BlackBerry is looking to bring the same functionality offered with BlackBerry Balance to both iOS and Android. Dubbed Secure Work Space, it will be managed through BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 for third-party devices. The solution includes secure applications for email, calendar, tasks and more. This will allow for BYOD users of other platforms to keep separate work and personal items on one device, much like BlackBerry 10 users can do with BlackBerry Balance. Read the full press release below.

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Research In Motion has announced the availability of BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 (BES 10), just in time for the January 30th BlackBerry 10 launch event. On the enterprise side of the BlackBerry business, this is the most important product launch for the company this year.

BES 10 is BlackBerry's evolved Enterprise Mobile Management solution, which now extends beyond managing BlackBerry. In addition to supporting BlackBerry OS devices, the PlayBook and BlackBerry 10 phones, BES 10 also supports device and enterprise application management for iOS and Android. Ultimately, BES 10 is the counterpart required to enable enterprise-specific BlackBerry World and Balance on upcoming BB10 devices. 

RIM has been piloting BES 10 in many big enterprises, and the feedback has been extremely postive, as noted in the full press release below. The recently-announced trade-up program RIM recently announced is also important to highlight. Companies upgrading to BlackBerry 10 in 2013 will be able to trade in their current BES licenses for BES 10 ones at no charge. Keep reading for full details! 

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In our '10 Weeks of BlackBerry 10' series we'll explore one feature of BlackBerry 10 each week leading up to the launch event on January 30th. This week: BlackBerry Balance

The next stop on our 10 Weeks of BlackBerry 10 tour is one that every BlackBerry business user should be looking forward to - BlackBerry Balance. In case you haven't been keeping up, BlackBerry Balance is already a great part of the PlayBook OS that will come to BlackBerry 10. BlackBerry Balance lets you easily use one device for both personal and work with all the features you'd expect from using two different devices. BlackBerry Balance essentially lets you run two different spaces on your device - one for personal and one for work. Keep reading to check out why BlackBerry Balance is one of the best new features of BlackBerry 10.

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In case you haven't had your fill of BlackBerry 10 after checking out those sweet new images of the L-Series device, here's another look at the BB10 OS in action. The folks over at bbnews.pl did a quick hands-on and showed off the BlackBerry Hub, Active Frames, BlackBerry Balance, the native weather app, the clock and more.

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RIM has announced today the availability of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5 update with support for Novell Groupwise. The update includes support for BlackBerry Balance as well as BlackBerry Mobile Fusion compatibility. Service Pack 4 will allow you to easily upgrade from Enterprise Server to BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 with the launch of BlackBerry 10. 

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With all of the BlackBerry 10 news it's easy to get lost on information overload. L-series, N-Series, keyboards, camera, Active Frames, Dev Alphas ... it may all be a jumbled mess to you at this point. To help bring you up to speed quickly, we've rounded up what you most need to know about BlackBerry 10. As we near 2013 and an official release date, BlackBerry 10 will pick up speed and the news won't stop as we find out more details, but we'll keep this post updated so you'll have all the latest info about BlackBerry 10 all in one place. Keep reading and check out everything you need to know about BlackBerry 10!

What's New

BlackBerry 10 is a totally new platform being built from the ground up. It is being marketed by RIM as a "mobile computing platform" and not just another phone OS. BlackBerry 10 will share very little with the old BlackBerry OS, but instead offer a completly new experience for users. We've seen many hands-on demos and have a taste of what BlackBerry 10 will bring, but there is certainly much more in store. 

Hands-on with BlackBerry 10 software

Some of the new features include a brand new keyboard with predictive text and gestures, a time-warp camera, new BBM features, The BlackBerry Hub, Peek & Flow, Active Frames for minimized apps, plenty of upgraded specs and much, much more. You can see most of the new features in action in our hands-on with the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha B.  

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It's not new to us that many companies and indeed governments are opening its doors to BOYD (Bring Your Own Device) users. We will also now see the Pentagon allow the U.S. military to start using other devices, specifically the iPhone and Android devices. But the Pentagon also says that it will continue to support a large number of BlackBerry phones.

However, at the same time, the Pentagon is also looking offer a contract to companies who can provide software that will allow them to manage and monitor all the different devices. BYOD is a reality, so while it's not ideal for RIM to lose that Pentagon exclusivity with BlackBerry, RIM can step up and offer their Mobile Device Management Service, Mobile Fusion. It serves the purpose that the Pentagon are looking for to manage Android, iOS and BlackBerry devices.

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Yesterday I attended BlackBerry Jam Enterprise in Toronto, along with fellow CrackBerry writer Zach Gilbert. It was a good opportunity to hear RIM's perspective on what they're doing in the enterprise and how they are different.

We interviewed John Mutter, Enterprise Mobility Architect at RIM. But we also managed to chit-chat with several attendees including some of my former colleagues from the financial community, who were in attendance (Great to see all of you!)

Overall, I really like what RIM is doing in the enterprise. The strategy makes sense, and solves some big headaches for the enterprise CIO. But I can't help feeling concerned about communication and execution, as I'll explain.

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Strategy Analytics, who recently made headlines with the news of smartphones in use globally crossing 1 billion for the first time in the third quarter, has now released a new report comissioned by RIM wherein they found over the course of a year long study that the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution not only provides the most secure mobile platform but also the lowest total cost of ownership for mobile deployments.

“This study highlights that the cost of setting up and managing devices using a ‘Walled Garden’ architecture is more expensive than using BlackBerry Enterprise Server with BlackBerry smartphones,” said Andrew Brown, Director of Enterprise Research at Strategy Analytics. “When looking to define a cost-efficient, long-term enterprise mobility strategy, we would caution all organisations across both the public and private sectors to look at the total cost of supporting multiple devices with multiple operating systems over several years.”

Overall, the research shows that companies making use of non-BlackBerry smartphones that are managed using an MDM solution and offered VPN access cost 39% more than a BlackBerry Enterprise Server deployment and over time, that percentage of cost is only expected to rise.

As noted, cost wasn't the only thing looked at in the study either. Security of the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution was put to the test using a set of eleven key threats as a framework. It was found that the BlackBerry solution proved the most secure, scoring a low-threat level in ten of the eleven categories. Want to check out the full report yourself? You can download it from here (PDF) while the full press release can be viewed below.

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Our good friend Al Sacco had a chance to sit down with RIM CIO Robin Bienfait at MobileCon this year to chat a bit about RIM, Enterprise and the mobile space. In the Enterprise space, RIM is doing great things as we go forward into BlackBerry 10. BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and BlackBerry Balance will make for an amazing combo for business users on BB10. RIM is offering up some great tools for companies to support BYOD on not just BlackBerry, but Android and iOS as well - however RIM doesn't allow employees to use their own devices currently, even if that device a BlackBerry.

Robin notes a big part of what she concentrates on is security. 

With hackers you want to make sure that they're not in your business, that they don't have access to your customers, that you're doing things to improve your products to make sure that you aren't vulnerable and that you keep your eye on the ball 

Robin goes on to talk a bit about her daily chats with RIM CEO Thorsten Heins as well as the media attention around RIM. All in all it's a really great read. Head over to CIO for the full interview.

Read the full interview with CIO Robin Bienfait 

BlackBerry Balance is a product that we have covered a few times here, but it is also one of those topics that many people may not have actually paid too much attention to as it doesn't affect us all. For business users who supply BlackBerry smartphones or tablets to employees, BlackBerry Balance is the perfect way to keep business and personal content separate and the above new video from RIM demonstrates this in a simple fashion.

The application allows IT managers to partition the BlackBerry so staff are not able to copy and share work data to their personal applications. There is also a big advantage to the employee with BlackBerry Balance - using the app will allow them to still use all the personal apps they want, such as social networking, therefore eliminating the need to carry a second 'personal' device - everyones a winner. BlackBerry Balance is all about giving businesses peace of mind and from an outsiders point of view it looks to be the perfect tool.

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As announced earlier today, BlackBerry Mobile Fusion is now available -- but in order to make use of it on iOS and Android you'll need on-device clients. Those clients are now showing up in their respective stores (Apple's iTunes App Store and Google's Play Store). Both of the applications are indeed available for free but you'll need to be making use of BlackBerry Mobile Fusion in order to utilize them. You can find the links to each application below.

BlackBerry Mobile Fusion in the iTunes App Store
BlackBerry Mobile Fusion in the Google Play Store

[ youtube video link for mobile viewing ]

We've heard a lot about BlackBerry Balance on and off in the last few months, but haven't had a chance to see it in action all that much. BlackBerry Balance is built in to PlayBook OS 2.0 and allows users to balance (obviously) their work and personal items on the BlackBerry PlayBook.

For BlackBerry PlayBooks that are running via the BES and BlackBerry Fusion A new Work folder is sent to the device that will house all the user's work applications, keeping them separate from other items the user has on the device. Company apps are integrated in BlackBerry App World where optional applications can be downloaded and users can view any mandatory apps are pushed down to the device. Balance also brings security to other apps like limiting the abilty to copy text from work emails and in turn paste into personal applications. Very cool stuff here and it's an example of Research In Motion building upon their experience in enterprise to deliver smart solutions that will make both companies and end users happy. Check out the video above for a great look at BlackBerry Balance!

  [ youtube video link for mobile viewing ]

Back during BlackBerry World when RIM announced BlackBerry Balance there was nothing more then a press-release given explaining that the services were now available to IT admins. RIM has has posted up a video giving everyone a look at what, exactly BlackBerry Balance can do for them. You'll not be making use of this on your personal device but, if you are attached to a BES through work you may start to see some usage of it on your device now.

Via: BerryReview

 

Press Release

RIM Launches BlackBerry Balance for Work-Life Balance on BlackBerry

Unifies Work and Personal Use of BlackBerry Smartphones without Compromising Company Security or Personal Privacy

Waterloo, ON - Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM) is advancing work-life balance on BlackBerry® smartphones with BlackBerry® BalanceTM – new technology that makes possible the convenience of using a single BlackBerry smartphone for both work and personal purposes without compromising the security of company content and the privacy of personal content. RIM is introducing this technology in response to the growing trend by businesses to allow employees to use personal BlackBerry smartphones for work, or company- owned smartphones for personal, and the need by businesses to secure, manage and control confidential company or client information on these devices.

“BlackBerry Balance is a win-win for employers and employees,” said Jim Tobin, senior vice president, software and services at Research In Motion. “It’s a secure and cost-effective way for companies to keep employees connected and productive, while also allowing the flexibility for employees to carry a single phone.”

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We've heard bits and pieces about BlackBerry Balance but still no solid details (in the form of a RIM press release anyway). Our good friend Al Sacco did have a chance to sit in on a recent BlackBerry event where he heard a bit of what Balance will include. The basis of the product is to separate work and personal information on your BlackBerry smartphone. This means while you may have a work issued BlackBerry (or personal device you also use through a BES for work) you won't have to worry about mixing things up.

BlackBerry Balance looks to include access for BES admins that will only allow them to delete data and applications related to work - so your personal items will stay intact regardless. The coolest feature (and most useful) will prevent users from copying/pasting any work data or information to personal accounts or apps. If you try to copy from one to another, a warning will pop up to keep you from doing anything you dont want to do. Using BlackBerry Balance, data access can also be prevented to certain third-party apps. 

Overall BlackBerry Balance will be welcomed with open arms by all BES users (for the most part). It sounds like a great product that will definitely make things easier and safer for those of you attached to a BES through your company. As we said earlier this week, it looks to be on the way so we should see it in action in the next few weeks.

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The rumored BlackBerry Balance looks to be on its way to public release. The product looks to separate your work and play life on your BlackBerry Smartphone, keeping your personal info private while IT can still snoop on the buisness side of things.

"There are two fundamental use cases on the smartphone - enterprise and personal. The problem is that they are conflicting," said Jeff McDowell, RIM's senior vice-president for business and platform marketing. "We just wanted to create an innovative solution that allows enterprises to manage the corporate data side while at the same time give their employees the freedom to use Facebook and browse the Web and get their Internet email at the same time," 

BlackBerry Balance is said to be in carrier testing at the moment and should be available for public consumption in about two months for BlackBerry smartphones and the PlayBook. We don't know any more specifics on the product just yet, but it looks like we shouldn't have to wait too much longer to try it out.

Source: Reuters