News
Issue #2003 - 19 (June 2003)
(Updated June 12, 2003)

APPLICATION SOLUTIONS & APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT

RIM Introduces New BlackBerry Development Environment With Over-The-Air Application Deployment

JavaOneSM Developer Conference - San Francisco, CA - Research In Motion (RIM) introduced a new release of its BlackBerry® Development Environment for J2ME™ (Java™ 2 Platform, Micro Edition). The new release incorporates support for Over-The-Air application deployment and new BlackBerry API specifications that allow developers to leverage and integrate with BlackBerry email and PIM applications. The new BlackBerry Development Environment for Java marks another important step in the evolution of BlackBerry as an open, secure, and global platform for push-based, wireless connectivity. RIM is demonstrating the new release at the JavaOne Conference this week in San Francisco.

Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at RIM, commented: "BlackBerry set the standard for wireless email in 1999 and we continued to raise the bar ever since. We thought beyond the device and delivered a complete solution because we knew that the marriage of computing and wireless technologies would require an end-to-end approach to be successful in the enterprise market. Today, BlackBerry has evolved into an open standards based platform deployed in over ten thousand corporations and government organizations in over twenty countries. The BlackBerry platform has been uniquely designed to support multiple devices, multiple networks and multiple applications while maintaining a common infrastructure and security architecture on the back-end. We have gone well beyond wireless email to now set the standard for the wireless enterprise; and our open platform provides tremendous opportunities for developers, partners and customers alike to build upon and support their own wireless enterprise strategies."

David Yach, Vice President, Software at RIM, added: "As many developers already understand, wireless enterprise applications must embrace the disparate requirements and compounded complexities of mobile devices, wireless networks, the Internet and IT systems. RIM has invested years of effort to provide a development environment that abstracts many of those complexities. In addition to support for Sun's Java API's, our BlackBerry handhelds and development tools now provide powerful extensions that allow developers to leverage the secure BlackBerry connectivity features and services for application development and deployment. For example, consider the added impact of a CRM application that can integrate directly with the wireless calendar application on a BlackBerry handheld or a field service application that integrates with the BlackBerry email application. Further, consider the manageability and cost-of-ownership advantages if those applications can be deployed and upgraded wirelessly."

BlackBerry Development Environment for J2ME
The BlackBerry Development Environment for Java is a fully integrated development environment and simulation tool that incorporates Sun's J2ME specifications and RIM's expertise in BlackBerry wireless application development to significantly ease development efforts. Enterprise customers, developers and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) can easily and quickly develop applications that leverage the unique connectivity features of BlackBerry such as always-on operation, push-based services, end-to-end security and back-end integration.

New features of the BlackBerry Development Environment for Java include support for wireless application deployment and access to additional BlackBerry Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). Wireless application deployment allows new applications to be deployed Over-The-Air, enabling customers, carriers and developers to easily manage and update software applications in the field and lower the total cost of ownership. In addition, the new BlackBerry Development Environment for Java provides access to additional BlackBerry APIs, which enables developers to tightly integrate their applications with the BlackBerry email, SMS, browser and organizer applications. API Integration with BlackBerry applications allows developers to both leverage and extend BlackBerry with tightly integrated, end-to-end secure applications and solutions that enhance the end user experience.

Key Elements of the BlackBerry Open Platform
BlackBerry Enterprise Server - BlackBerry Enterprise Server software provides IT departments with a common, global platform on the back-end that allows them to easily and effectively manage their BlackBerry wireless solution and leverage their existing infrastructure to provide end users with wireless access to corporate email and data. BlackBerry Enterprise Server supports both Microsoft® Exchange and IBM Lotus® Domino™ environments with "single mailbox integration" and provides a high performance, scalable platform with centralized administration, end-to-end security (including Triple DES encryption), multi-network support, scalability and a "push" architecture.

BlackBerry Mobile Data Service - The Mobile Data Service feature of BlackBerry Enterprise Server enables secure, always-on, push-based access to enterprise applications and information beyond email. By leveraging the BlackBerry infrastructure, which supports multiple networks using standard protocols and languages (including XML, HTTP and Java), corporate application developers and ISVs can quickly deploy wireless applications without learning new middleware or operating systems.

BlackBerry Connect™ - The BlackBerry Connect licensing program enables mobile device manufacturers to equip their handsets with the integrated ability to connect to BlackBerry Enterprise Server using the same secure, push-based wireless architecture and infrastructure that has been approved and adopted by dozens of carriers and thousands of companies and government organizations around the world.

Multi-Network Support - BlackBerry supports multiple wireless network standards (currently including Mobitex, DataTAC, GSM/GPRS, the Nextel network and CDMA2000 1X), enabling BlackBerry Enterprise Server customers to support a variety of devices and geographies without any change to their back-end infrastructure.

J2ME - J2ME is a powerful development platform that is optimized for wireless devices and provides an industry standard programming environment for custom and commercial application development and deployment. Support for J2ME opens the BlackBerry platform to a large and growing developer community that currently includes more than three million Java developers.

BlackBerry Development Environment - The BlackBerry Development Environment for Java provides a full-featured, integrated suite of development tools to support the building, testing and debugging of applications for BlackBerry, including facilities for code profiling and optimization. The BlackBerry Development Environment for Java supports Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) and Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC), the industry standards for Java on small form-factor devices, to ease the development of wireless enterprise applications.

BlackBerry Alliance Programs - RIM continues to build strong alliances with leading IT suppliers such as Sun Microsystems, Microsoft and IBM to develop and deliver a broad range of wireless enterprise solutions. RIM also partners with ISV's and system integrators to develop vertical focused applications for industries such as legal, financial, construction and healthcare. In addition, RIM partners with leading carriers to deliver BlackBerry through their direct and indirect distribution channels (including direct sales forces, retail stores, VARS, etc.).

RIM is offering its new BlackBerry Development Environment for Java free of charge to developers.  

Source: RIM Press Release

For more information: http://www.blackberry.com/developers 

MobileInfo Comments and Advisory: Blackberry development environment and its support of J2ME will help RIM get more enterprise customers where the footprint of its handheld is acceptable for application dialogue. With its experience in always-on  connectivity, we expect RIM to have simplified the complexity of communications connectivity. 

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