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BlackBerry Enterprise Server v5.0 MR2 For Microsoft Exchange And Lotus Domino Released

Mauricio — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 03:13:12 +0000

BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) v5.0 Maintenance Release 2 for Microsoft Exchange and IBM Lotus Domino have been officially released by RIM.

BES v5.0 info pages:

BES v5.0 Maintenance Release 2 Release Notes:

You can get a 60-day trial, upgrade or purchase BES 5.0 from the main info page, or go directly to each download below:

via Port3101

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Link: BlackBerry Enterprise Server v5.0 MR2 For Microsoft Exchange And Lotus Domino Released

BlackBerry Enterprise Server v5.0 MR2 For Microsoft Exchange And Lotus Domino Coming Soon

Mauricio — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:04:48 +0000

Hdawg over at Port3101 found out that RIM has updated the documentation for the upcoming BlackBerry Enterprise Server v5.0 Maintenance Release 2, and thanks to Bla1ze we also have the documentation for Service Pack 1.

BES v5.0 Service Pack 1 Release Notes
- Microsoft Exchange
- Lotus Domino
BES v5.0 Maintenance Release 2 Release Notes
- Microsoft Exchange
- Lotus Domino

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New features in BlackBerry Internet Service 2.7

Mauricio — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 09:00:45 +0000

RIM posted a knowledge base (KB18305) over the weekend with details about BlackBerry Internet Service 2.7.

Here is the overview from KB18305:

What is the BlackBerry Internet Service?

The BlackBerry® Internet Service is a solution available to BlackBerry smartphones that are activated with a data plan from a wireless service provider. The BlackBerry Internet Service provides email messaging for up to ten work or personal email accounts, Internet browsing, and instant messaging. BlackBerry Internet Service 2.7 includes improvements to the BlackBerry smartphone user experience, including improved usability and email account integration.

Help Screen

The improved Help screen is designed to allow the following:

Send service books
Open the BlackBerry HELP web site on the BlackBerry smartphone
Access BlackBerry® Answers
Contact information for wireless service providers

Close Option

The close option allows subscribers to close the Email Settings application easily.

Language Options

The BlackBerry Internet Service UI is now available in Thai and Indonesian.

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RIM Launches BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0

Mauricio — Mon, 04 May 2009 06:00:21 +0000

Some highlights from the press release:

Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM)(TSX: RIM) today announced the availability of BlackBerry® Enterprise Server 5.0 – the next generation of RIM’s secure, push-based server software for business mobility. Version 5.0 supports advanced IT administration features and smartphone controls that help improve the productivity of mobile workers and more effectively meet the demands of large-scale, mission critical enterprise deployments.
BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 enables a secure, centrally managed link between BlackBerry® smartphones and enterprise systems, applications, corporate phone environments (with BlackBerry® Mobile Voice System) and wireless networks.
BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 Enhancements and Key Features
Support for New Smartphone Features
RIM is also announcing today new technical support, professional services, and training and certification programs to help BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 customers achieve the best possible performance and return on investment from their BlackBerry smartphone deployments
Also announced today, BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 has obtained Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level 4 (EAL 4+) certification (see separate release). The Common Criteria is an international standard for validating that IT products meet specific security requirements. Certifications are recognized by 26 countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Read the full press release after the jump.

Press Release

WATERLOO, ONTARIO — 05/04/09 — Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM)(TSX: RIM) today announced the availability of BlackBerry® Enterprise Server 5.0 – the next generation of RIM’s secure, push-based server software for business mobility. Version 5.0 supports advanced IT administration features and smartphone controls that help improve the productivity of mobile workers and more effectively meet the demands of large-scale, mission critical enterprise deployments.

BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 enables a secure, centrally managed link between BlackBerry® smartphones and enterprise systems, applications, corporate phone environments (with BlackBerry® Mobile Voice System) and wireless networks. It tightly integrates with IBM® Lotus® Domino®, Microsoft® Exchange®, and Novell® GroupWise®, and is designed to provide highly secure access to email, organizer data, instant messaging, voice (via BlackBerry MVS), browser and other enterprise applications. It also provides advanced security features and administrative tools that simplify the management and use of the BlackBerry® solution within the enterprise.

“We are proud to unveil the next generation of BlackBerry Enterprise Server software,” said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at RIM. “BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 significantly raises the bar for advanced IT manageability, high availability, system monitoring and reporting. It has undergone testing in real world environments for over a year and is available now for customers.”

BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 Enhancements and Key Features

BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 provides enhanced IT management and administration features, including:

- BlackBerry® Administration Service, a new administration component with a web-based user interface that provides centralized management, monitoring and control of smartphone deployments and the complete BlackBerry system environment. IT staff can easily access the BlackBerry Administration Service from an Internet Explorer web browser.

- Role-based access controls allow IT administrators to delegate tasks to IT staff, either individuals or groups, and control access to IT functionality. Screen consoles display only the functions that are available to the individual IT administrator.

- Over-The-Air application deployment and device software updates can be better managed and controlled with job scheduling and throttling.

- IT administrative task scheduling supports the deployment of device, application and server updates at times that can help minimize impact on smartphone users and business operations.

- Mobile application management and deployment enhancements support the efficient management and control of applications across smartphone deployments, allowing IT administrators to:

– Publish updates and optional applications that are available for download by smartphone users.

– Push mandatory applications or updates to individuals or groups of users.

– Identify “disallowed” applications to prevent smartphone users from downloading prohibited applications.

- Simplified IT policy management allows IT administrators to create groups of smartphone users and nested groups, then apply IT policies or perform IT tasks for one or more groups, in addition to applying policies to individuals.

- Approximately 450 IT policies that can be applied to individuals or groups of smartphone users, ranging from enforcing smartphone password protection and controlling access to third party smartphone applications, to controlling the use of specific smartphone features, such as using a camera or video recording.

- System health monitoring provides a unified, color-coded view of the BlackBerry environment, both server and user related, for the easy identification of potential issues.

- Advanced reporting features, including trending, chart analysis and server statistics, provide a comprehensive view into the overall health of the BlackBerry system environment. BlackBerry Enterprise Server also stores up to 56 weeks of health scores for historical trending analysis.

- Built-in high availability and automated failover allows IT administrators to set BlackBerry Enterprise Server to automatically issue alerts and then failover to a standby server when certain thresholds are met. Load balancing between the primary and standby server is an option for some shared service components like the Attachment Service. Manual failover from the primary server to the standby server is an option for IT administrators to perform planned maintenance tasks without affecting smartphone service.

- BlackBerry Enterprise Transporter Tool makes upgrading to BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 easy and seamless. It streamlines the transfer of multiple user accounts from one BlackBerry Enterprise Server domain to another without impact to or action required by end users.

“The smartphone is essential for enterprises looking to improve employee productivity, accessibility, and responsiveness in today’s economic environment,” said Chris Hazelton, Research Director, Mobile and Wireless at The 451 Group. “As smartphones take on greater relevance in the enterprise and deployments grow, the demands on IT departments grow exponentially, making manageability, control and high availability must-haves in the supporting mobile infrastructure.”

Support for New Smartphone Features

BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 supports all current BlackBerry smartphones and supports the following smartphone features with BlackBerry Device Software 5.0(i):

- Remote access to Windows network file shares to allow smartphone users to securely retrieve, view, edit and email documents from behind the firewall.

- Flag emails for follow-up in the same way that flags are used in Microsoft Outlook®.

- Create, move, browse, rename and delete email folders directly from the smartphone, and view and attach files from those folders to emails sent from the smartphone.

- View attachments in a meeting request or calendar entry, and forward calendar appointments with attachments.

- Easily manage personal and public distribution lists.

- Use of Calendar Meeting Delegation for IBM® Lotus® Domino®, which allows attendees to delegate invitations to others from their BlackBerry smartphones.

In Use Today

BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 has undergone testing in real world environments for over a year, and is in use today at a number of organizations in North America and Europe, including IBM (www.ibm.com), Linklaters (www.linklaters.com), Metro Group (www.metro-ag.com), Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP (www.osler.com), Reed Smith LLP (www.reedsmith.com), and Tayside Fire and Rescue (www.taysidefire.gov.uk).

RIM itself has also been running BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 and has more than 10,000 employees connected on the new version. The majority of RIM employees were migrated to version 5.0 using the new BlackBerry Enterprise Transporter tool.

“The new capabilities for handling applications in BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 are exciting,” said Todd Belt, CTO of IBM Mobile Enterprise Services. “These capabilities are of tremendous significance to our enterprise customers as they continue to adopt mobile applications to meet their business needs.”

“BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 is ready for a production environment,” said Paul Williamson, Systems Management Engineer at Linklaters. “Having piloted the new solution for over a year, the benefits are obvious. Access to the new console from a web browser makes remote administration very easy and the high availability options have worked extremely well since day one. Our overall experience with it has been excellent.”

“Metro Group has been successfully trialing BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 for 18 months and we are currently using it to run and manage over 1,500 employees’ BlackBerry smartphones,” said Ernst Lueckerath, Head of Global Communication and Security at MGI METRO Group Information Technology. “One of the key benefits of BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 is high availability, meaning that we can reliably and instantly switch servers to manage issues, or for regulated maintenance and upgrades, without impacting our employees’ BlackBerry service.”

“The upgrade to BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 was one of the easiest we have ever performed. Totally flawless!” said Roosevelt J. Russell Jr., Remote Computing Analyst at Reed Smith LLP.

“BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 has been successfully tested and deployed within Tayside Fire and Rescue and we are impressed with the new administrative features,” said Gary Bellfield, ICT Manager at Tayside Fire and Rescue. “Having true high availability built into the platform has given us further peace of mind as we rely on our BlackBerry smartphones to help support the life-critical emergency services we provide.”

New Support Programs and Services

RIM is also announcing today new technical support, professional services, and training and certification programs to help BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 customers achieve the best possible performance and return on investment from their BlackBerry smartphone deployments:

- BlackBerry® Technical Support Services – www.blackberry.com/btss – offers a new tiered program with varying degrees of support to meet the range of customer needs. New services include Change Management Planning, Health Check Services and Direct to Level Two Support Resources.

- BlackBerry® Migration Planning Services – www.blackberry.com/professional_services – are designed to help organizations plan their upgrade to BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0.

- BlackBerry® Training and Certification Programs for BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 are planned for availability in the third quarter of this year. For more information about training for new administrators, visit www.blackberry.com/training. For more information about certification for administrators of BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0, visit www.blackberry.com/certification.

“RIM’s new professional services, support and training programs have helped us prepare for our transition to BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0,” said Peter Bier, CIO, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP. “The RIM team analyzed our mobility needs and our IT staff’s preparedness to determine the right system setup, training requirements, level of support and migration plan that would ensure a smooth transition to version 5.0.”

Certified Secure

Also announced today, BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 has obtained Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level 4 (EAL 4+) certification (see separate release). The Common Criteria is an international standard for validating that IT products meet specific security requirements. Certifications are recognized by 26 countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Available Today

BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 is available today for IBM® Lotus® Domino® and Microsoft® Exchange. For more information, visit http://na.blackberry.com/eng/services/server.

(i) BlackBerry Device Software 5.0 is scheduled to be available later this year.

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Preview BlackBerry Enterprise Server v5.0

Mauricio — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:13:53 +0000

Info about the BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 is now available through RIM’s BlackBerry Connection Newsletter.

New to BlackBerry Enterprise Server v5.0

BlackBerry Enterprise Transporter Tool
With the BlackBerry® Enterprise Transporter tool you can run parallel BlackBerry Enterprise Server environments, allowing you to do real-world testing in the new BlackBerry Enterprise Server v5.0 environment with part of your team before making a full migration. There’s no need to wipe devices before transferring to BlackBerry Enterprise Server v5.0, and backing out to the pre-existing environment is easy.

Threshold Assistance Tool
The Threshold Assistance Tool resides within the BlackBerry® Monitoring Service; it uses the information gathered by your monitoring database to suggest acceptable operating thresholds for your particular server and network environment. As your company grows, you can run the tool again to set new baselines.

High Availability
Utilizing High Availability is easier than you think—three clicks and you’re done. Learn more about this feature in an upcoming edition of BlackBerry Connection.

Role-Based Admins
BlackBerry Enterprise Server v5.0 allows for granular control of admin permissions. You can now scope a given role to a set of users the admin can take action on. For example, you can create an executive-support IT group, which would allow for only particular employees to perform administrative tasks against the execs’ accounts.

Maintenance Windows
You can now opt to suspend alerts during specific periods, for example, during server maintenance. Using this function just might end those early-morning wake-up calls that occur during scheduled server downtime.

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BlackBerry BIS upgrade to 2.6 complete!

Mauricio — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 16:10:11 +0000

RIM completed its upgrade to BIS 2.6 in North America this morning. BIS 2.6 has a few nice fixes and optimizations that I’m sure you will all appreciate!

Display of password characters

BlackBerry smartphone users have the option to display password characters when configuring email addresses with the BlackBerry Internet Service. This feature makes it easier for BlackBerry smartphone users to integrate third-party email addresses, especially when using a BlackBerry smartphone with the SureType® input method.

Improved descriptive support and error messages

BlackBerry smartphone users that have integrated a third-party email account using Post Office Protocol (POP) receive a personal identification number (PIN) message that includes instructions on how to leave email messages on the messaging server for successful delivery to the BlackBerry smartphone.

Option to change signatures from the BlackBerry smartphone

BlackBerry smartphone users that use Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) automatic login can change the signatures for email messages using the BlackBerry smartphone.

Improved language support

Dutch is now an available language for the BlackBerry Internet Service 2.6.

Gmail integration using IMAP

BlackBerry Internet Service 2.6 uses Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) to integrate Gmail® webmail accounts. This integration protocol introduces the following benefits:

Elimination of sent email messages appearing as received email messages in the message list on the BlackBerry smartphone

One-way synchronization of read status, sent items, and deleted items.

To use these improvements, BlackBerry smartphone users must remove and reintegrate their Gmail webmail accounts.

According to BGR, before using IMAP Gmail you need to delete your account and then re-add it from the BIS admin.

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New features in BlackBerry Internet Service 2.6

Mauricio — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 18:42:37 +0000

A few days ago RIM published a Knowledge Base article detailing information about BIS 2.6. After RIM enabled BES 5, I’m sure BIS users were wondering when they would get an upgrade. There isn’t a lot of improvement as far as functionality for the average user goes, but it’s still an improvement. Let me know what you think about the BIS upgrade to 2.6!

Check out the details after the jump.

This article outlines the main changes to BlackBerry Internet Service 2.6.

Display of password characters
- BlackBerry smartphone users have the option to display password characters when configuring email addresses with the BlackBerry Internet Service. This feature makes it easier for BlackBerry smartphone users to integrate third-party email addresses, especially when using a BlackBerry smartphone with the SureType® input method.
Improved descriptive support and error messages
- BlackBerry smartphone users that have integrated a third-party email account using Post Office Protocol (POP) receive a personal identification number (PIN) message that includes instructions on how to leave email messages on the messaging server for successful delivery to the BlackBerry smartphone.
Option to change signatures from the BlackBerry smartphone
- BlackBerry smartphone users that use Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) automatic login can change the signatures for email messages using the BlackBerry smartphone.
Improved language support
- Dutch is now an available language for the BlackBerry Internet Service 2.6.
Gmail integration using IMAP
- BlackBerry Internet Service 2.6 uses Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) to integrate Gmail® webmail accounts. This integration protocol introduces the following benefits:
  - Elimination of sent email messages appearing as received email messages in the message list on the BlackBerry smartphone
  - One-way synchronization of read status, sent items, and deleted items.
- To use these improvements, BlackBerry smartphone users must remove and reintegrate their Gmail webmail accounts.

More Info: KB17394.

Source: BGR

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RIM Preps BlackBerry Update for Cash-Strapped IT

Mauricio — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:45:17 +0000

By Judy Mottl:

Research in Motion (RIM) is moving to retain its already dominant hold on the enterprise mobility market, readying a new version of its BlackBerry Enterprise Server that promises to reduce IT costs and labor.

RIM (NASDAQ: RIMM) plans the new BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0 (BES) to ship during second quarter with a host of new management capabilities. Those include over-the-air device activation, downtime scheduling and simpler role administration, according to a presentation detailing the launch. RIM spokespeople were not available to comment further on the release by press time.

RIM’s news comes at a time when the BlackBerry maker is feeling the effects of slowing IT spending. The company said yesterday that it’s business customers are holding off on upgrades — a fact that it expects to negatively impact its next quarterly results.

But as corporate layoffs and budget slashing — especially within RIM’s large customer base of financial companies — is impacting tech spending, enterprises are looking for more cost-efficient tools and technologies.

Big time data outages across the Americas?

Mauricio — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 03:24:13 +0000

I haven’t had a BIS connection for about an hour. Apparently it isn’t just happening to me though. A few others let me know through Twitter that they are also experiencing data outages ranging from lack of BBM, no email reconciliation, and no internet browsing.

Here is what I found over at DataOutages.com:

From: BlackBerry Network Notifications [mailto:notifications at blackberry.net]
Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2009 2:27 PM
To: [email address]
Subject: BB113722 (New) S3 Severity Incident for BlackBerry PIN to PIN
service for subscribers of *The Americas Network (MULT)

Impact: BlackBerry subscribers may experience delays in receiving PIN
messages and may receive an “x” when sending PIN messages. [0744]

Ticket Number: BB113722

Incident Window Start Date and Time: 12 February 2009 13:26:24 (EST).
Duration: Ongoing

The BlackBerry Support team is working toward resolution as quickly as
possible. We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your
patience during this time.

EST = GMT – 5 hours
EDT = GMT – 4 hours
AEST = GMT + 10 hours

International issue,happening only in the americas at this point.

Even though it says it is a pin to pin issue it could still be related. I get emails from time to time but my BBM is super slow and web browsing is dead.

Anyone else having issues?

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RIM announces BES 5.0

Mauricio — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 20:27:40 +0000

RIM announced today the latest version of its BlackBerry Enterprise Server, BES 5.0.

Check out what’s been announced:

Retrieve corporate documents behind firewalls
Add, read, rename and delete folders on the handset and have those changes be applied to the desktop email client
Create rules within the inbox to filter email and have those changes be applied to the desktop
View attachments in calendar entries and meeting requests
Download and store emails and email attachments onto microSD cards

Over-the-air updates will also be easier for both administrators and users.

|source|

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