Rim Finally Launches Closer Link to Office 365

BlackBerry Business Cloud Services gives Office 365 users expanded use of calendars, and gives administrators better IT management of the Microsoft service than before

Mobile workers whose organizations subscribe to Microsoft Corp.’s cloud-based Office 365 service can now access some of the messaging applications through Research In Motion’s BlackBerry smart phones.

RIM said Monday that BlackBerry Business Cloud Services for Office 365 is now in production after a four-month test. BCS synchronizes BlackBerry handsets wirelessly with the data in hosted versions of Microsoft Exchange Online email, calendar and organizer.

It essence, it’s the cloud counterpart to RIM’s BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express for on-premise versions of Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino.

To help IT managers, Business Cloud Services also integrates with the Office 365 Administrative Portal for management, which includes allowing users the ability to reset a password or remotely lock or wipe a device in case of loss or theft.

Before BCS, BlackBerrys could only connect to Office 365 through BlackBerry Internet Service – and only for email.

The tie-in lets Microsoft tout Office 365 can now be used on a platform that business users associate with security.

“I’m surprised it’s taken so long,” Nigel Wallis, research director for application solutions at IDC Canada, said of the release, because Office 365 launched just over two years ago.

On the other hand, if RIM is going to handle a Microsoft service that promises access round the clock, it had better deliver – and lately RIM has been “overpromising” there, Wallis said, referring to last year’s record four-day service problems. He guesses ironing out that is one reason why the deal took so long.

Pete Devenyi, RIM’s senior vice-president of enterprise software said his company recognized that other handsets could link to Office 365 through Microsoft ActiveSync, but it wanted to provide richer management capabilities than...