Research in Motion is continuing the proliferation of
its BlackBerry wireless platform, announcing a new partnership with
Novell and an expansion of its relationship with
Vodafone.
Both deals aim to gain more enterprise customers for the
company, which is already seeing strong demand for its BlackBerry
wireless e-mail devices.
The company has gained more than 200,000 new subscribers last
quarter breaking the one million subscriber barrier at the end of
February.
RIM said it hoped to increase this number by adding support for
Novell's GroupWise 6.5 collaboration and communication software to
its forthcoming BlackBerry Enterprise Server 4.0, due out later
this year.
The partnership will offer companies using GroupWise the ability
to perform a managed roll-out of BlackBerry devices, which allow
users to access their e-mail and other corporate data wirelessly.
BlackBerry Enterprise Server already integrates with the Microsoft
Exchange and IBM Lotus Domino platforms.
The partnership will give RIM access to Novell's millions of
customers, who are estimated to comprise 12% of the worldwide
systems e-mail market.
The company also hopes to expand its global reach with support
from Vodafone in New Zealand.
Vodafone is launching the BlackBerry 7230 Wireless Handheld for
enterprise customers in mid-July, and support for individuals
featuring the BlackBerry Web Client later in the year.
The BlackBerry Web Client has an internet-based e-mail interface
that allows users to access multiple corporate or personal e-mail
accounts from a BlackBerry device.
Scarlet Pruitt writes for IDG News Service