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Hand Held Devices - BlackBerry

What Is A BlackBerry And How Does It Work?

A BlackBerry is a handheld wireless device created by Research in Motion (RIM). A BlackBerry will read emails and calendars from enterprise-class email systems, such as EIU's Exchange service. Most models also function as cell phones.

While a BlackBerry is a type of personal digital assistant (PDA), it is not meant to be used in the same way as a Palm Pilot or PocketPC. Those devices are literally miniature computers that in some cases happen to have email capabilities. A BlackBerry is an email/calendar reading device with some PDA abilities, and in most cases cell phone abilities. Also, a BlackBerry come with complete alphanumeric keyboards; many PDAs do not.

At EIU, BlackBerry service consists of the following:

• The BlackBerry device
• Email redirection, managed in one of two ways:
  
  
  • The BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), which works directly with our Exchange server. ITS recommends this option.
  • The BlackBerry Desktop Redirector runs on your personal computer and redirects messages as they arrive in your desktop mail program (ITS recommends Outlook) You can use this option with any Outlook mail setup.

A BlackBerry receives email through the following process:

1. The mail account receives the message.
2. The redirector looks in the email account, finds the message, and forwards it to the BlackBerry service provided by RIM.
3. RIM's BlackBerry service sends the message to the wireless data network.
4. The wireless data network provider sends the message in a wireless signal to the BlackBerry device. (You must be in a data coverage area to receive mail.)
5. The BlackBerry receives the signal and displays the message.

A BlackBerry sends mail in the reverse of this process. The BlackBerry device sends the message to the wireless data network provider. The provider forwards it to RIM's BlackBerry service, which in turn sends it over the Internet to the redirector (either the BES server or desktop software). The redirector then sends the message to your e-mail account, from which it is sent over the Internet to the recipient.

For further information, please contact Cheryl Crowdson at 581-7999