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Analysis: Mobile Device Management: Page 9 of 22

Most people recognize BES as a mobile e-mail platform that integrates with Lotus Notes, Microsoft Exchange or Novell GroupWise. But BES also provides access to back-office data (through its Mobile Data Services feature) and provides extensive device-management capabilities as well. BES's device-management functions, however, are a double-edged sword. BES has excellent device management, but only for BlackBerrys. Administrators can disable individual pieces of hardware on the device, such as cameras and Bluetooth peripherals. No other MDM vendor we've worked with can offer the granular level of control that RIM exerts over its own BlackBerry hardware.

However, though RIM has begun to extend the BES platform to other handhelds based on Palm, Symbian and Windows Mobile through its BlackBerry Connect program, only mobile e-mail and data services are offered as features. RIM says it introduced a "robust set of IT policies," including mandating passwords and controlling access to applications. But according to David Heit, senior product manager at RIM, "It is up to the device manufacturer to decide which IT policies to include; however, many are expected to support the new IT policies on their BlackBerry Connect-enabled devices." We haven't found that device manufacturers have picked up on these new policy-management features. So, today, if you want to deploy BES and manage non-BlackBerry devices with it, you'll have to deploy a separate MDM package, or work with a hosted provider, to manage them.

The good news is that many MDM vendors have at least some form of integration to the BlackBerry platform. This is mostly limited to inventorying and some security features (device wipe and lock, for instance). IT managers can thus do the majority of their management from a single console while performing more advanced features through BES. Vendors cited a lack of access to lower levels of the BlackBerry hardware platform as a reason why they haven't provided similar features for device management in their own systems. Enterprises that want to use BlackBerrys will have to run BES anyway, so running it to handle more advanced security policies while relying on a central MDM solution to handle inventorying shouldn't pose much of a problem.

BlackBerry has a compelling feature set and, with recent handsets like the Pearl and 8800, the product has begun to have better feature parity with other competing handsets, such as Palm's popular Treo. We only wish RIM would provide a more feature-rich experience between BES and platforms outside of the BlackBerry OS--and that manufacturers would implement those features as well.

Can't Someone Else Do It?

Your data center is packed to the brim, the lights dim every time you reboot a server and not only can you serve up Web pages, you can bake some tasty bread in the process. Now you've been called on to manage your enterprise's mobile devices. But with already taxed resources, do you really need to dedicate one or more beefy servers to managing your mobile deployment?