Free BES Server Coming

Did anyone else see this today?

RIM fights back with freebie BlackBerry Enterprise Server | NetworkWorld.com Community

I think it's a great it that they are finally making a "free" version of this as many companies could benefit from it but just don't have the money to buy into their software.

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dynamik

They've had an "express" version for awhile. I don't think it went to 2k users, but you could get it for 2003. I emailed them asking for cheaper alternatives and they just told me to get that. I couldn't use it though since they never updated it for 2007. It looks like this will work with 03-10.

NightShade03

I'd be curious to know if it works with a "hosted" exchange solution. This way you could control you blackberries without having to pay the hosting provider but still out source the email portion.

msteinhilber

I wish we could implement BES at my workplace, but we do not utilize Exchange. We use MDaemon which I just learned the other day while trialing the latest version of MDaemon to test before upgrading is now owned by RIM. Seems to be that they are working to provide Blackberry support in some way to MDaemon though, other than the current option of SyncML for PIM data.

veritas_libertas

Unfortunately/Fortunately we use Lotus Notes. Fortunate because we can use Blackberries, and unfortunate because I really do not like Lotus Notes.

stonedtrout

NightShade03 wrote: »

I'd be curious to know if it works with a "hosted" exchange solution. This way you could control you blackberries without having to pay the hosting provider but still out source the email portion.

I'd like to know too. I work for one of those hosted exchange companies. This could be a deal breaker for a lot of hosted exchange companies and change the game. From the way I understand BES and Exchagne I really doubt that it will work with hosted exchange but you never know what RIM will come up with.

I have to say that Blackberry support is the most painful part of my job.

Hyper-Me

This could be a biggie for us. We do SMB consulting and a lot of companies want to use BES but 1. not pay for it and 2. not buy a seperate server to put it on.

Definitely some cost savings here.

mikedisd2

Cool, just in time too. This may save us $5k+. Doesn't seem to exclude any features we would so far require.

dales

Shame it only supports exchange at the mo. Whats the limit on user cals (think I read it was 75 somewhere),presumably those cals are free too?

NightShade03

It supports up to 2000 users

RobertKaucher

I am actually very excited about this. I would like more of our users to have BlackBerries and I would like to be able to get rid of the current VM I have running BES, which is just a Windows XP box setup my my predocessor that I ran VMWare converter on. It has a constant problem with low disk space on the system drive. I'd love to slap it on the Exchange server and not be restricted by my 10 CALs.

RTmarc

dynamik wrote: »

They've had an "express" version for awhile. I don't think it went to 2k users, but you could get it for 2003. I emailed them asking for cheaper alternatives and they just told me to get that. I couldn't use it though since they never updated it for 2007. It looks like this will work with 03-10.

Huh? BES Express worked just fine with Exchange 2007. I installed it at the company I was previously with and it has been up and running - with Exchange 2007 - for the past three years.

Only limitations they put on it was that it was good up to 14 users and then you had to purchase the upgrade. Each license, up to 15, was considered a small business CAL.

dynamik

I thought it wasn't compatible with 64-bit. Maybe they updated it later on. I even emailed them about it, and they told me it wasn't supported.

snadam

veritas_libertas wrote: »

Unfortunately/Fortunately we use Lotus Notes. Fortunate because we can use Blackberries, and unfortunate because I really do not like Lotus Notes.

I feel your pain...

pwjohnston

Heh, and we just decommissioned ours to play with XenServer.

mikedisd2

Have they announced a release date for this? Have only read "in March".

Can anyone see a reason for not using this over the full edition? I'll be purchasing/deploying BES for 20-30 users at the end of March, so need a clear picture of its limitations.

mikedisd2

Just reading up on the BES Express Release Notes. There seems to be a lot of known issues. Starting to look like bug city and it might not be worth the trouble when dealing with execs. It also doesn't allow OTA provisioning. May have to fork out the $5k after all.

BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express Official Documentation - The Unofficial BlackBerry Support Forum

GBAKER2204

To those that haven't already seen this, the download is available already:

BlackBerry - BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express

RTmarc

mikedisd2 wrote: »

Just reading up on the BES Express Release Notes. There seems to be a lot of known issues. Starting to look like bug city and it might not be worth the trouble when dealing with execs. It also doesn't allow OTA provisioning. May have to fork out the $5k after all.

BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express Official Documentation - The Unofficial BlackBerry Support Forum

You stated in your previous post that you needed it for 20-30 employees. Unless something has changed with BESE it won't do you much good considering it can be licensed only to 14 users.

RobertKaucher

RTmarc wrote: »

You stated in your previous post that you needed it for 20-30 employees. Unless something has changed with BESE it won't do you much good considering it can be licensed only to 14 users.

That's kind of the point of this thread. It's licensed for up to 2000 users.

http://au.blackberry.com/services/business/server/express/RIM707_System_Requirements.pdf

Notice it gives suggested requirements for up to 2000.

wd40

I tried to download it, just for testing, but there was a problem with there order system.

the_Grinch

My company has been researching this because we support so small companies who couldn't afford BES. This would solve a lot of headaches for us and there really isn't a limit on the number of users. I was reading an article that said you could run as many express servers as you liked....