Intimidating . . . in a word. I just signed on with a company that has a few Blackberry users and Goldmine software in the office. So far I've learned that the two don't get along well.

The company is interested in being able to get their Calendars, Contacts, etc. from Goldmine into their Blackberry(s) no matter where in the country they happen to be.

Sounds like a job for BES, right? From what I understand (though I haven't had a chance to probe) this company doesn't have a mail server. No Exchange, no Domino etc. But BES needs one, right?

Where do I start? I was looking for a System Requirements (or some other such prerequisites) page for BES so I knew where to begin but I'm not doing a very good job of it.

If I add an Exchange Server to their network can BES be added to it or does it need it's own server? How substantial a server will it need?

I'm at the very beginning with no experience with BES or Goldmine, etc. Any pointers or direction you can give will be helpful and appreciated.

Thank you,

Po

Probably not. A quick google search came up with several products that integrates Goldmine and Blackberries without the need of a BES server. If you want to go down the BES route though Goldmine itself has addon products that supports MS Exchange.

That's the goal. I only found one product on Google that sounded right but it required the Blackberry units to be hooked up to the PC. They're looking to be able to schedule appointments for the salesmen and have their calendars updated while in the field.

Oh, if you could convince them to switch to ACT! for Workgroups! I'm using an 8700g with Handheld Contact, and it is so sweet. It wirelessly syncs updates back and forth to the server, so you never have to actually plug your BB into anything to sync. It has notes/history, tasks, and of course, contacts. It does have a limit of 2000 contacts, which isn't a problem for our company. But if a salesperson is out in the field, they can sync their notes, or any changes, instantly, and the next time anyone syncs with the server, their information is updated, and vise versa.

I can't imagine working without it.