BlackBerry goes Cloud for MS

RIM has announced its BlackBerry Business Could Services for Microsoft Office 365 solution. The service is designed for mid-sized businesses and will extend Microsoft Exchange Online support to BlackBerry smartphones.
Research In Motion hasnannounced BlackBerry Business Cloud Services for Microsoft Office 365 – a newnRIM-hosted online service for midsized businesses and enterprises that extendsnMicrosoft Exchange Online to BlackBerry smartphones, and allows organizationsnto self-manage their BlackBerry deployments in the cloud. An open beta for thenservice is launching today in over 30 countries.

“BlackBerry BusinessnCloud Services is an easy and cost-effective way for businesses and governmentnagencies to extend Microsoft Office 365 to BlackBerry smartphones and managenthe deployment in the cloud,” said Alan Panezic, Vice President at Research InnMotion. “We have been working together with Microsoft and select customersnthrough an early access program and we are pleased to now launch an open betanfor the service.”

“BlackBerry BusinessnCloud Services will help accelerate how BlackBerry customers can realize thenfull benefits of the best productivity experience across the PC, browser andnphone with Microsoft Office 365,” said Julia White, Senior Director ofnMicrosoft’s Exchange Product Management Group. “This new service deliversnvaluable enhancements to Office 365 while preserving the cost and businessnagility benefits the cloud offers to organizations of all sizes.”

Key features include:
–          Access to Microsoft Exchange Onlinenemail, calendar and organizer data from a BlackBerry smartphone

–          BlackBerry Balance technology, whichnpresents a unified view of work and personal content on a BlackBerry smartphonenwhile keeping the content separate and secure
–          A web-based console for ITnadministrators to provision, manage and secure BlackBerry smartphones fromnanywhere

–          Online access to employee self-servicensmartphone security functions, allowing users to reset a device password ornremotely lock or wipe a device in the event of loss or theft

Managed servicenproviders, systems integrators, carriers, resellers and other partners can alsonuse the cloud service to manage BlackBerry deployments on behalf of theirncustomers.

A number of Fortune 500ncustomers and several government agencies in the US participated in an earlynaccess program and are among the many organizations that already plan to usenthe service.

Microsoft Office 365 customers can sign up fornthe BlackBerry Business Cloud Services beta at www.blackberry.com/beta/businesscloud.nThe cloud-based service is available for no additional charge to MicrosoftnOffice 365 Midsized Businesses and Enterprises plan subscribers and works withnBlackBerry smartphones on business or consumer data plans.

More information isnavailable at www.blackberry.com/cloudservices.

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