BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express gets official

By on Feb 16, 2010 at 9:18 AM
Software February 16, 2010

bes-express-large

Big news out of Barcelona today as RIM has announced BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express, the software we exclusively told you about a couple of days ago. Simply put, BESX allows SMBs with a Microsoft Exchange or Windows Small Business Server to take advantage of the following BES features without having to splurge on the pricey software:

  • Wirelessly synchronize their email, calendar, contacts, notes and tasks
  • Manage email folders and search email on the mail server remotely
  • Book meetings and appointments, check availability and forward calendar attachments
  • Set an out-of-office reply
  • Edit Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files using Documents To Go®
  • Access files stored on the company network

Deployment of BESX shouldn’t be much of an issue for most SMBs as the software is compatible with Microsoft Exchange 2003, 2007 and 2010 as well as Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 and 2008. In terms of security, RIM says BESX has “the same robust security architecture found in BlackBerry Enterprise Server” whilst allowing IT admins to oversee over 35 IT policies and controls, including password controls and remote wiping. The BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express software itself will be free, but we’ve been told RIM will charge $5 per user per month. Furthermore, BESX does not need users to be on a BES data plan which translates to even more savings. Pretty damn awesome if you ask us. One huge downside we’ve heard? BESX will not support enterprise activations (OTA deployment).Look for the software to drop next month if all goes well.

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29 Comments

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  • Swagger Jackson’s Revenge

    We want a new browser……like now…..

    • m0

      Then get a new phone… …like now…. ..

  • bill

    I wonder why they’d exclude Lotus Notes as a supported product.

  • bob_az

    disappointing – what about BIS users? This is great for small businesses, but what about us consumers?!? Sad…this is why I am considering switching to android. RIM just doesn’t care about normal consumers anymore.

    • Cobus Kruger

      I think you missed something – this is for BIS users. From the article: “. Furthermore, BESX does not need users to be on a BES data plan.”

      And to alleviate your fears about RIM’s attitude, go read the press release – this is a consumer-focused product.

  • George

    It takes you guys way too long to get this news up. Other sites have it hours before you.

    • zephxiii

      They had it up before engadget.

      • Cobus Kruger

        They actually had it a day or two ago already. Pretty accurate for an unconfirmed rumour :-)

  • Cobus Kruger

    Kudos on a very exciting scoop. But there is not $5 a month licence fee.

    Look at the actual site:
    http://na.blackberry.com/eng/services/business/server/express/

    “It provides advanced BlackBerry smartphone features with no additional software or user license fees, and works with any Internet-enabled BlackBerry data plan or a BlackBerry enterprise data plan.”

    Now it’s an even bigger scoop :-)

  • zephxiii

    Why can’t they just have native exchange activesync support….as this STILL requires extra crap to be installed on an exchange server…which i’d rather not have installed.

  • http://hodgen.com Phil Hodgen

    This is just RIM postponing its own death. RIM’s existence depends on inserting itself in the middle of my communications systems. Been there. Small business, Windows Server, BES server (BES software cost zero at the time, just a per user license, so the cost was trivial).

    Dumped it all overboard for a total Apple office and Google Apps. iPhones replaced the BBs. Why? Fewer layers of complexity. Money’s not the problem. Scarce time and attention — that’s the problem to solve.

    Why buy (even at $0.00) complexity?

    • Jfield

      I certainly hope u aren’t handling any of my financial, health, or legal information on your iPhones and Google Apps.

      If you care about mobile security, and many companies legally have to cover their *sses or the value of their brand, then rim is the only game in town. MS looks to be moving further away from this arena based on what wp7s looks like. Activesync may be a secure way of getting the data to and from a device, but what about while it is there? Can u tell what an employee is running on their iPhone, if it has been rooted?

      • tk-093

        @Phil RIM dying? Not that I’m a RIM fan but what do you base that on? Blackberrys in the USA still outnumber iPhones 2 to 1. I see more and more people walking around with them that I would never have imagined using a smartphone. They are not going anywhere anytime soon.

        @Jfield. Exchange 2010 has all kinds of security policies that can secure Activesync compliant devices from preventing the installation of unapprove applications to preventing syncing personal email.. Passwords, encrypting data at rest.. All the big ones anyway that most BES admins enforce, and you don’t have that RIM NOC as another layer to fail.

  • Rang3r

    You guys….stop actin like u kno all this. Y’all aren’t business men….fuckin nerds….

  • mi_canuck

    ZzzzzzzzzZzzzzzzZzzzz…..

  • mi_canuck

    this is the year where BB’s go back to their business niche and the rest of the Smartphone industry completely dominate the consumer market… RIM can no longer fool the customer… their devices suck for any sort of data intensive usage or anything multimedia…

    • Jfield

      strangely, it seems like a large portion of phone users care more about messaging then data intensive uses. power users are likely to jump (like myself) but not so sure about people who are attached to facebook at the hip. it’ll be interesting to see what happens.

    • TheSophist

      I am a consumer that switched from the iPhone, to a Palm Pre, then finally to a BB. I mainly text, email, make calls, and update social/business networks (FB, Linked-in, etc…). In the function the BB cannot be beaten. I was able to access my work email through our EAS on the pre, but the OS sucked beyond compare. Now with the BB, I can access my Gmail and work email while still having an extremely stable OS and a beautiful keyboard to type on. What more would one want?

  • STFU

    But what does this mean for BIS users who aren’t part of a small business?

    • LSU

      Find another smart phone?

  • Martin

    Why doesn’t RIM have a truly hosted BES solution?? I still need to install software on my Exchange server with BESX, and I dont want that. Look at http://www.colibrimobile.com that is a truly hosted BES but they don’t sync tasks though…

  • http://rossmanngroup.com Louis Rossmann

    I was really hoping for IMAP folder support on regular non-exchange accounts. Too bad. :(

  • Lonndog

    Wonder if this will work for Exchange-like systems, such as Kerio…

    • philippp

      Yes it does work with KERIO. They have a connector for BESX.

  • http://www.pc-prime.com Ben

    It’s just annoying to have the BIS and BES differences in the first place. I am NOT an exchange fan. In fact I have been migrating as many as my clients over to Google Apps as I can.

    • jim

      Agreed. Google is the best ‘cost-cutting’ solution and offers a rich feature set.

      Too little, too late from RIM. As usual.

  • jim

    Does this work with hosted Exchange if using the MAPI Client?

    • Wes Keene

      It sure doesn’t work with hosted exchange. I spent the better part of last night finding that out. I can see no way to do it without co-located Exchange. Which means a hosted Exchange provider will need to step up and provide BESX as a hosted option before this will really save anyone any nickels.

  • Bryan

    This article is full of misinformation. “Boy Genius”? Hardly. Why don’t you just get some facts together before wasting anyone’s time with your “guesses” about what is going to “drop” (to use your oh-so-hit lingo)? I know the response is likely “oh of course it’s easy to say that after the product has already released” but man just don’t bother writing an article if you don’t have some FACTS up front. Either call RIM for facts or keep your guesses to yourself instead of holding yourself out as an expert on a topic only to end up with egg on your face.

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