What is BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10 (BES10)?

Those of you familiar with BlackBerry from its early days will be familiar with the BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES).  The BES was (and still is) made up of multiple services that interact with a company’s email system (Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Domino, or Novell GroupWise), provide secure IP tunneling, and allow administrators complete control over the company deployed BlackBerrys including pushing out apps.

BES10 is similar, but in many ways very different.  BES10 started out life as BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, which was a service that allowed an administrator to manage the new BB10 devices and the BlackBerry PlayBook, but it also allowed for the management of iOS (iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch) and Android devices.

Components of BES10

BES10 has three main components. One component provides the ability to enroll and manage BB10 and BlackBerry Playbook devices.  Another allows for the enrollment and management of iOS and Android devices, while the third component is a web service that provides a single-view management console for managing BB10/Playbook, iOS/Android, and classic BlackBerry devices (and earlier).

iOS and Android

BES10 allows for the classic Mobile Device Management (MDM) of iOS and Android devices like its competitors in the industry MobileIron, AirWatch, etc., but it also provides something called Secure Work Space.  Secure Work Space provides a secure container on the iOS and Android device where all of the corporate data resides.  This is similar to other products on the market like Good Technology and Divide.  It is also referred to as Containerization or Dual Persona.

In both scenarios, BES10 provides the administrator with the ability to deploy apps, provide a corporate app store, and manage the devices, including remotely wiping them, and enforcing security policies.

Under the covers, this service is called Universal Device Service (UDS).

BB10

BES10 provides full administration of BB10 and Playbook devices, including deploying apps, enforcing security policies, remote wiping, and enforcing BlackBerry Balance.

Under the covers this service is called BlackBerry Device Service (BDS).

Classic BlackBerry (BBOS 7 and earlier)

The BES10 unified management web console also interfaces to classic BESs using Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). This allows day-to-day management and troubleshooting of classic BlackBerrys, although you must still keep the classic BES (or multiple BESs as is normally the case) running.

The BES10 unified management console actually interfaces with the classic BlackBerry Administration Service (BAS).

For a more in-depth look at BES10, see my previous article here and for a video walkthrough of Secure Work Space see Simon Sage’s post here.