BlackBerry “Enterprise Activation” App Enables Wireless BES Activation on Personal Data Plans

Research In Motion (RIM) today launched a brand new application for BlackBerry smartphones that should make it easier for some BlackBerry administrators to connect new smartphone users to corporate BlackBerry Enterprise Servers (BES).

The BlackBerry Enterprise Activation app, meant for use with RIM’s BES Express and the recently announced MDaemon Messaging Server, BlackBerry Edition, is currently available for free via RIM’s BlackBerry App World mobile software shop.

Both BES Express for Microsoft Exchange and IBM Lotus Domino, and MDaemon Messaging Server, BlackBerry Edition, are slimmed down, “light-weight” versions of RIM’s full BES, and they’re meant for use within small- or medium-sized businesses.

The new BlackBerry Enterprise Activation app lets corporate employees with personal BlackBerry devices—and personal, or BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) data plans—wirelessly connect to BES Express or the new MDaemon Messaging Server.

BES Express and the MDaemon offering are designed for use with personal data plans, so organizations can allow employees with their own BlackBerrys to connect to corporate resources. But, to date, wireless carriers have made it difficult or impossible to wirelessly activate these devices without shelling out monthly fees for enterprise data plans.

The BlackBerry Enterprise Activation app should resolve this issue for many Blackberry administrators.

Technical requirements include BlackBerry OS 5.0 or higher, a “compatible personal BlackBerry data plan,” a compatible version of either BES Express of MDaemon Messaging Server, and a supported BlackBerry smartphone.

The majority of new-ish BlackBerry devices appear to be supported; however, the BlackBerry 9780, my personal favorite currently available RIM handheld, is strangely absent from the supported-devices lists, though the omission could simply be a mistake.

RIM says you can find more information on how to activate personal BlackBerrys on BES at BlackBerry.com/go/supportexpress by searching for a document called “BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express 5.0 SP2 – Activating Devices That Are Associated with the BlackBerry Internet Service Over the Wireless Network,” but I was unable to find that specific page.

Download the new, free BlackBerry Enterprise Activation app from BlackBerry App World.

AS

via BerryReview

Al Sacco covers Mobile and Wireless for CIO.com. Follow Al on Twitter @ASacco. Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline and on Facebook. Email Al at asacco@cio.com