The first BlackBerry MVS products hit the market last November, and the complete system is fully available to corporate customers, though Heit admits, RIM still has a lot of work to ensure that the MVS supports all the PBXs from Cisco, Avaya and the remaining 25 or so leading PBX vendors.

Call forwarding or call routing products from service providers, wireless carriers and other vendors have been around for years, but one capability that sets RIM's MVS apart is the ability to retain caller ID information. For instance, if a call from a customer is placed to the desk phone of a MVS user, the BlackBerry will ring and the correct caller ID information will display on the handheld's screen. And all data is routed through an organizations' BES before hitting the corporate PBX, according to Heit.

BlackBerry MVS App on Pearl

"For the mobile person, I don't have to worry about missing my desk phone calls or worrying about the hanging around the office waiting for a call," Heit says. "I'll catch the important ones [on my BlackBerry]," and know exactly who's calling--assuming caller ID information is available.

Heit recalls a recent trip he made to Hawaii. While standing outside a park near a Pearl Harbor Memorial in Honolulu, he received a call on his business line. As he answered and began his conversations, an aircraft carrier sounded a piercing horn as it left the harbor behind him.

"'Waterloo?,' the caller said. 'I didn't think that was anywhere near an ocean. Wow. I didn't have a clue that you weren't in the office'," Heit says, describing the call. "And I don't let on that I'm away from work."