HOT! Your BES Express Questions Answered!

One of our secret agents just hooked us up with a bevy of new screenshots and some feature clarifications for BES Express. The screenshots will come in a follow up post but below you will find the answers to many of the burning questions BES admin’s are asking. The free BES server solution is set to be released next month and many people have been sending in questions asking what features RIM enabled in this stripped down version of BES. Here are some clarifications for you:

Will it work on a regular BIS provisioned device?

• We can confirm 100% that BES Express works on BIS contract devices. The only limitation is that you cannot do a wireless enterprise activation. Instead you will have to cable activate the device with either Desktop Manager, Web Desktop Manager, or BES Admin Web Console. This even works with BIS prepaid SIM cards!

Will wireless OTA PIM (Contacts, Calendar, Etc) work with a BIS provisioned device?

• We can confirm that PIM synching works on BIS provisioned devices just like it does on BES provisioned devices.

What Features/Components did RIM take out of BES Express?

• High Availability
• Database Mirroring (Not say it cannot be done manually via SQL) – Built in BES component has been taken out.
• Monitoring Core (SNMP monitoring still possible, SNMP Agent DLL still available – still trying to confirm Performance Monitor availability)
• Enterprise Messaging and Enterprise Social Networking
• Limited Policies – 35 instead of 450

Will there be a migration path from BPS to BES Express?

• There is no supported migration path from BPS to BES Express. This is not officially supported and RIM is saying companies must install and re-activate from scratch.

Will there be a migration path from BES Express to BES 5.0 Enterprise?

• So far RIM is saying that there will be no migration path from BES Express to BES 5.0 Enterprise.
• THOUGH our source has tested using the Transporter for BES Premium and transported from Premium to Express it did cause BAS errors but no issues with the transport. The reverse was tested from Express to Premium with a successful Validation and transport. This is weird since BPS is supported from BPS to Enterprise in the Transporter.

How will licensing work? Will they be interchangeable?

• RIM has learned from their licensing mess with BPS and Enterprise that it was possible to go to Enterprise from BPS without paying the upgrade since the same CAL’s used to work. The Express license is now different making use of a different format from that of Premium. The License Manager rejects the use of the Enterprise formatted CAL licenses.

Will there be support for BES Express?

• Our source calls this a really sticky issue. RIM is saying that there will be almost no support for BES Express. Support will be through the regular online channels like forums, knowledge base, carrier, or third parties. Not sure how this will work out…

So do you have any other questions? Let us know!