[FroogleThis]

Hello BES Guru's,

The company I work for is an Advertising Agency with the following setup:

-MS Exchange 2000-Not sure of SP#

-1 Blackberry 8700c user, 5 Blackberry 7250 users (verizon), 2 Treo users (not sure if it's ActiveSync,BBC, etc., and our freelance IT dept (2 users) have TMo BB's (unknown models, but irrelevant for now).

Currently, everyone uses BIS, which obviously needs to be corrected ;). However, some people have suggested the BES Express deal, which I find to be great for the few users we currently have on BB service.

My goal is to get the BB users here the ability to sync not only email, but contacts and calendars....Calendars being my favorite item (coordinate travel/meetings, etc without relying on the exec to be physically present for a reminder). I have looked into Hosted BES, but for us to do that we would need to outsource our Exchange as well, which makes our IT guys and CFO quite nervous (not without reason, we've got a screwey domain setup). The total cost for 30 boxes with 2gb space (ad agency, haha) is well over $1200/month....That's NOT ok for us.

So, I applied for the BES express using my PIN and received the download and support information. I would just like some information to kind of coax the IT and CFO into giving it a shot. I believe the IT guys' concern is this: Neither of them have any experience Administrating a BES (which may make this a null and void point), and of course they worry about what would happen to our server (any known problems that you guys know of when installing/using BES Express?).

Any advice or links to information would be appreciated!

Thanks!

[bertiebassett]

As per your previous thread, I trust you got the docs I sent you.

Provided you put the BES on a separate server then you pretty much can't break the exchange server, so why not get one of your freelance guys to give it a go when they've got about 3 hours spare..

As to your comment about them not having any experiencing admining a bes, well
a) most decent support companies have had at least some exposure to bes
b) If they're really 'freelance' then they should learn somewhere and you sound like a friendly customer to work with
c)) Version 4.1.2 has a much smoother and straightforward install process than the older versions. Provided the permissions are set right (see the docs I sent you) then just give it a whirl..
d) Neither did any of us...when we first started..

[FroogleThis]

Thanks Bertie.

I think i got the CFO on board to at least give the free license a try, so the last step is making sure the IT guys get comfortable with doing the install. We have VERY limited equipment, pretty much windows servers, a Mac server and then our exchange server.

I may have some further questions, so if you don't mind bertie, can I email you with them (or PIN if you prefer, mine is in my signature). I hope this all works out, because (to make a long story short) we have a lot of business coming up, and if schedules get screwed up we run the risk of losing a client...

Thanks again bertie and anyone else who throws some input in.

[dwc]

I threw BES (express) on our Exchange box and had no issues with it.

- make sure you do all the prereq's first (account creation, permissions, service packs, etc.)
- do not install BES as administrator. Install it as the BESAdmin user. I had to move it over and it was scary (i.e. exporting and importing reg keys on production Exchange box was scary)

Other than that there has been no need to even touch the box once I installed BES, other than to activate myself.

[FroogleThis]

thanks guys. I'm going to try my best to get these guys to give it a whirl. Since RIM was very responsive to me in my inquiries, it should give them a little more confidence that if something goes awry, someone will be there with answers.

[CanuckBB]

You don't need a server. Any workstation class machine will more than handle your requirements. You may need to load Windows Server on it, but no need for the expensive server hardware.

Personal opinion: Any IT pro not willing to give something new a try is not worth hiring.

[dheida]

We (us two in our IT department) aren't even close to experts on Exchange and haven't had any problems LEARNING something new by just doing it.

[bertiebassett]

Originally Posted by CanuckBB

You don't need a server. Any workstation class machine will more than handle your requirements. You may need to load Windows Server on it, but no need for the expensive server hardware.

Personal opinion: Any IT pro not willing to give something new a try is not worth hiring.

you don't even need Windows server. I run a small BES (4- users) on XP pro, loaded with Windows Server Admin tools and BES 4.1, works like a dream but I appreciate that I'm on my own for support / with the help of the helpful crowd on here.

JFDI is what I say.

[FroogleThis]

nice guys. thanks a lot. I think i convinced them (more or less "we", since 99.9999% of what I said to them was what you guys mentioned). He's just going to make time after-hours and get 'er done.

[Chopper]

We (I'm) are about to churn out 15 devices here in the next week or so (when Orange pull there fingers out their ***).

Servers all ready, just need the buggers delivered now.

I work in IT, have no training but I'm looking forward to it, its my job afterall and something new to learn. I might even do a little diary for you all if your lucky.