Introduction of Blackberry Technology

Blackberry is communication device that was developed in the year 1999 by Research in Motion (RIM) company. Blackberry Technology contains games, contacts, clock, reminders and various applications such as PowerPoint and features of receiving and sending calls and messages. It allows sending and receiving mails and surfing internet. Blackberry is integrated into email system of enterprise with the help of software package called BES or Blackberry Enterprise Server. Individuals may use BES services without downloading it. The organisations, however, usually have BES installed in their network. BES works as relay for emails. This is mostly used in corporate settings. Using Blackberry technology, allows access to corporate emails in user’s Blackberry device. This is called push email as it does not need manual syncing of emails. Moreover, every Blackberry device has unique identification attached to it for authorization that is called Blackberry PIN. Working : Blackberry Server Software is available in 2 forms namely, BPS and BES which stand for Blackberry Professional Software and Blackberry Enterprise Server. The steps involved in sending emails are as follows :

1. Email is sent by sender.
2. Email is received at the server and finds its way to personal computer.
3. BES tracks mail and in turn delivers it using “push” concept (compressing, encryption and message forwarding are involved) to user’s Blackberry device.
4. Message is received on Blackberry device by the Internet.
5. Blackberry device receives mail, decrypts it and sends alert on device.

The BES is email server provided by Blackberry. It is made for organisations that have their own Lotus Domino or Microsoft Exchange servers (for email and mobile applications). This server allows accessing corporate email, calendar, list of tasks, contacts and other internal applications on their personal Blackberry device. It uses unbreakable DES security which is very secure and can handle confidential data easily. Advantages :

• It provides email facility.
• The blackberry handheld has all features of mobile phone along with walkie talkie and comes with comfortable headset.
• Corporate data can be easily accessed.
• Organizers are present to make user more productive.
• It provides with users medium to access important announcements and conversations even when they are not in office and respond to them accordingly.
• It provides faster services.

Disadvantages :

• BES is designed to push mails only on blackberry device and not on mobiles of other brands.
• It is very costly to set up system.
• It would be even costlier to organisation that has large number of employees.