[mahgnal2]

Basically, does the fact that the Playbook will use Active Sync mean that you could potentially connect to a company's Exchange Server and receive email even without installing the PAS (Playbook Administration Service) or Mobile Fusion?

If you can do this...then that means that people in your company who are already Active Sync enabled (ex. they have an iPhone) will not need to contact IT for approval concerning using their Playbook with Native Email on the Exchange Server. Just a thought, does anyone know if you can use the Active Sync and Native Email Account Settings to directly connect to an Exchange Server in this fashion?

Does it give the option to enter the address of the Exchange Server, along with Username and Password in the Mail Account Settings on the Playbook? Kevin?

[buckeyeind]

I'm in the same boat. I will be receiving the Bold in about 3 weeks (we had a choice of Bold or Torch) from my employer. We currently use exchange, vpn, etc and are on severe lock down when trying to access certain websites (no shopping sites, i.e, amazon, craigslist, cannot download iTunes on our supplied laptop and on and on). I want to purchase the PB but I'm pretty confident that complete rights won't be accessible from my company to use to it's potential. I'm ignorant on how functional the PB will be if rights to access the VPN aren't open. Not sure if the bridge would solve that. Any help, experiences, from anyone is appreciated. Regards.

[rotorwrench]

If you want to use your company phone and PB for personal use also, you want your company to use Balance. Our company is adopting it for that reason. It allows secure management of your phone and PB, while opening up personal use also. There are also breakdowns on its implementation on RIM's sites. Actually pretty cool. We've been waiting for some solution for this for a long time and RIM came through. With Fusion, other OSs can be managed within the same Enterprise infrastructure and able to take advantage of Balance also.

Believe me, you want your company to use Balance and Fusion.

[rotorwrench]

Basically, does the fact that the Playbook will use Active Sync mean that you could potentially connect to a company's Exchange Server and receive email even without installing the PAS (Playbook Administration Service) or Mobile Fusion?

If you can do this...then that means that people in your company who are already Active Sync enabled (ex. they have an iPhone) will not need to contact IT for approval concerning using their Playbook with Native Email on the Exchange Server. Just a thought, does anyone know if you can use the Active Sync and Native Email Account Settings to directly connect to an Exchange Server in this fashion?

Does it give the option to enter the address of the Exchange Server, along with Username and Password in the Mail Account Settings on the Playbook? Kevin?

In that situation, you want Fusion coupled with Balance, as it will allow what you're wanting to do.

[Superfly_FR]

I guess you should have a look here :
http://crackberry.com/further-explan...-playbook-os-2
or
http://crackberry.com/what-does-acti...ervice-revenue

Same video, but different comments.

[buckeyeind]

Thank you. This is the kind of feedback I need and appreciate. The use of the company phone for personal use is welcomed as long as we aren't adding expense to the plan by monetary downloads, etc. I would be purchasing the PB personally and trying to implement how to use it for work as best possible. They (my company) will not be purchasing the PB or adding programs for one individual, so I'm blazing a trail. Long term goal is to prove its worth. If successful, RIMM is looking at a large PO from us on a global scale.
Therefore, if I purchase the PB, I will not have the support of IT so I need to create the wheel for them by everyone's help here. Thanks again and keep the ideas coming!

[taylortbb]

If your company leaves ActiveSync open to the internet, like is required for iPhone/Android/etc then you shouldn't have any issues connecting your PlayBook. The only issue is if your IT department requires certain security policies that can only be applied through Mobile Fusion.

[rotorwrench]

While my company was already using BB phones, I was like you with the PB. We had previously been using only Toughbooks for our service and remote work and were considering tablets, but a 10in tablet has the same footprint as the Toughbook model we were using and the Toughbook is actually easier to carry and deal with than a 10in tablet as it has a handle and doesn't need a case .

I bought a PB, took it to work and asked IT to let me try it. Long story short, we now have 7, just received the most recent 2 this week. The Bridge has worked so well for us that we have been able to drop 5 Toughbook cell cards. Our bookkeeper says that on average now, the PB pays itself off within two to three weeks now due to time saving and efficiency. When the prices were higher, it was closer to 4 weeks.

They have worked very well for us and now that we have some time with them, there's nothing out there that will serve our needs the same way. In an Otterbox case, the PB now goes where we've never been able to use the Toughbook, mainly due to size and Bridge. From on top of helicopters in 20 below zero blowing snow, hangars, work stations, the office and mounted in our vehicles and aircraft. We keep finding ways to use them

[buckeyeind]

Thank you for the input. We manufacture and build mechanical gearboxes, A/C motors and inverters and we are in just about every country and every environment. Looks like a playbook may be purchased tonight. Bold will be in my hand in 3 weeks and I'm off to the races. I've been closely following the plight of the PB for about a year and after CES, my interest level went back up. I've been weighing the PB vs iPad as I knew I'd be on my own regarding work but I own an iMac (but laptop is a company supplied PC), so I keep going back and forth on pulling the trigger on which tablet to go with. Thanks again.

[mahgnal2]

Thanks everyone who posted a reply or comment. It's really great to hear about how companies are actually using the devices and how they have been able benefit from them. I am a BES Admin for a healthcare company and also work closely with our Information Security team to limit potential data leakage from our mobile devices.

I believe the Playbook can offer many things from a management standpoint that the iPads and Galaxy Tabs of the world simply cannot and am trying to document a justification for using the Playbook at our company. Currently we only have two or three devices in testing, however we are beginning to be approached by Physcians who wish to use the device in rounding and other circumstances due to the Playbooks more portable size versus the other tablets. If there are any other examples of companies who are already in trial or deployment phase of the device, I would love to hear about it. Thanks again.

[Hilton_K]

should be able to crank the active sync through the playbook just like the iPad and various Android tablets.

I currently have personal bold 9900 running NotifySync to gain access to ActiveSync on my phone and once OS2.0 is avaliable will use the Playbook to do the same. Only thing i am unsure of is if the Blackberry Bridge will support ActiveSync or if it will require WiFi or hotspot to sync.

Company allows me to do this but will not allow VPN use which is a bit of a shame but understand why. If os2.0 supports Bridge to sync ActiveSync then i will put the option forward to the it gurus at work.

[rotorwrench]

Thanks everyone who posted a reply or comment. It's really great to hear about how companies are actually using the devices and how they have been able benefit from them. I am a BES Admin for a healthcare company and also work closely with our Information Security team to limit potential data leakage from our mobile devices.

I believe the Playbook can offer many things from a management standpoint that the iPads and Galaxy Tabs of the world simply cannot and am trying to document a justification for using the Playbook at our company. Currently we only have two or three devices in testing, however we are beginning to be approached by Physcians who wish to use the device in rounding and other circumstances due to the Playbooks more portable size versus the other tablets. If there are any other examples of companies who are already in trial or deployment phase of the device, I would love to hear about it. Thanks again.

Then you'll be interested to know what I'm about to share with you. We were applying for a higher security status and service profile with an aerospace company whose products we maintain and service for our customers and our own aircraft. These guys are a major DOD contractor also. One of the requirements for mobile and field communication was the use of BB phones only, using their management profile. The only tablet we can use in our system is the PB. One of their reasons was the Bridge, sensitive data and communications not being retained on the PB. That's one of the reasons we chose the PB, as well as many other security sensitive companies. But with the advent of 2.0 and additional native apps, email being one of them, we would have to block the native email and some other functions. That was before Fusion and Balance. With the PB being managed under those, we won't have to block those apps now. Win win

[blue-b]

I don't have anything to add, but wanted to say wow, very interesting thread so far, hoping more share their experiences within their work environments. It has been an interesting thread so far.

[mahgnal2]

Wow that's great Rotorwrench! Thanks for sharing this! We were hoping to be in the beta testing but my company has too much going on at the moment so they said we couldn't spare the resources needed. Have you seen Mobile Fusion or Playbook Administration Server? Does it work as advertised?

I'm also excited about the new bridge functions, can't wait to use my bb to type on playbook. I can see how using bridge would be more secure for now and easier to manage until the server piece comes out.

[rotorwrench]

Wow that's great Rotorwrench! Thanks for sharing this! We were hoping to be in the beta testing but my company has too much going on at the moment so they said we couldn't spare the resources needed. Have you seen Mobile Fusion or Playbook Administration Server? Does it work as advertised?

I'm also excited about the new bridge functions, can't wait to use my bb to type on playbook. I can see how using bridge would be more secure for now and easier to manage until the server piece comes out.

No I haven't. I just pester IT for anything I can glean from him. We're apparently getting Balance as part of our BES 5.0 upgrade and will be adding Fusion. They're most excited about being able to separate BES secure data from personal on the phone and PB. Thats the reason I got my own PB and phone. Now it's not necessary. But I'll keep them

PAS I'm unfamiliar with altogether. I'll ask about it. I haven't heard it mentioned. To my knowledge, Fusion within BES serves that function. Maybe that's part of the 5.0 upgrade. We get a free PB with it too

[fire6]

should be able to crank the active sync through the playbook just like the iPad and various Android tablets.

I currently have personal bold 9900 running NotifySync to gain access to ActiveSync on my phone and once OS2.0 is avaliable will use the Playbook to do the same. Only thing i am unsure of is if the Blackberry Bridge will support ActiveSync or if it will require WiFi or hotspot to sync.

Company allows me to do this but will not allow VPN use which is a bit of a shame but understand why. If os2.0 supports Bridge to sync ActiveSync then i will put the option forward to the it gurus at work.

To try and answer Hilton_K. I believe from what I have read Active sync will be separate from the BB bridge. Bridge works through your phone. So phones on OS 5-7 will not have active sync on them. Therefor active sync will for now only work on WiFi. Newer PB will work on cellular networks(for another data charge) active sync may work with them. The current PB will still work off the bridge for people whose IT have not adopted active sync. Those employers that allow access or install Fusion will have two ways of getting mail, calendar, and contacts. This will be a big improvement for gmail users. They can set up gmail to run like exchange mail. This means timely two way sync, contacts, and calendar.