MWC: BlackBerry announces BES 12

BlackBerry has unveiled plans for BlackBerry Enterprise Service 12 (BES12), a new enterprise mobility solution that is application-enabled and unifies BES10 and BES5 to one platform.

In addition, a new promotional program will provide free migration to BES10, while a new pricing structure enables customers to simplify their enterprise mobility management (EMM) environment to a single trusted provider.

BlackBerry’s enterprise strategy is to extend beyond EMM to an application-based environment and ecosystem that provides a highly productive end-user experience. This will enable organizations to develop and deploy new services to mobile devices faster. By doing so, BlackBerry will target a global market that IDC has forecasted to reach $4.8 billion by 2017.

‚”BES10 is the only mobility management solution that meets the highest security demands of regulated industries and is also flexible enough for BYOD,‚” said John Sims, President, Global Enterprise Solutions at BlackBerry. ‚”This value proposition is why the new BES12 architecture is designed to ensure that the more than 80,000 existing BES customers can seamlessly migrate forward. As we execute on our long term vision, we will offer all customers the opportunity to move forward with us. The investment customers make in BlackBerry today will be a valuable investment for the future.‚”

The Next Generation of BES BES12

As part of BlackBerry’s long term strategy, the Company is developing the next generation of the BES platform to enable organizations to develop enterprise-grade applications that can be quickly deployed to BlackBerry smartphones and other mobile devices.

In a report by Forrester Research, authors Christian Kane and Michele Pelino wrote, ‚”The wide variety of mobile devices and increased mobile application adoption require enterprises to broaden their mobility strategy beyond the simple management of devices, to include developing, deploying, securing, and managing mobile applications of all genres and capabilities.‚”

The new BES12 platform will focus on delivering the following core capabilities:

· Backwards Compatible and Future Proof: BlackBerry OS devices will be supported and the new platform provides the foundation for customers to integrate new mobile endpoints, enhanced user self-service, advanced service management, highly scalable datacenter-grade deployments, and implement active-active high availability clusters for ultimate reliability.

· Enhanced Multi-Platform Support: BlackBerry continues its commitment to providing multi-platform solutions and will add support for Windows Phone 8 in addition to already supported iOS, Android and BlackBerry 10.

· Advanced Service Management: Proactive monitoring and systems tuning delivers a complete end-to-end perspective of the BES management platform and automates problem resolution.

· Connect Cloud and Mobile: The flexibility and scalability of the new BES12 architecture will provide customers with the ability to move from on-premise to the cloud effortlessly and securely. The new platform will support all deployment models, including on-premise, public cloud, private cloud and hybrid environments.

· Mobilize Apps: BlackBerry delivers the tools and integration points to easily develop and deploy securely connected enterprise apps across all supported platforms.

New EZ Pass Program and BES10 Pricing

BlackBerry also announced today a new EZ Pass program that provides free migration for customers to move from BES and other MDM platforms to BES10 as well as a new pricing structure.

For existing BlackBerry customers, the EZ Pass program will match any active existing on-premise BES license and any active license customers may have from other MDM vendors with a corresponding Silver level BES10 perpetual license. Customers will also receive free Advantage-level technical support with their new license to help them get up and running fast.

The new pricing and licensing structure will provide two simple tiers, Silver and Gold. Silver includes full device, application, email and security management for BlackBerry, iOS and Android devices, including the unique BlackBerry Balance technology for BlackBerry 10 smartphones. Gold adds BlackBerry’s Secure Work Space containerization solution for iOS and Android, and advanced BlackBerry 10 management and security features for the most security-conscious organizations, including government, financial services and healthcare.

Enterprise Application Ecosystem

BlackBerry also announced today several new enterprise-grade applications, including:

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