Posted on October 9, 2008, at 10:39 am .
A BlackBerry Cool reader just passed me along an interesting article from IT Career Planet on BlackBerry certification. If you remember, waaaay back in May RIM launched the BlackBerry Certification program as a means of empirically validating the skills of a company’s IT department in supporting BlackBerry. According to IT Career Planet, RIM’s certification program is now longer a novelty or a good angle for getting a raise, but a must for any IT professional.
An early adopter of Research In Motion’s BlackBerry Smartphone, Salt River Project, one of Arizona’s largest utility companies, today supports 1,600 devices and adds 30 new accounts monthly. The company has about 5,000 employees. It’s no surprise to learn that Salt River Project is rallying around RIM’s recently introduced BlackBerry certification programs.
“When we hire, we’ll definitely require that the job candidate is BlackBerry certified,” says Alex Logvin, enterprise messaging analyst at Salt River Project, Phoenix, Ariz.
I know a lot of IT and BES admins read BlackBerry Cool, so please weigh in. Is the BlackBerry Certification a novelty or a necessity for any enterprise serious about mobile IT? You can see a list of RIM’s current and upcoming certification programs after the jump.
(via IT Career Planet)
BlackBerry Certification Programs
Posted on September 22, 2008, at 8:47 am .
More info has leaked from Rogers about their upcoming BlackBerry Data plans, this time for corporate BES users. Starting October 1st, 1GB of data will now be $45, which is a pretty big step up from the $45/300MB BlackBerry data plan we informed you of way back in August, and getting closer to the new Rogers BIS data plans that were revealed last week.
We’ve posted both BIS and BES plans after the jump so you can do some price comparison. Post a comment and tell us which plan works for you and why.
(via BlackBerry News, CB)
Rogers BIS and BES BlackBerry data plans
Posted on September 19, 2008, at 9:06 am .
RIM today announced support for Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, which advances the functionality offered through the Microsoft Live Communications Server 2005. So what’s all the fuss about? Corporate customers running Microsoft OCS 2007 and a BES now have access to the BlackBerry Messenger. If you think that isn’t a big deal, well think again:
“Instant messaging and presence on the BlackBerry platform is improving our ability to find members of our mission critical teams that are often mobile, and bring them together quickly into live and interactive meetings, regardless of their locations,” said Gary Bellfield, Information and Communications Technology Manager at Tayside Fire and Rescue. “Mobile access is an essential component of our complete unified communications initiative, and we trust the BlackBerry solution to support our mobile instant messaging capabilities in a highly reliable, secure and intuitive way.”
Who knew that IM could help save lives? Support for Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 requires BlackBerry Enterprise Server 4.1.6 or higher, and handsets running BlackBerry OS 4.1 or higher. More information can be found at:
http://www.blackberry.com/go/ocsdownload
(via RIM)
Posted on September 17, 2008, at 10:56 am .
RIM sent out emails last night informing IT Admins that BlackBerry Enterprise Server v4.1 Service Pack 6 Maintenance Release 1 for Microsoft Exchange is now available for download. Admins can head to http://www.blackberry.com/go/serverdownloads to access the software update, documentation, and any additional information.
Unfortunately, at this moment, the SP6 maintenance release doesn’t actually appear on the server downloads page, but expect it to be up by the end of the day.
Looks like RIM made a boo boo and the SP6 maintenance release is actually for Lotus Domino, not Microsoft Exchange! Oops! Oh well, there is a live link for downloads, however. Go nuts, Admins!
Download BES 4.1 SP6 Maintenance Release 1 (Lotus Domino)
Thanks for the heads up, Alex! And the correction, Andy!
Posted on September 4, 2008, at 7:31 am .
A quiet BlackBerry Internet Service upgrade has been rolled out that according to many is resulting in much quicker e-mail delivery over IMAP. Traditionally, only those on BlackBerry Enterprise Server would get their e-mail pushed to their handset instantly, and BIS users had to wait 10-15 minutes for delivery. Now anyone getting their BIS e-mail via servers that support IMAP IDLE will receive messages in real-time as the standard was designed to provide. It’s great to see the upgrade, especially for BIS users who have had less-than-stellar delivery times, but you have to wonder why it took so long for IMAP IDLE to be supported.
(via BlackBerry News)
Posted on August 14, 2008, at 8:26 am .
Three new tools, the BlackBerry Synchronization Request Tool, the BlackBerry Time Zone Synchronization Tool, and the BlackBerry System Requirements Tool have been included in the latest BES Resource Kit. The BlackBerry User Administration Tool has only had its maximum number of moveable users cut down to 1,000, so no new features there. This release marks “the quickest turnaround for a BRK release following the BES release”, possibly showing that RIM is stepping up their software production. The last month or so has been pretty busy, what with CDKs, DMs, and OSes coming out at pretty regular intervals. One can only hope that it keeps up, eh?
Download the BlackBerry Enterprise Server Resource Kit 4.1 Service Pack 6
(via BlackBerry News)
BlackBerry User Administration Tool changelog behind the jump…
Posted on August 12, 2008, at 9:38 am .
One might say that feeling is located somewhere in the posterior region of Rogers subscribers. We recently tipped you off to a Rogers deal that would provide SMBs with a free BES for 15 new Rogers subscriptions, and now we’re letting you know that Rogers is offering a new data plan for BES users, whereby you receive a whopping 300MB of data for the low, low price of $45/month!
But can this really be constituted as a ‘Cool Deal? My first reaction upon seeing this was, “Well, it’s cheaper than the previous plan of 25MB for $60.” It’s also well known that enterprise customers frequently get the short stick in pricing compared to consumers, but this may be beyond the pale. Right now, until August 31st, Rogers BlackBerry subscribers can upgrade their consumer plan to 6GB for $30/month. If anyone can explain the schism between the pricing, other than ‘Rogers can get away with it,’ please post a comment below.
Click here for more details on Rogers new BES data plan
Posted on August 7, 2008, at 3:24 pm .
Take it from the BlackBerry Cool team: it is tough running a small to medium-sized business on a tight budget (well, at least it was until we found gold deposits in our Fortress of Solitude), so you have to constantly be on vigil for cool deals. Thankfully, Rogers has been running a promotion since June 1st that gives your business a free BES with 15 new BlackBerry activations. In addition, there is also a deal providing a BlackBerry Professional Software Bundle for 5-9 new activations
The promotion ends August 31st, so make sure to act soon. Check out the detailed Eligability/Restrictions list after the jump, or head here for more info:
http://www.rogersblackberrypromos.com
Thanks for the tip, Fake Ted Rogers!
Click Here to see Roger’s BES Promotion restrictions
Posted on July 18, 2008, at 7:39 am .
Admins rejoice! The latest patch for the BlackBerry Enterprise Server is available for download. The device-side software made it out yesterday, and BIS was upgraded a couple of weeks ago, so the circle of upgrading is all completed. Big changes in this service pack include rich content e-mail, support for Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 and Lotus Sametime 8.0, and control RIM value-added applications. On top of that, reconciling permanent message deletion has been improved, and there are also some changes to the BlackBerry Configuration Database schema, the naming of collaboration clients, Mobile Data System conventions and related software. As for that PDF vulnerability, this patch should take care of everything A-O-K. Go ahead and download BES 4.1.6 here, or scope out the update notes here.
(via BerryReview)
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