMB clients taking it onboard which can only be good news for RIM.
- Rob
this isn’t really new at all. It looks like RIM has stopped offering Blackberry Professional Server, a similar solution to BES but with some ‘Enterprise’ components stripped at. BPS was offered at a lower price point and made a lot of sense for the SMB market. I personally have it deployed at several of my clients. I no longer find any Blackberry Professional Server products listed on RIM’s site. Blackberry Professional Server Express was also offered free, but limited to a single user account.
It surely took them long enough. Thanks RIM. But can we truly confirm that it is totally free? I see it can support up to 75 users – but must you purchase additional licenses above a certain threshold? If this isn’t really free, then RIM has alienated the SMB market again. Why would anyone want to pay extra for a mobile phone to sync email? Windows and iPhone do it for free.
John Kilgore
Computer Service Partners, Inc.
http://www.cspinc.com
About time. BES didn’t fit into the SMB space with software costs and server requirements. Blackberry Professional was a good SMB solution but wasn’t compatible with Server 08. This new solution took way too much time IMO. We’ve been pointing customers to WM, IPhone, and Droids because of the simple/inexpensive integration into Exchange. RIM will conitnue to lose market share in the SMB space.
I really don’t see how they have held out so long. I remember a free version for 10 users or less that was short lived when Exchange SP2 and direct push was released.
Does anybody out there use Good Technology still?
Andy Myers
Fractional CIO, Consultant
http://www.andymyers.net
As in good.com I mean…
Andy: I used to think really highly of Good. But when I abandoned my Treo in 2006, I abandoned Good as well. I couldn’t stand all the Treo device freezes and lockups at the time.
-jp
The central issue here is that an iPhone or any ActiveSync capable device has, at this point reached feature parity with a BES-enabled phone. When ActiveSync/Exchange was buggy it made lots of sense to pay for a better solution. Not so anymore.
Also all the mobile carriers charge for the BES service to work and many users find that BIS (The email-only BB sync) service usually offered for free is not as useful. Also a huge pain for us service providers to provision!
So how am I going to justify paying for the BES license on my server AND higher mobile bill? Good thinking RIM, let’s give them a break on that first part.
Now as a client focused organization I have to go around and replace the hundreds of seats of BES we currently charge for monthly (as a BB partner) to the free version. Clients will love it and we will either save them the $10/month or put the money to better use in other areas.
Edward Stringfellow
http://www.stringfellow.com
Hopefully it will support SBS 2008… what a joke…
Kurt Kwart
http://www.thegroundswell.com
To be honest – I feel like some of the commenters here aren’t really aware of how BES works, and the differences between a BES solution and ActiveSync. To say that ActiveSync on an iPhone, and a BES solution are at feature parity shows a complete disregard for what the actual ‘features’ of BES are… Security, reliability, and bandwidth control – as well as administration – can’t even come close to being at ‘parity’ on any solution to what they are on BES.
It’s good to hear there will be a 5.0 solution for the SMB market – the 4.1 solution was of course not Server 08 compatible, and until now, they’ve only had a ’stopgap’ solution – you could buy 4.1, and buy Elite support for it, and get a free full BES 5.0 license. However, TCO on that, including support, reached ~$2000 which is unattainable for many businesses.
This is certainly good news; however, our past experience with installing and support BES has been painful. Especially the clients that only have 2 or 3 users, its been tough to justify installing and support BES (just another piece of software/technology to support and troubleshoot). We’ve had tremendous success using Astrasync (www.astrasync.com) which installs directly on the Blackberry devices and uses ActiveSync to sync contacts, calendar and email (also has some remote wipe features, etc).
Assuming the newest version of BES Express works well and is easy to install, I could see us moving that direction.