Can anyone give me a good reason not to use BESX v5.0 instead of the Full BES v5.0?

RickS2 · Thread Author #1 06-18-2010, 02:18 PM

Exchange 2007 environment with 60 blackberry users. Anyone using BESX 5, and does it kick *** or not? Other than fewer policies..what else should I be concerned with?

saukrateaz · #2 06-18-2010, 02:48 PM

BesX limit is 50 users.

RickS2 · Thread Author #3 06-18-2010, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saukrateaz

BesX limit is 50 users.

According to the BESX system requirements document:
- up to 75 users on the same server as Exchange
- supports up to 2000 users

I tried to post the link but it would not let me.

saukrateaz · #4 06-18-2010, 03:08 PM

I stand corrected. previous version had 50 limit cap.

knottyrope · #5 06-19-2010, 05:08 PM

Express has a 10,000 user limit with a shared database.

2000 max on dedicated server.
You can connect as many servers to the data base untill you hit 10,000 users.

75 max when installed on Excahnge server.

CanuckBB · #6 06-21-2010, 06:36 AM

The 2 deal breakers for me were: the inability to OTA a non-BES plan device and the inability to block non-BES emails.

RickS2 · Thread Author #7 06-21-2010, 08:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CanuckBB

The 2 deal breakers for me were: the inability to OTA a non-BES plan device and the inability to block non-BES emails.

CanuckBB - when you say OTA...are you talking about OTA activation?

CanuckBB · #8 06-22-2010, 06:25 AM

Yes. Not that big a deal if all the devices go through your hands, but it can be a real pain in a large geographically diverse organization.

RickS2 · Thread Author #9 06-22-2010, 08:48 AM

BES Express v5 for exchange appears to support OTA activation (p59-60 of BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express for Microsoft Exchange
Version: 5.0 | Service Pack: 1 Administration Guide).

It would be cool if someone could confirm this.

CanuckBB · #10 06-22-2010, 11:27 AM

It supports OTA activation of devices on a BES plan. One of the appealing features of BESX is that it enables full BES connection with devices on a BIS only plan. That could potentially save a fair bit of money. However OTA activation is not available/supporrted on a BIS plan BB. There have been reports that it has been done, but I would not bet on it being consistent.

If all your devices are on BES plans, or they can be wire-activated, then I'd suggest you have a good comparative look at the IT policies for both BES and BESX. if you can live within the scaled down policies of BESX, it's a good choice.

gm85 · #11 06-22-2010, 09:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CanuckBB

It supports OTA activation of devices on a BES plan. One of the appealing features of BESX is that it enables full BES connection with devices on a BIS only plan. That could potentially save a fair bit of money. However OTA activation is not available/supporrted on a BIS plan BB. There have been reports that it has been done, but I would not bet on it being consistent.

If all your devices are on BES plans, or they can be wire-activated, then I'd suggest you have a good comparative look at the IT policies for both BES and BESX. if you can live within the scaled down policies of BESX, it's a good choice.

That's odd, besx was designed to work with BIS data plans. At our company we have BESX and I've activated devices on BIS plans OTA without any problems (we have employees on Rogers, Bell and Virgin). Of course you need a BIS data plan (like a 500MB or 1GB) and not an "unlimited" email plan.

CanuckBB · #12 06-23-2010, 05:31 AM

As I said, there are reports that it can be done. It really is up to the carrier if the service books are pushed to the device. In a lot of cases, the EA option is not on the device if on a BIS plan.

It may work, but it's not a sure thing.