Blackberry maker Research in Motion (RIM) has revealed
details of the next version of itsBlackberry
Enterprise Serverplatform, which it says will
be the most flexible to manage to date.
RIM discussed the platform at its inaugural
Blackberry
Developers Conference in Santa Clara, California, attended by
around 900 delegates from across the world.
Codenamed Argon, RIM said the mobile integration platform would
be called Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) 5 when it is launched
next spring.
Argon is named after the inert gas which is to the far right of
the periodic table. Alan Panezic, Blackberry Software
vice-president of software product management, said that like the
gas, RIM's Argon was stable, non-flammable and easy to manage.
Panezic said, "With this release we are focusing more on easier
messaging and collaboration and developing a wider ecosystem of
Blackberry developers and software suppliers. We also want to
further mobilise key business processes for customers."
To deliver in these areas, RIM has focused on easier deployment
and management of users connected by the system. There is
multi-level and multi-tiered group support, which allows
administrators to more finely tune which applications and services
users can get access to from their organisation while on the
move.
Although RIM has chosen not to offer native integration with
Microsoft Active Directory on launch, BES 5 will see a beta made
available for Active Directory integration shortly after
launch.
The move will represent an even closer relationship between
fixed and mobile enterprise applications management being
introduced for Blackberry users.
Ken Schneider, Blackberry Software senior technical director,
said of the wider roles-based management inherent in BES 5, "You
set up the roles you want - the things your users can and cannot do
now run into the hundreds, which gives administrators the
flexibility they were demanding from us."
RIM is using a
JBoss middleware system to deliver this extra control to
customers.
A new product within BES 5 is Blackberry Administration APIs,
which is currently available as a beta, and which will be bundled
with BES 5 on launch.
The product will help control and automate common admin tasks,
said RIM and will be further developed in response to specific
requests from customers.
"Forget the command line basis for doing things, this product
brings the admin greater flexibility," said Schneider.
See the Blackberry Storm in action
below
Panezic said the extra features in BES 5 would "not be
monetised" by RIM, they would be offered as integral parts of BES
for no extra cost.
This is good news for customers on service agreements who will
get upgrades to BES 5 as part of their deals, but others may pay
extra.
When asked by Computer Weekly whether a company coming to RIM to
install BES for the first time would pay more for BES 5 than they
would for an existing version, Panezic said, "Price is something we
always decide last and nothing has been finalised so far.
"My advice to those customers is not to wait from October to
March to find out. They should get going now and go for an upgrade,
as they probably won't lose out."
That may well be a "yes" then.