ADDING BLACKBERRY SUPPORT TO YOUR EXCHANGE SERVER

 ADDING BLACKBERRY SUPPORT TO YOUR EXCHANGE SERVER

 There are two ways to deliver services and information to your BlackBerry. The most common way for consumers is via a BlackBerry service hosted and maintained by their mobile phone carrier, using a product called BlackBerry Internet Server (BIS).

Using either your BlackBerry handset or a web interface, you can configure your BIS account to check your P0P3, IMAP or Exchange accounts and to push copies of your mail to the device. This service can also keep your mailbox synchronised with the device, ensuring messages that have been deleted or read on your BlackBerry show up in the same way in your mailbox.

For business users, there is a ?econd option. Most companies have their own mail server, which is usually Microsoft Exchange-based or Lotus Notes. Using BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), businesses can add BlackBerry push support to their existing enterprise email server, ensuring email, contacts and the company address book are accessible on their employees' handsets and always up to date.

Most people opt for Microsoft Exchange, so that will be our focus for this section. But every company's Exchange configuration is different, so we are not going to provide a generic guide to installing BlackBerry Enterprise Server. Instead, we will explain what you can do with BES to get the most out of the devices connected to it.

 

  A simple wizard helps you to create a new policy for managing data and device security. 

 BES allows you to implement detailed security profiles ori a per user basis, as well as for groups and company wide.

A GLOBAL CONSOLE
The largest number of Blackberrydevices managed in one company is around 30,000 units, with implementations of 10,000 units commonplace, according to RIM. This, naturally, needs a management console that can give the status of a network at a glance. An IT administrator needs to be able to see quickly whether the environment is healthy with a browser-style console that drills down to server level, group level and individual-user level, offering a consolidated view of all.

PUSH SUPPORT

All types of application - Java, browser-based or MDS Studio

- can push data to a Blackberry device. The IT administrator can specify which servers can push, as well as which users can or cannot have data pushed to them.

SECURE APPLICATION CONNECTIONS

Corporate security and authentication mechanisms

- including proxy support, NT LAN Manager (NTLM), Kerberos and Lightweight Third-Party Authentication (LTPA) - can be extended to the BlackBerry, There is also support for RSA SecurlD and HTTPS.

MDS STUDIO

MDS Studio is available as a free download from RIM's website. With this tool, basic Blackberry applications can be assembled from components in a process that requires minimal or no coding experience thanks to a visual drag-and-drop approach. These applications can then be deployed to devices and updated over the air.

ATTACHMENT HANDLING

An IT administrator can regulate which attachments are pushed to a Blackberry device, minimising unnecessary data use and avoiding incompatible attachments being pushed. The Attachment Server lets you set which filename exten?ions are permitted for pushing to a device and the maximum file size. Policies then allow the administrator to decide who receives attachments.

  The services display gives you a complete list of all available service functions, explains what they do and shows whether they are in use.

 GROUP-BASED POLICY ADMIN

Where there are lots of users in an organisation, it makes sense to put their settings into groups - for example, sales people, field workers and senior executives. The Blackberry supports more applications than just email these days and it might be necessary to push different information out to different groups. Individual policies can then be adjusted further.

PHONE, SMS AND PIN-LOGGING POLICIES

For compliance reasons, organisations often need to be able to log calls and SMS use, as well as other types of communication, such as instant messaging and PiN-to-PIN messaging. With BES, you can centrally turn off the SMS function or use the console to log use so details of any exchange can be kept. In the world of banking, for example, this is a recommended practice. The Blackberry is an asset of the company, but the company must be able to control its use, for which it can be held liable.

IT POLICY SUPPORT

BES comes with a sizeable list of default policies by which devices can be administered. There are more than 160 to choose from and customise, covering

The installation of the BES Exchange plug-in guides you through the process, ticking off completed steps so you can see if anything has been missed or is incomplete.

the whole range of wireless experiences. Policies can be applied globally, by group or by individual user, allowing administrators to update and enforce the policies needed to govern a company's entire BlackBerry base.

ROLE-BASED ADMINISTRATION
In larger businesses, there are often multiple IT administrators, each needing a different level of access to, and clearance for, key systems. BES recognises some people will have duties that cover all aspects of the company, while others might only have responsibility for one thing, such as security or applications management. Some may have responsibility for monitoring only handheld devices, while others may work in a help-desk role, with no management or policy-making function. A range of permission levels needs to be granted to take account of these differing levels of responsibility.

REMOTE DIAGNOSTICS
To administer an end user, the IT administrator needs to understand the user's situation. This can be difficult if the employee is halfway around the world at a conference and the administrator and the BES are back at head office. The remote diagnostic capabilities of BES make it possible to pick out a user and see, at a glance, what their message activity has been and how their device is performing. This should give the administrator the information he/she needs to figure out what's wrong and to perform remote diagnosis. The Black?erry device can be locked or wiped remotely if it is lost or stolen, ensuring sensitive business information does not fall into the hands of criminals or those of a newspaper reporter.

SIMPLIFIED ACTIVATION

A password can now be used for remote activation between BES and a BlackBerry device. Hundreds of new users can be brought online with everything managed centrally. In the old days, if a user needed to connect a new handset while on the road, the device had to be brought into head office for direct connection to a computer. Now, a user can buy a device, phone the IT department for the password and get working right away.

In short, deploying one BlackBerry device or 30,000 within a business is pretty straightforward. But if you need more intricate control over how the devices and users are supported in the field, the capability is there - and it is far more flexible than other push-email systems, including Microsoft's own Exchange push email.