BlackBerry maker Research In Motion and Hewlett-Packard, on the eve of RIM's Wireless Enterprise Symposium, announced a strategic alliance to bring productivity tools to enterprise workers. These will include CloudPrint, a simple way to print to any printer, and the HP Operations Manager for BlackBerry Enterprise Server.
Research In Motion and Hewlett-Packard have announced a
"strategic alliance" in which they'll together deliver a portfolio of mobile
enterprise products custom built for RIM's BlackBerry smartphones and platform.
Leading into RIM's Wireless Enterprise Symposium, which
starts May 5 in Orlando, Fla., RIM and HP introduced two of the new mobile
enterprise products, CloudPrint and HP Operations Manager for BlackBerry
Enterprise Server.
CloudPrint enables mobile and traveling professionals to
print from their BlackBerry smartphone to any printer - without a driver.
The printer-agnostic solution requires only an Internet connection.
CloudPrint, which was invented by HP Labs, will be available
to BlackBerry Internet service subscribes and BES customers.
"RIM and HP are working together to deliver solutions to
customers that weave mobility into their daily operations - from
innovative new services in the cloud to managed mobile services for the
enterprise," said Jim Balsillie, co-CEO of RIM, wrote in a statement.
"Through our collaboration with HP, businesses will have access to an expanded
set of applications and services for their BlackBerry smartphone deployments."
HP Operations Manager for BES is a software to centrally
monitor and mange the extended BlackBerry solution ecosystem, including BES
software, mail servers, databases, Microsoft Active Directory and server
operating systems such as Windows Server.
HP Operations Manager correlates events from all parts of
the mobile ecosystem, pointing out potential problems so they can be addressed
proactively.
"As businesses look for new ways to increase service levels,
reduce operational costs and improve productivity, they can meet these
challenges by transforming how they manage the infrastructure that powers their
mobile workforces," Ann Livermore, executive vice president of HP's Technology
Solutions Group, wrote in a statement. "Emerging models of communications and
collaboration have created an opportunity for RIM and HP to provide
service-based mobile solutions that deliver value to customers."
HP, the
number one PC maker in the world, on Feb. 18 announced a first quarter 2009
net revenue of $28.8 billion, with software accounting for 3 percent of its
revenue portfolio.
On April 2, RIM announced fourth-quarter 2009 revenue of
$3.46 billion - a strong showing in a difficult economy. Lately, the
company has been making moves to ingratiate itself with consumers, in addition
to the enterprise.
Michelle Maisto has been covering the enterprise mobility space for a decade, beginning with Knowledge Management, Field Force Automation and eCRM, and most recently as the editor-in-chief of Mobile Enterprise magazine. She earned an MFA in nonfiction writing from Columbia University, and in her spare time obsesses about food. Her first book, The Gastronomy of Marriage, if forthcoming from Random House in September 2009.
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