BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express Boosts Device Management at a Bargain

by Andrew Garcia

BESX and BES cannot both be present in the same BlackBery domain. Companies wanting to leverage both for the device fleet must ensure the two platforms use separate databases.

BESX can only be used with Exchange (no Lotus). It works with Exchange 2003, 2007 and 2010—including those iterations that come with Small Business Server 2003 and 2007.

BESX pulls users from Windows Active Directory daily, allowing BlackBerry administrators to easily find users to add to BESX.

Once a device activates to the BESX environment, administrators can view relevant device configurations—like installed OS, PIN, carrier and phone number.

To attach a device to a user, administrators can either have BESX automatically generate the activation password and e-mail, or they can do it manually.

Administrators can monitor the status of an in-progress activation.

BESX only has a small subset of the IT policies available in BES 5.0, but administrators can control device characteristics such as Bluetooth, MMS and camera availability.

Administrators can also control password length, complexity and maximum try settings for devices in the field.

From the BlackBerry Administration Service Web page, administrators can remotely change a device password and lock the device.

Administrators can also trigger a device wipe for an associated BlackBerry reported lost or stolen.