BlackBerry touts operator benefits of Mobile Fusion platform

Research in Motion on Wednesday talked up the benefits to mobile operators of its latest suite of enterprise services, as part of the BlackBerry maker's aim to regain momentum and lost market share.

"Operators are extremely excited by [Mobile Fusion]," insisted Alan Panezic, EMEA vice president of enterprise product management at RIM.

"Their [enterprise] customers are telling them they want just one platform that can manage their whole mobility infrastructure," he told Total Telecom on the sidelines of Mobile World Congress.

RIM in November 2011 unveiled Mobile Fusion, which Panezic described as the "next evolution" of its BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES). With Mobile Fusion RIM is aiming to stay relevant in the BYOD (bring your own device) space by maintaining close ties with its core enterprise customers while still vying for a share of the consumer smartphone market.

"It's broadening the scope of BES," he said, by enabling corporations to secure and manage employee and enterprise-owned devices using their existing BlackBerry infrastructure. Additional capabilities are rolling out next month that will make Mobile Fusion compatible with Apple iOS and Android devices.
"It's an opportunity to take BES to the next level," claimed Panezic.

Mobile Fusion also works with RIM's PlayBook 2.0 operating system, and with its upcoming BlackBerry10 OS to create a secure partition on employee-owned devices that enables enterprises to store sensitive corporate data that can be erased by the IT department in case of emergency.

"It will only erase the corporate data," said Panezic, who emphasised the need to avoid infringing on end users' everyday use of their devices.

He also touted the benefits of creating a secure partition for data on devices, rather than simply storing the data on the same chunk of memory and putting it behind a corporate profile.
"That's like putting the wolves and the sheep behind the same fence," he commented.

In addition, Panezic had nothing but praise for RIM's new chief executive Thorsten Heins, who faces the difficult task of reviving the company's ailing fortunes.
"He has a great focus on operational excellence, execution, and just getting things done," he said.