[Palerider89]

Hi we are small enterprise in Switzerland having 5 blackberrys for which we pay ridiculous monthly fees (50USD). We were looking forward to BB 10 a lot, but so many questions remain. Unfortunately Blackberry only offers "support" in Switzerland through the provider and they do not know anything and their support is completely useless. They could not tell me anything about the new devices. Maybe somebody here knows a little more.

1) What is the advantage of having an own BES 10 Server when we can connect directly to our Exchange Server with the new devices? Does BES add security concerning email encryption as in the "old" system? I read the thing with Blackberry Balance, but that is not really an advantage for our few devices.

2) Can BES 10 run on the same machine as the Exchange Server? (that was not possible with BES 4.x we are running now). We really want to get rid of our old energy wasting dedicated BES Server.

3) What does it actually cost?

4) I read that BES 10 is not compatible with old devices....that would mean we would need to run 2 servers until everybody upgrades?

5) What use is the BIS option?`We will still need and pay for it for using Blackberry Messenger? But other than that? I read that push email is no longer supported anyways, only regular IMAP

All help is much appreciated!

[kill_9]

My response is in BOLD.

Hi we are small enterprise in Switzerland having 5 blackberrys for which we pay ridiculous monthly fees (50USD). We were looking forward to BB 10 a lot, but so many questions remain. Unfortunately Blackberry only offers "support" in Switzerland through the provider and they do not know anything and their support is completely useless. They could not tell me anything about the new devices. Maybe somebody here knows a little more.

1) What is the advantage of having an own BES 10 Server when we can connect directly to our Exchange Server with the new devices? Does BES add security concerning email encryption as in the "old" system? I read the thing with Blackberry Balance, but that is not really an advantage for our few devices.

BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10 allows encrypted email, secure connectivity to internal network resources, IT policies can be pushed to the devices, centralized device management (activation, deactivation, remote wipe, remote locking, etc.). BlackBerry Balance is primarily intended for organisations which have a bring your own device (BYOD) policy; this allows secure partitioning of personal and corporate data and applications.

2) Can BES 10 run on the same machine as the Exchange Server? (that was not possible with BES 4.x we are running now). We really want to get rid of our old energy wasting dedicated BES Server.

Based on my knowledge of BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5 (Full Edition) the software can be installed on the same server running Microsoft Exchange but performance might suffer depending upon the number of active BlackBerry users. However, Microsoft Small Business Server supports BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10. You can virtualise BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10. In the case of your small 5-person organisation you could subscribe to a hosted BlackBerry Enterprise Service Provider instead of running your own BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10 instance; I think you can still have your own in-house Microsoft Exchange Server or have it hosted as well.

3) What does it actually cost?

The client access license fees are detailed on the BlackBerry website. The server software is free and no support contract is required as far as I can tell. We will be installing BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10 this weekend in preparation for the BlackBerry 10 smartphones.

4) I read that BES 10 is not compatible with old devices....that would mean we would need to run 2 servers until everybody upgrades?

BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10 apparently includes support for older BlackBerry smartphones through integrated BlackBerry Mobile Fusion which is now part of BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10. There is no need to run two servers, however, you should read the migration guide beforehand and plan accordingly. Always backup the existing database, typically named BESMgmt, before any migration or upgrade.

5) What use is the BIS option?`We will still need and pay for it for using Blackberry Messenger? But other than that? I read that push email is no longer supported anyways, only regular IMAP

BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) is explained on the BlackBerry website. I do not know the answer to the other questions.

All help is much appreciated!

[Palerider89]

Thanks for the answers...we will try running BES 10 in a virtual machine...lets see how that works out. Hosted Servers are not an option for us. If Swisscom still continues to charge 50USD/device/month for the BES option perhaps we will cancel the whole thing and just connect directly to our Exchange Server.

[Eric Min]

Does anyone know if email performance is better with BES 10 versus activesync?

Thanks

[jke76]

Does anyone know if email performance is better with BES 10 versus activesync?

Thanks

Any BES10 connected BlackBerry OS10.x device also uses ActiveSync - so there is no significant difference in perfomance. BES10 encapsulates the ActiveSync datastream within a 256-bit AES encrypted secure connection. Please refer to Does RIM Compromise on Security by Using ActiveSync? The answer is No, and here for further information and some nice illustrations.

[HotFix]

4) I read that BES 10 is not compatible with old devices....that would mean we would need to run 2 servers until everybody upgrades?

BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10 apparently includes support for older BlackBerry smartphones through integrated BlackBerry Mobile Fusion which is now part of BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10. There is no need to run two servers, however, you should read the migration guide beforehand and plan accordingly. Always backup the existing database, typically named BESMgmt, before any migration or upgrade.

This is not really accurate. You are still required to run the old BES for OS 7 and earlier devices. The BlackBerry Management Studio, formerly BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, provides a single web interface that can front end the old BES server, and the two sub-components of the new BES server (BDS for BlackBerries and UDS for supported non-BlackBerry ActiveSync devices).

5) What use is the BIS option?`We will still need and pay for it for using Blackberry Messenger? But other than that? I read that push email is no longer supported anyways, only regular IMAP

BIS is no longer used with BB 10 devices. You do not need it for BBM, only a standard data plan.
Push email is supported through ActiveSync and I read that IMAP push is coming - but don't use IMAP if you can use ActiveSync (with or without a BES 10 server) because ActiveSync was designed for this work and IMAP was not.

[jke76]

I like to correct a statement given by kill_9 and simultaneously admit that the needed information has not been widespread at the time of her posting.

Based on my knowledge of BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5 (Full Edition) the software can be installed on the same server running Microsoft Exchange [..]


"The BlackBerry Enterprise Server and BlackBerry Enterprise Server components do not support installation on the same computer as the messaging server." Unsupported environments - Installation and Configuration Guide - BlackBerry Enterprise Server for Microsoft Exchange - 5.0.1

"The BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express and BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express components support installation on the same computer as the messaging server." Supported features and environments - Installation and Configuration Guide - BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express for Microsoft Exchange - 5.0.1

"You must install the BlackBerry Device Service on a computer that does not already host a BlackBerry Enterprise Server
instance or BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express instance." http://docs.blackberry.com/en/admin/...n_Guide_en.pdf