BlackBerry Simplified

The BlackBerry Appliance is a preconfigured server that acts as a central link between wireless networks, applications and devices, enabling companies without an IT staff to provide secure access to wireless applications. The offering consists of a preconfigured rack-mounted server with BlackBerry Enterprise Server software preinstalled, as well as 20 client access licenses, according to an internal RIM document viewed by CRN.

The solution integrates with Microsoft Exchange 2003 and is being sold on a 24-month purchase plan at $207 per month, which includes technical support and a two-year hardware warranty, said a source who requested anonymity.

RIM, Waterloo, Ontario, also is offering an exchange program in which the customer can have a new appliance sent out immediately in the event of a hardware failure, and also includes six months of RIM&'s Tx0 support package, which provides e-mail support and 8x5 telephone support for one caller, according to the document.

RIM would neither confirm nor deny details of the BlackBerry Appliance. Solution providers said the new appliance should open up more channel opportunities and gain widespread adoption in the SMB market because it provides an alternative to the complexity and cost of a BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

“A lot of smaller companies would like to have access to secure push e-mail, but it has to be easy for them to deploy,” said Surya Jayaweera, CEO of WolfeTech Development, a BlackBerry solution provider in Claremont, Calif.

As it expands its product portfolio and market reach, RIM also is looking to add new skill sets among its solution provider network. The vendor is in the midst of refocusing its channel program to identify which partners offer more value in strategic areas such as VoIP, according to another source who requested anonymity.

In particular, RIM is looking for VARs to support the BlackBerry 7270, unveiled at Interop New York last month, its first device to feature VoIP and WLAN support, the source said.

Meanwhile, a security flaw revealed last week by a group of German hackers called Phenoelit could open up BlackBerry Enterprise Server to denial-of-service attacks, but RIM said it has already developed fixes for the vulnerability.

Some solution providers disagreed with the strategy RIM is using to tackle the SMB market. The SMB push depends too much on Microsoft Exchange, said Alan Gould, president and CEO of Westlake Software, a BlackBerry integrator in Calabasas, Calif. He believes that once Microsoft has made its handheld devices completely interactive with back-office applications, RIM will be in deep trouble.

“All Microsoft has to do is make fundamental changes in the way Exchange works, and every BlackBerry server in use will be broken,” Gould said. “Microsoft doesn&'t have any reason to make Exchange a continued open platform, and why should they?”

And Microsoft isn&'t the only potential roadblock for RIM, which remains locked in a bitter legal battle over patents held by Arlington, Va.-based NTP governing various functions of the BlackBerry. Although the U.S. Patent Office ruled against two of NTP&'s patents last week, RIM still faces the possibility of a court-ordered shutdown of its BlackBerry service in North America, with a U.S. District Court judge scheduled to rule on the case sometime after Feb. 1.