Among the stream of announcements from Research In Motion’s BlackBerry World conference in Orlando, the Waterloo-based phone maker on Monday announced its new BlackBerry Balance solution for keeping users’ work and personal data separate on a single BlackBerry smartphone. The solution essentially allows work-related data to be stored in such a manner that it is not accessible to apps the user might install for personal use, like Twitter or Facebook. Work data also cannot be copied and pasted into personal apps when BlackBerry Balance is enabled. “BlackBerry Balance is a win-win for employers and employees,” said RIM’s SVP of software and services, Jim Tobin, in a statement. “It’s a secure and cost-effective way for companies to keep employees connected and productive, while also allowing the flexibility for employees to carry a single phone.” BlackBerry Balance is an included feature in the latest version of RIM’s BlackBerry Enterprise Server and BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express software, and it can be utilized on company-owned or employee-owned BlackBerry smartphones running BlackBerry OS 6 or later. Hit the jump for the full release.
RIM Launches BlackBerry Balance for Work-Life Balance on BlackBerry
Unifies Work and Personal Use of BlackBerry Smartphones without Compromising Company Security or Personal Privacy
Waterloo, ON – Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM) is advancing work-life balance on BlackBerry® smartphones with BlackBerry® BalanceTM – new technology that makes possible the convenience of using a single BlackBerry smartphone for both work and personal purposes without compromising the security of company content and the privacy of personal content. RIM is introducing this technology in response to the growing trend by businesses to allow employees to use personal BlackBerry smartphones for work, or company- owned smartphones for personal, and the need by businesses to secure, manage and control confidential company or client information on these devices.
“BlackBerry Balance is a win-win for employers and employees,” said Jim Tobin, senior vice president, software and services at Research In Motion. “It’s a secure and cost-effective way for companies to keep employees connected and productive, while also allowing the flexibility for employees to carry a single phone.”
BlackBerry Balance presents a unified view of work and personal content on a BlackBerry smartphone while keeping the content separate and secure. The division between work and personal content is transparent to the user unless they try to perform actions prohibited by company policy. IT administrators can set policies via BlackBerry® Enterprise Server or BlackBerry® Enterprise Server Express. These policy settings can enable the following:
- Secure access to business information while preventing the information from being copied into, sent from or used by personal applications like Facebook®, Twitter®, Windows LiveTM Hotmail, Google MailTM or Yahoo!® Mail accounts.
- Business data or files created by business applications cannot be used by personal applications.
- If a user attempts an action that is prohibited by IT policy, a notification is displayed on the device.• If an employee leaves the organization, an administrator can remotely wipe business information from the device while leaving personal information intact.
- If a device is lost or stolen, an administrator can wipe all information from the device to help ensure that sensitive business information and the user’s personal information don’t fall into the wrong hands.
BlackBerry Balance is available only on BlackBerry devices and can be applied to employee- or company-owned smartphones. It is built into BlackBerry® Enterprise Server 5.0.3 and BlackBerry® Enterprise Server Express 5.0.3 (available this week) for Microsoft® Exchange® or IBM® Lotus® Domino®. It also requires the latest version of BlackBerry® 6 Device Software*.
For more information, visit http://www.blackberry.com/balance.
*Check with wireless service provider for availability.
