RIM Debuts BlackBerry Business Cloud Services for Microsoft Office 365

Owners of BlackBerry smartphones from the Canadian mobile phone maker Research In Motion can now take advantage of Microsoft Office 365 while on the go, courtesy of a new service from the handset vendor, called BlackBerry Business Cloud Services. 

The new product is aimed at business and government organizations and extends the Microsoft Exchange Online offering to BlackBerry smartphones, providing customers with the ability to manage deployments while on the go. 

The new service was made available for free for current medium-sized or enterprise subscribers of the Office 365 suite. Exchange Online customers can also enjoy it on their BlackBerry smartphones on business or consumer data plans.

“Microsoft’s partnership with RIM exemplifies our commitment to providing customers with the best productivity experience across the PC, browser and phone,” said Julia White, senior director of Microsoft's exchange product management group. 

“The availability of BlackBerry Business Cloud Services is great news for Office 365 and BlackBerry customers who want to get the maximum benefit from these two business collaboration services.”

Through the BlackBerry Business Cloud Services, customers can benefit from advanced administration features, as well as from flexible smartphone self-service capabilities to support the BlackBerry deployment in the cloud.

Customers will benefit from over-the-air synchronization with Microsoft Exchange Online email, calendar and organizer data straight from their BlackBerry smartphone, as well as from the features that RIM’s BlackBerry Balance technology has to offer. 

Moreover, they will enjoy an intuitive web-based console for managing and securing BlackBerry smartphones from anywhere, as well as from online access to employee self-service smartphone security functions. 

“RIM is pleased to launch BlackBerry Business Cloud Services for Microsoft Office 365,” said Alan Panezic, vice president, enterprise product management and marketing at Research In Motion. 

“This new cloud-based option allows customers to cost-effectively support mobility across their organizations and easily manage and secure their BlackBerry deployments.

“We continue to build upon the end-to-end BlackBerry solution for our business and government customers with both on-premise and cloud-based solutions, a range of technical support options to suit any size organization, and a growing ecosystem of apps and services for users.” 

The service can prove a great option for managed service providers, as well as for systems integrators and wireless carriers, for resellers and other partners. They can use it to offer management of BlackBerry deployments on behalf of their customers.

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