I need confirmation!

They can't ditch BPS without a suitable replacement.

Blackberry Cool is running the story too. None of the financial news sites have picked it up as an official RIM announcement yet, so it could still be just a rumor/bad story.

Ya, this is less then stellar news, but honestly, not terribly surprising.

Maybe we will see an entirely new pricing structure with BES 5.0, taking into account the SOHO market.

I certainly hope so, because $2800 for BES to support 1-4 users ain't gonna fly.

Agreed! I have to believe they'll revise their whole price/package strategy though. I just can't see them giving up the entire SOHO market to BES Hosting, Google Sync, Astrasync, etc... after they've grown their consumer market so much in the last year or so. EVERYBODY wants wireless sync, whether it's an individual consumer, a family, or a small office...the only variable is how much the consumer is willing to pay. They need to find the price point(s) that work for the less than 5, 10, and 20 device market. Who the heck wants to use a third party product when there's no price advantage...that just adds another point of failure.

I agree...BPS is a good product for the SOHO user, even for a family. I hope they come out with something. A new price structurer for BES 5.0 would be nice, then we would get all the new features as well.

AND...there's a payoff for RIM as well, in that they develop and deliver a single product to the market. Controls development costs AND increases sales!

good point!

Will I be able to migrate my 30 BPS CALs to a new BES server? Especially once BPS is dead?

Back to windows mobile i go, if in fact this turns out to be true and RIM doesn't release some sort of pricing structure for BES 5 that caters to the little guys... Mobile activesync is free if you have an exchange server so... Whats the point?? I really hope that RIM isn't this short sighted when it comes to offering products and services that enhance blackberry adoption rates.

I really hope this isn't true... I can't afford a 3K BES solution...

Jeff

something really has to give here. I install alot of SBS servers for customers and one of the biggest selling points is that i can get them fully featured wireless sync for pennies. This is standard for all my installs.

They need to start speaking up about their plans here.

I was really looking forward to moving from a hosted solution to the BPS solution for about 6 users so this is unfortunate. There is no way I can justify a full fledged BES for that amount of people. What gives anyway...first they had BES Express a little over a year ago and then they switched that to BPS and now...? If they do not offer up a solution for the small business market, I will be one unhappy camper.

You you can upgrade to full BES for about 2800.00 USD which includes 5 user CAL's

+1. BPS was the primary factor to choose BB over iPhone.

Here is the response I received from the Blackberry sales department regarding the end of BPS:

Hi Matthew,

Thank you for contacting BlackBerry.

The BlackBerry Professional Software was always a promotional offer of ours. I am not able to confirm those rumors of this offer ending. It is very popular with our small to medium businesses, so I don’t see it moving anywhere in the near future!

So, what gives here? I imagine that the sales department might not have all the info, nor be inclined to divulge all the info on this subject. Of course, I am somewhat cynical...

Any questions?

^^Beating a dead horse?



Jeff

I agree that there needs to be a better solution for SMB BlackBerry users. Hosted BES is one other solution. We offer this to SMB customers for a fraction of the price of purchasing the server and licenses. This is a fully supported service and includes all CAL's. If you would like more information on this please give me a call Dianne Gibson at Mobile Data Solutions 1-866-483-4023.

I have heard that if you have less than 250 users on exchange it does not make sense to have your own exchange server. That includes the IT, Management, Bandwidth, Backup, etc... to have the server and software. It is kinda cool that the hosted solution can offer BES services also.

Does anyone know if the hosted BES gives you full control over your security policy for your users? Or do you just have basic access to your email/PIM?

Thanks!

WHY?
Support your claim please!
We spent about 50k on exchange/BES 3 years ago
How does it save money?

250*12 per month = 36k per year
We invested 60k so far including 4 hour onsite harware support
I am a one man team and take care of 240+ users and 10 servers.
It is my system and I can do what ever I want with it.
Backup is easy with LTO3
Cable ISP is only 120 per month with 6/24 u/d speeds
I have saved over 40k so far for new stuff.
And I still have time to post on here

Not really my theory, just the article I read. I will look for it and post it if I can find it...

Guess you could not find it or its a bunch of BS for the people above me to read and think they could do it better with out me.

Thank you for being a member of BBF! Have a great day!

Knottyrope, I understand you have a right to express your point of views but please refrain from directing personally directed insults to other members.

Thanks!

E-

it was not an insult, it is a get over it and move on with life. (in knot so many ways, my bad, soz)

If you can not back up your claims then it is knot true.

maybe it was an oppinion, but it is an empty argument without proof.

buh bye BPS.

It would be nice to see some supporting docs here, as that's the first time I have heard that in many years of Exch admin, and as knotty says it's a bit of a heavy claim to make without something to back it up..

Any new or updated news on this subject? BPS is in desperate need of an update...

Jeff

I hear the update is delayed even further now.

Only choices at the moment is to buy BES upgrade or wait patiently.

Is there any way to roll back to BES Small Business Edition and then apply SP6?

Does this mean that BPS will cease to work for those of us that run it currently? Or does it simply mean RIM will not support the product after a certain date?


Thanks,
Adam

Wirelessly posted (Pearl 8100)

No, they'd never just block all BPs keys, simply just stop all updates and support

If you were on SBE you can.
Just have to unintall BPS and install SBE if you still have the files.

Then run SP6 and MR4

Thanks for the info. Have you/anybody else tried it?

I was willing to give it a go until I came across this:

BlackBerry Support Community Forums - Service Pack 6 - Trade-Up Key - BlackBerry® Enterprise Solution - BlackBerry Support Community Forums

Now am a bit scared to try and do it!

Also, if the above is indeed possible - is it possible to backup the database from my BPS install and use it in my BES SBE with Service Pack 6?

If so, can you please guide me?

Now running on BES SBE 4.1.6 MR 4.

Thank you!

Kewl did you reuse the old database too?

Did not risk the old database. Recreated a new database.

I left the BBs on for about half an hour with the new software running.
After that, I wiped the BBs (as otherwise I was not getting the correct HTML options etc on the device).
Then re-activated using OTA activation.

Went like a breeze!

Thanks!!!

I have been beaten up on this too.
BPS is going to die and no more Service packs too from what I have heard.

I cant wait to get a quote for BES 5 and try to get it approved.