Yes! RIM has listened, and the competition from Microsoft has resulted in lower cost BES:

http://www.rim.com/news/press/2006/p..._2006-01.shtml

There is a catch: it comes with only one free user, additional users starting at $119. 15 user maximum.

I have to admit - I got all my BES software for FREE back in January due to T-Mobile promotions.

If I had paid for my licenses for BES - this post would have really pissed me off...(no offense to the above poster).

if i would have paid for the SBE version of BES and this came out, i agree... i'd be mighty ticked.

Just in case anyone wants to think about going the path of getting this and later upgrading to 4.1 Full... its almost the same price, although you'll be out about $50 (USD; MSRP only).

BES 4.1 w/ 20 users: $3,999

BES 4.1 Express (1 CAL): Free
BES 4.1 CALs (2x5 + 4x1): $1,254
BES 4.1 SBE to Full Unlock (adds 5 CALs): $2,799

Right, but i've got 12 blackberries in my office, and we bought them each one by one...

Rogers/Bell will only have given Free BES If you bought so many units all at once (minimum five on contract), despite having 12 devices they still wouldn't do it or find exceptions for us.

I've tried purchasing BES SBE but it just cost too much -- about $3800 CDN for about 10 devices and management would not go for it.

Now i can deploy BES in my small business for about $1000 for all users -- this is very affordable and we will be doing it. Obviously if we go so far to 15 users and need to expand there will be a price to pay. I'll probably just hold a few users off BES and limit them to e-mail only as a result until we reach the breaking point =)

Think about it -- there are many others in my boat, and providing BES makes business sense to further lock customers into your solution. Microsoft is giving away their entprise 'BES-like' software free if you own Exchange 2003, and i do. (not taking into account the difference between the two offerings, but keep in mind MS will continue to improve their product just like RIM has)

the one advantage to Microsoft's offering that i actually like is support. granted, you are raped on costs for enterprise-level Exchange support, BUT the wireless costs are still included in that. i was figuring up our TSupport renewal fees and now totals $7,000. that's up $4,600 since last year with only the addition of 150 devices and an extra BES - i honestly do NOT like the fact that we have to pay for per-device support fees when we don't even call in for support on said devices.

Why not have each person from the company call and sign themselves up? Wouldn't that be free?

This would be great for my remote offices. In Vancouver, we have 10 users and lots of latency problems by using our BES in Toronto. Anybody know if our 10 user license could be used on the Express version or does it need to be unlocked first to support Enterprise license keys?

Thanks in advance!

This would be great for my remote offices. In Vancouver, we have 10 users and lots of latency problems by using our BES in Toronto. Anybody know if our 10 user license could be used on the Express version or does it need to be unlocked first to support Enterprise license keys?

Thanks in advance!

after you download the bes express 4.1 how do you use that file?

This is the SME version, so it *should* support the full-version CALs.

If one doesn't have MS Exchange, but wants to implement (rather than go through hosted Exchange service) is there a way?

No, it does not support the full-version calls. You need to buy SME-CALs.

http://www.blackberry.com/knowledgec...50076&vernum=5

Note: You can use standard CALs in BlackBerry Enterprise Server 4.1 SME.

I might be wrong, and due to the nature of that KB article, there's a good chance, but its just a weird note to have on there.

Sure, instead of using MS Exchange, you can use Lotus Domino or Novell GroupWise. These are the only three email servers supported with BES.

I understand this note in the way that you can use full version keys AFTER you install the upgrade key. Before you will need to use SME keys. But I might be wrong

You need *5* new activations with purchase of 5 devices.

What you are proposing does not work..

If you don't know what BES does, or how to use it, don't bother trying..

Sprint is offering an enterprise BES with 20+ licenses FREE with the activation of 10+ handhelds currently.

i'll test it out from work tomorrow. never know.

I've discussed this offer in a seperate message. This offer is actually being put forward by RIM , through most (or all?) carriers, at least in north america.

But you have to buy and activate 10+ handhelds AT ONCE to qualify..

There is also an offer for a small business edition of BES For purchases and activation of 5+ handhelds.

Why get the SBE BES? It is limited to 15 users. The other offer is for the Enterprise BES.

What are the differences between all the versions, aside from max number of users.

Full BES.
SME BES.
Free BES.

I can't seem to find any comparison charts at RIM/Blackberry sites.

Your full BES ships with a 20 user CAL, and you can extend that massivly and would probably only be restricted by you network bandwidth and hardware as there would come a time where you would have that many users you would start to notice latency!

Your SME BES ships with 5 users, and can be expanded to 15 in total.

Your FREE BES ships with 1 user, again to a max of 15 like the SBE version. I think it will take the same CAL's as the SBE will (5 user and 1 user denominations). Take the price of a 5 user CAL and compare it to the cost of an SBE BES - whichever is cheaper would be your best option (all about the finances)!!!!

Nobody has mentioned the best element yet. I now have a full version BES in my development evnironment, rather than having to use trial keys which need changing every 90 days.....great!!!!