BES Express Update

I misstated earlier. BES Express CAN support over the air(OTA) enterprise activations (EA) if the device is on a BES data plan. If the device is only on a BIS data plan then it cannot do an EA; the option will not even exist on the device.

I asked RIM if they thought the carriers would find a way to "up-charge" on the BIS like they do with BES. The RIM guy said that it is not possible in the RIM network to do that. The carriers will probably be happy that a BIS device on BES Express will actually generate more data in the long run as the user moves from push email only to full sync of email, calendar, address book and all the other features that BES with MDS brings.

NOTE: MDS is supported on BES Express but not MVS.....mobile voice services. It took me 2 days to finally have someone clarify that they were saying "V" and not "D".

I also clarified a user limit issue. The rumor was that BES Express could only support 75 users. That is false. It is "recommended" that if you install/run BES Express on the same server as your mail server(Exchange Server or SBS Server), then you "should" only put 75 servers on it.
If you run it on it's own hardware, either real or virtual (VMWare), you are not limited by the number of users it can support. In that instance, the number is the same as with the standard BES. A company can now expand their BES usage and offer the BES solution to "personally liable" devices; devices that users pay for out of their own money.

I will have another post discussing a round-table discussion that I participated in regarding Personal vs. Corporate Liable devices.

NOTE: We have already starting piloting BES Express. I installed it in our test environment last weekend but have not added any users. I will say that if you plan to install in on the mail server or SBS server, you should NOT install the Administration Service (BAS) on there unless you have a "beefy" server. I will quantify that in the next few weeks. Running BAS spiked my CPU so I plan to install in on its own box but will keep BES Express on SBS.

Lon