This article is more than 1 year old
RIM emits 100-BlackBerry cloud for small biz
Not enough minions to bother with your own server?
Research In Motion (RIM) is releasing a cloud service for small firms to manage up to 100 BlackBerry smartphones and secure biz data stored locally on the device.
The BlackBerry Management Centre is built for commercial users that access email via an ISP or web-based services, running on OS 4.6 models or later versions.
Alan Panezic, veep for enterprise product management at RIM, said the free initiative will be "an effective way to centrally manage and support employees' BlackBerry smartphones in the cloud".
The troubled firm which is shedding jobs and struggling to make a dent in the tablet market with its PlayBook, reckons the service will "minimise" the risk of stolen or lost devices.
The service wirelessly backs up the devices daily; remotely locks content which can be wiped; and restores the settings; and if the smartphone gets lost it can aid retrieval in an annoying way by sounding a loud ringtone.
Some consumers – aside from young rioters – may be falling out of love with BlackBerry, but this cloud service is aimed at cash-strapped small biz folk who don't want to run a dedicated server dealing with smartphone management. ®
Biting the hand that feeds IT
