Hosting version of BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express in Russia

Today we would like to talk about what BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express is , for which RIM created it in its time, and what prospects await it in Russia.
The product history of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server began a long time ago, and today we can say with confidence that the period of adolescence and youth of BES is somehow overcome, the latest release (5.0.3) demonstrates the best stability and the richest functionality in the entire history of the product.

A little excursion into the history

The first version of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server appeared back in 1999 and worked on Exchange Server 5.5. It seems that not very many modern administrators found Exchange Server 5.5, what can we say about the BlackBerry Enterprise Server , which did not appear in Russia right away.
In November 2004, a branch of the 4th version appeared, which is still used by many people and where it is used (of course, with subsequent service packs). It became the first version of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server , which the author of this text substantively acquainted with and even certified on it in 2007 :)

What do BlackBerry users especially appreciate in the BlackBerry Enterprise Server?

Send a message from your smartphone, immediately watch it in the Sent Items folder in Outlook and be sure that the message will be delivered to the recipient instantly? Of course, this is great, but, by the way, this functionality appeared in BES v1, released in 1999 :)
Since then, the ecosystem around the BlackBerry solution has changed dramatically, grown, enriched with functionality, has become much more stable and more integrated with the mail standard for Enterprise users - Microsoft Exchange Server .
Now the actual server branch is 5, the service pack that recently reached the third. Integration with Microsoft products has become even closer - there is support for Enterprise messaging services, which in general is fully consistent with the stated trend for the convergence of RIM and Microsoft .
Having conquered the Enterprise market in North America and the countries of the “golden billion” in February 2010, the corporation made an unexpected move for many, releasing a free version of its product, without cutting off the functionality as radically as all vendors standardize, differentiating free from paid versions.

The idea, as it became clear after the smoke of doubts and incomprehensibility of the step cleared, was very simple - to allow the BlackBerry solution to be used to a wider segment of potential users who do not need functions inherent only in the BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

What functions, if you "sort everything out on the shelves," of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server available in the full version, does Express support?

In fact, it is much easier to list what it does not support. The list of unsupported includes premium options, such as:
Enterprise Instant Messaging Clients (OCS and Lync), Enterprise Social Networking Solutions, Chalk Pushcast Software and BlackBerry Mobile Voice System, most of the IT policies (the full version supports more than 500 policies, Express - 35), native support for high availability and monitoring.
The list of BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express IT policies is described in detail in the administrative guide .
It must be said that for the vast majority of medium and small businesses, these functions are not often used, so their presence or absence is not the main criterion for choosing BlackBerry . The main criterion is the BlackBerry brand itself, carrying brand quality and brand services.
BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express did not come to Russia immediately - it took some time to prepare :) Today, an Enterprise level service based on Microsoft Exchange 2010 and BES Express
for the business segment is provided by MTS, in partnership with which we have implemented the service for corporate users, acting as an integrator of the hosting service scheme.

What does the BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express offer to the end user?

• Email :
o Push email with HTML support
o Synchronization in both directions (the device is a smartphone and a server-smartphone)
o Mark messages for execution (flag emails)
o Remote search for messages on the server from a smartphone
o View and manage mail folders on the server from a smartphone
• Calendar :
o Wireless synchronization of the calendar in both directions (the device is a smartphone and a server smartphone)
o Ability to view the free / busy status of colleagues
o Ability to forward meetings
o View, edit and save files attached to the meeting
• Contacts :
o Wireless synchronization of contacts in both directions (the device is a smartphone and a server smartphone)
o Wireless contact search on the server
o Synchronization of folders with contacts, personal mailing lists and shared folders with contacts (the latter requires a separate request for inclusion)
• Access to documents and files :
o Ability to view, download, edit, save and attach files
o Native support for all common file formats
o Audio file support (.AWE, .WAV, .MP3 and Audio WMA)
o Open Document Text (ODT), Open Document Presentations (ODP) and Open Document Spreadsheets (ODS) support
• Security :
o Ability to reset the password, lock the smartphone. remotely erase the data on the smartphone
Now the solution is available in the hosting version, which relieves customers from investing in hardware for independent hosting and problems with obtaining licenses for the right to use the product in Russia (not to be confused with RIM licenses, which are not intended here).
The key differentiators of the two tariff plans are listed below -

The BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express service from MTS lowers the threshold for entering a service for small and medium businesses.
The dynamics of the change in the attitude of the business to the service as a whole is there, and we, as one of the apologists for BlackBerry in Russia, hope that one day the BlackBerry = Business identity that is so familiar to the West will appear among us.