CIO: BlackBerry 10 OS to Support Microsoft ActiveSync, No BES: What It Means for IT

February 28 2012

I've been starting to receive questions from customers about what RIM's Blackberry 10 and Playbook 2.0 strategy means for Domino support going forward. The Playbook 2.0, for example, is written to use ActiveSync and RIM has already declared that it will work with Lotus Notes Traveler. On our side, IBM is not supporting the Playbook on Traveler...yet. Clearly, though, this is RIM's first step into the ActiveSync world, and it has implications to what we need to support and when going forward.

So with that admittedly-vague statement upfront, I suggest every customer looking at their future with Blackberry read this article.

BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, which is currently available for download in an early, BlackBerry-PlayBook-tablet-only version, is a new software component that will integrate with organizations' existing BlackBerry infrastructure and eventually allow them to manage and secure "smartphones and tablets from any manufacturer", according to Panezic. The initial version of Mobile Fusion with full Android and iOS management features will be released in late March, Panezic says. And RIM will update the software frequently to take advantage of any new security features that Google or Apple build into their respective software over time. ...

New BlackBerry 10 smartphones will be able to use ActiveSync in the future to connect to Exchange Servers--just like the PlayBook tablet, thanks to the new PlayBook OS 2.0 software update. However, organizations with BlackBerry 10 smartphones that want or need the same level of IT security and management that's currently available via BES should use BlackBerry Mobile Fusion. In other words, a direct BlackBerry 10 or PlayBook connection to Exchange still uses ActiveSync but does not offer any sort of trusted secure communications channel like the one afforded by BES or Mobile Fusion, according to Panezic.

Link: CIO: BlackBerry 10 OS to Support Microsoft ActiveSync, No BES: What It Means for IT >

Ed Brill | Highland Park, IL USA Category:  Blackberry  Add/View Comments [18]

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  1. 1  Craig Wiseman http://www.wiseman.La/cpw | 2/28/2012 12:09:29 PM

    It would be crazy to request full activesync support in Domino, right?

  1. 2  David Schaffer http://davidschaffer.us | 2/28/2012 12:24:53 PM

    If Traveler would support Blackberry devices with what we now have for iOS plus Journal and ToDo I would be very happy to let BES fade into memory. Would be nice to have all users on the same server, same contacts sync model, etc.

  1. 3  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 2/28/2012 12:27:30 PM

    @1 it's not as crazy as it used to sound.

  1. 4  Craig Wiseman http://www.wiseman.La/cpw | 2/28/2012 12:42:32 PM

    It's nice to be <less> crazy that I used to be. ;-)

  1. 5  Brad  | 2/28/2012 12:51:32 PM

    I have my OS2 Playbook synced to Traveler right now.

  1. 6  Timothy Briley  | 2/28/2012 1:08:11 PM

    Now that Mardi Gras is over, Craig's entire state is a little less crazy that it was just a week ago.

  1. 7  Michael H http://www.kybaptist.org | 2/28/2012 1:16:46 PM

    I too have my OS2 Playbook synced to Traveler now. It works very well and I know of two friends that are planing to drop their BES data plan on their phones (save the money) and use their Playbook for corporate PIM data. The are obviously not employees that are required to be available 24/7. @2 I agree with the thought of "wouldn't it be nice to have all mobile users on one server like the good ol' days when everyone had a BB and were managed by a BES!" I believe this concept it why RIM developed the Mobile Fusion product, so that we would have one place to administer all mobile devices. Its just a shame that its ANOTHER cost on top of what we already have. I hear you though.

  1. 8  Craig Wiseman http://www.wiseman.La/cpw | 2/28/2012 1:33:50 PM

    Hey! Exuberant is not crazy.

    mostly.

  1. 9  Bob Jones  | 2/29/2012 8:37:41 AM

    IBM needs to start supporting BlackBerry PlayBook native email via active sync profile in the next release of Lotus Notes Traveler and perhaps create a Lotus Traveler client for the PlayBook to allow more control from a Lotus Traveler perspective. BlackBerry Mobile Fusion is the combination of managing multiple server's that run both PlayBook using BDS (BlackBerry Device Service)and UDS (Universal Device Service )Apple as well as Android phone's allowing IT to manage and control using multiple mobile devices in your environment. (very cool)

  1. 10  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 2/29/2012 9:04:50 AM

    @9 I am extremely disappointed to see that your IP address comes from rim.net, "Bob". I've personally been in the discussions with RIM over the last few weeks, anonymous comments aren't needed to further drive home the point.

  1. 11  Steve Pitcher http://www.stevencpitcher.com | 3/1/2012 2:25:34 PM

    IBM has quite an opportunity here. Very exciting times for mobile.

  1. 12  Jim  | 3/2/2012 10:47:38 AM

    Ed & all,

    We setup Traveler a couple weeks ago for the 1st time and we LOVE it! We're a big Lotus Notes shop and it feels great to be able to brag about it. We're also exclusively a BlackBerry shop with BES which is why we had never played with Traveler before now...and which is also why we're keeping our Traveler excitement within the confines of IT...

    Anyway, so we jumped on the Mobile Fusion bandwagon on day 1 assuming that it was going to be a competitor of Traveler & Active Synch. This assumption was based at least partially on the news that we were hearing that Mobile Fusion is the future of BES (so of course email/PIM synching is part of that equation). We soon realized that Mobile Fusion is leaving email/PIM synching to services like Traveler & Active Synch now and in the future. Come again? Does this mean that RIM is getting out of the secure email delivery business?

    We have 5 PlayBooks that we bought the week they were available. We tried assigning them via MF with no success. We then started playing around with Traveler and low and behold works almost perfectly (calendar is not working very well).

    Official Traveler support on PlayBook would be awesome and would give us a reason to keep our Traveler server up and running AND deploy PlayBooks. But I hope when that day comes we'll see a selection on the Playbook account setup that reads "IBM Lotus Traveler" as it really causes great anguish for us to have to select "Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync" - but hey, at least it works.

    Sorry if this post seems to be an unstructured stream of babble but it should pair well with the vagueness and confusion that is coming out of Waterloo as of late...

  1. 13  Jim  | 3/2/2012 10:54:23 AM

    One last thing...

    Is it me, or does RIM seem a little scary and unpredictable lately? I can't get a handle on whether they're trying to totally reinvent themselves or these changes are more incremental. I hope they figure this all out and can provide a very clear and logical vision for what's coming. Sort of reminds me of how IBM is with Lotus Notes...just kidding...sort of ;)

  1. 14  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 3/2/2012 11:25:27 AM

    @12 the protocol is "Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync". That is what the device manufacturers have to call it... Apple does, too. Apple on their iPad website talks about Lotus Domino in that context though:

    { Link }

    "iPad connects directly to enterprise mail servers like Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino via Exchange ActiveSync"

    and @13, most of the comments i heard out of Lotusphere 2012 were that in fact our Notes/Domino roadmap is very clear, with the Social Edition release coming later in 2012. You can always refer to my presentations on slideshare.net/edbrill for details.

  1. 15  Irv Schor  | 3/5/2012 2:06:11 PM

    Are there any concerns that "Microsoft Exchange ActiveSynch", apparently free in its current bundling with the iOS/Android OS, might not become so free as this rapidly changing frontier develops? Concerns that perhaps the current MS Exchange ActiveSynch is left in its current format as the 'free' option while perhaps some enhanced synch solutions come out of Redmond which applies to additional features/functionality, requiring licensing?

  1. 16  Steve Nolan  | 3/13/2012 11:26:42 PM

    It is true that the protocol is called Exchange ActiveSync (EAS).  It's also true that it was developed specifically for communication with Microsoft Exchange mail servers.  Microsoft did not build it as a general purpose protocol for other mail servers to use.  Other less pervasive mail servers (Zimbra, Atmail, Domino) are implementing it solely because there were already a plethora of MS Exchange clients available, and wanted to leverage them instead of creating their own clients.  

    Just looking at iOS's mail account setup shows "Microsoft Exchange" with no mention of protocols like Activesync, IMAP, POP, etc.  The reason device manufacturers, like Apple, most probably chose to implement Exchange Activesync is because they wanted to support Microsoft mail servers.  It just seems awkward using a protocol implemented by the competition and specifically designed for the competition's server.  Kind of like getting a Honda and finding out it's got a Toyota engine, and then having the Honda salesman say "well yeah.. it's just a standard engine."  From an architecture perspective for the future, Lotus will be tied down in capability to whatever Microsoft wants to support in terms of features.  I'm only saying all this because I believe it needs to be clarified.

  1. 17  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 3/14/2012 11:07:22 AM

    Well, while the device itself says Exchange, Apple on their website also mentions Lotus Domino. http://www.apple.com/ipad/business/integration/

    As such, I think it is clear they intend for it to connect to Domino in addition to Exchange.

  1. 18  Martin  | 5/12/2012 11:37:40 AM

    Traveler 8.5.3.2 and Playbook 2.01 - ActiveSync

    email & contacts works well.

    calendar: new entries works well but edit entries not possible.