RIM's BlackBerry Fusion Will Support Android and Apple iOS
If you can't beat 'em...
Research In Motion (RIM) may be behind the curve for the latest hardware and slick software, but the company still has a huge share of the corporate market (over 90 percent of the Fortune 500), and it hopes to hang on to that with the introduction of BlackBerry Mobile Fusion - the company's next-generation enterprise mobility solution and RIM's entry into the multi-platform Mobile Device Management (MDM) marketplace. RIM promises that BlackBerry Mobile Fusion will simplify the management of smartphones and tablets running BlackBerry, Google Android and Apple iOS operating systems.
"We are pleased to introduce BlackBerry Mobile Fusion - RIM's next generation enterprise mobility solution - to make it easier for our business and government customers to manage the diversity of devices in their operations today," said Alan Panezic, Vice President, Enterprise Product Management and Marketing at Research In Motion. "BlackBerry Mobile Fusion brings together our industry-leading BlackBerry Enterprise Server technology for BlackBerry devices with mobile device management capabilities for iOS and Android devices, all managed from one web-based console. It provides the necessary management capabilities to allow IT departments to confidently oversee the use of both company-owned and employee-owned mobile devices within their organizations."
The enterprise market for smartphones and tablets continues to grow in both the company-provisioned and employee-owned (Bring Your Own Device or BYOD) categories. BYOD in particular has led to an increase in the diversity of mobile devices in use in the enterprise and new challenges for CIOs and IT departments as they struggle to manage and control wireless access to confidential company information on the corporate network.
RIM isn't doing much to reverse the growing love for iPhones and Androids, but BlackBerry Mobile Fusion can help companies organize mobile device management for smartphones and tablets running Android and iOS operating systems.
BlackBerry Mobile Fusion will provide the following mobile device management capabilities for all supported mobile devices:
• Asset management
• Configuration management
• Security and policy definition and management
• Secure and protect lost or stolen devices (remote lock, wipe)
• User- and group-based administration
• Multiple device per user capable
• Application and software management
• Connectivity management (Wi-Fi, VPN, certificate)
• Centralized console
• High scalability
BlackBerry Mobile Fusion is currently in early beta testing, and general availability is expected in late March.
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If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
Yep, that is the author's caption below the title.
Onto other thoughts, I'm pleased to see BlackBerry not going completely belly-up. They are trying to adapt, which is comendable.
Smart move, I still like bberry for business way more than my iphone. The blackberry is solid and secure. Iphone still seems like a toy novelty by comparison.
I disagree.... Working as a consultant to several fortune 500 companies, I have been exposed to the several management pitfalls that BB/RIM imposes. One of the largest complaints for Enterprises is the lack of pnative support for Microsoft Exchange, which already offers many of the features FUSION lists. The overhead in both costs and management BES requires isn't justified. Until RIM changes that, the trend away from BB will continue.
it will make the guys in IT happier that have to deal with the stubborn apple nuts that refuse to accept a blackberry for there work phones
I disagree.... Working as a consultant to several fortune 500 companies, I have been exposed to the several management pitfalls that BB/RIM imposes. One of the largest complaints for Enterprises is the lack of pnative support for Microsoft Exchange, which already offers many of the features FUSION lists. The overhead in both costs and management BES requires isn't justified. Until RIM changes that, the trend away from BB will continue.
BES is a main reason WHY companies use BlackBerries...
I applaud the idea, but I think many enterprises and government agencies will be reluctant to have "foreign" devices in their environment. Still, it's good to see RIM trying to follow the trends instead of standing against the grain. Maybe there's hope for them after all.
it will make the guys in IT happier that have to deal with the stubborn apple nuts that refuse to accept a blackberry for there work phones
Maybe because blackberry phones.... I dunno... sucked.
Just a though, but: It would be nice if the Android support on PlayBook will be done in a secure, sandbox manner.
Umm, maybe I'm a little slow. Would someone who understood the article tell me what the H-E-double-toothpicks it means? My best guess is that is has nothing to do with the device pictured, but provides a central management tool that manages (whatever the ditto that means) Blackberrys, Apply devices, and Android devices.