Blackberry
The Blackberry has become synomonous with the whole topic of mobile email. Developed by Research in Motion (RIM) it has evolved from a pager device running on a dedicated wireless network in North America to a device which now offers voice communication, mobile email and general purpose mobile data access across worldwide networks.
Push Email
The key element in the early days of the Blackberry was the ability to 'push' an email from an email server to the mobile device. This meant the user was immediately alerted to their incoming email. This facility owed its origins to Blackberry's pager roots where the sole purpose of the device was originally to alert the user to a waiting message. The importance of this concept has subsequently been recognised by RIM's competitors and most mobile email products now offer a 'push' capability.
Blackberry Enterprise Server
The delivery of 'push' email is accomplished through two components supplied as part of the Blackberry service. Firstly, there is a software component which must be installed and configured to connect to the users email server. This is known as the Blackberry Enterprise Server or BES server. The BES server controls the connection between the standard email server and the wireless network. When a new email arrives at the email server the BES server is notified and it then takes a copy of the email message and passes it to the second component of the Blackberry Service, the Blackberry Data Centre. This is a facility managed by RIM which controls communication over the wireless network to the Blackberry devices and from which the email message is sent directly to the Blackberry.The user can then read his email on the device and can also send emails from the device.
In the early days of Blackberry the service was aimed at businesses who would install the BES server behind their corporate firewall talking to their own hosted email servers. In the last few years however Blackberry have launched a consumer version of the services which allows an individual user to setup the service to talk to their internet email accounts via a BES server hosted by their mobile operator.
The success of Blackberry within the corporate environment is probably due to the high level of security built into the BES server. To communicate from an email server to a wireless device requires access through the corporate firewall, a security barrier aimed at preventing rogue or malicious traffic from entering the organisation's network. The BES server was designed to allow communication between the external devices and the internal network without opening up potential security holes in the firewall. Because of this, for many organisations the Blackberry was, and in some cases still is, the only mobile device allowed to access systems behind the firewall.
Other major elements in the success of the Blackberry has been the provision of a keyboard with full typing capabilities along with an optimised end user interface on the device aimed at the mobile email user.
Following the success of the Blackberry as a dedicated email device, RIM then went on to incorporate voice capabilities within the Blackberry, turning the device into a phone, allowing a Blackberry user to carry only one device for voice and data. Variations in the form factor of the device have appeared with a more traditional phone style being available.
In common with other mobile devices the Blackberry became equipped with a mobile browser for internet access, and also a Java application development environment providing the capability to run other applications.
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