BES Expert advise needed for my Lotusphere Demo

Wednesday, December 17th, 2008
I'm exploring an idea for a specific demo for my Lotusphere presentation with David Allen. I normally try to find my own answers before I ask others or blog. but I'm running into roadblocks trying to find the answers to my questions. With the holidays approaching, I'm also running out of time.

So, here's my question to the ND community.

I want to be able to demonstrate two BlackBerry Bolds (already purchased) connected to Domino with
        a) custom applications and
        b) SameTime mobile.

We are a small consulting firm; I don't want to invest the resources to purchase a full Enterprise BES server just to support 2-3 demo users so that I can show my clients. There must be an easier (read: faster and low cost) way...

As best as I can tell, I will need:

1. A BlackBerry professional server of some flavor

2. MDS Support for the custom apps, and possibly for the Mobile SameTime
        (Isn't there a simple way to just connect SameTime to the server direct?)

It appears that my initial options are:

Blackberry Professional Express.
        Great for messaging only
        Does not appear to support MDS or SameTime
        Free for first user, ~$100 for each additional user

BlackBerry Professional Software
        See here for comparison
        Appears to support MDS, though not stated
        SameTime support not available (Unless I can manually load)
        Will cost me $500 for my 2 users (up to 5)

BlackBerry Enterprise server
        See here for comparison
        Will support MDS and Enterprise IM (SameTime)
        Will cost me $4000 for my first 2 users (up to 20)
        $ out of my ball park for a demo.

Hosted Options
        I've sent email to one hosting company; but I have no idea of price or time to deploy.
        It appears it will take weeks to get set up, which may be a deal breaker
        Security?

As you can see, I know what I want to accomplish. If this were for a client, I would opt for the full enterprise sever. For my own test, demo, and development, that's a bit steep. All I really care about is the ability to use and demo this at Lotusphere. So I need to get it set up quickly, load up a few custom apps and SameTime, if at all possible) and go. I would be most appreciative to talk with some who's been down this path before and who has set up this specific type of system. Thanks folks.

Discussion/Comments (4):

Darren Duke (http://blog.darrenduke.net): 12/17/2008 4:34:20 AM
BES Expert advise needed for my Lotusphere Demo

ST Mobile is NOT supported with BPS. It may work, but is not supported via the BBIM BES add in service.

MDS actually means two different things:

MDS-CS (Connection Services) : allows you browser and custom JAVA apps to access backend data sources.

MDS-IS (Integration Services) : allows a developer to use MDS Studio to create applications using web services (Domino anyone?)

MDS-CS is in BPS, MDS-IS is not.

As for LS, I would just download the 60 day trial of full BES and have at it. $0.


Keith Brooks (http://lotustech.blogspot.com): 12/17/2008 7:09:14 AM
BES Expert advise needed for my Lotusphere Demo

You can run it all from a laptop of course.

Since one pays per user on the BES once registered it's not easy to add you to it.

Sametime has mutliple clients, Lotus has one for "some" blackberries or you can use the free RIM Sametime Client.

To use the free one from RIM you can follow my doc I wrote. I'll email you a copy.

You can ask RIM if they have a server for the show you can use to demo with. Ed should be able to connect you to them if you don't have a contact. Valerie is no longer the PM.


Luis Guirigay (http://lguiriga.blogspot.com): 12/17/2008 8:48:10 AM
BES Expert advise needed for my Lotusphere Demo

I think there is a 10 users license for free. But I agree with @Darren. Get the trial.


Darren Duke (http://blog.darrenduke.net): 12/17/2008 9:15:10 AM
BES Expert advise needed for my Lotusphere Demo

As pointed out by Luis, there is a free option. Not the 10 seat BES SMB option of old (sigh, we miss you), but there is a free BPS version for 1 user going on right now.

So you can buy an extra CAL for $125 + or - and have a full BPS server for $125. Not too shabby.

It is missing MDS-IS and BBIM, but it is slightly cheaper than $4,000.



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