myITdepartment

In the coming weeks we'll have a short series of articles relating to Blackberry integration with GroupWise.

There are several ways to do this:

1. Webmail (webaccess)

2. POP3 or IMAP

3. BES (Blackberry Enterprise server)

Option 1, Webaccess/Webmail

This actually is the easiest if you have GroupWise webaccess already working and you have Blackberry Internet service. While it is not exactly an integration, it does allow the ability to view email/calendars/folders, etc. as well as compose and send new email. It's also a nice easy to use lifeline in the event something else is not working.

There is a 1-2 minute setup time involved, and this already assumes your system is webaccess capable and you can login to it from a PC from outside the office now.

Steps Involved 

1. Launch the Blackberry Browser on your device

2. Click the Blackberry Button, navigate and select OPTIONS

3. Select "Browser Configuration" and scroll to the "Emulation Mode" and choose MS POCKET IE, then save.

4. Go to your login page (i.e., http://mail.yourdomain.com/servlet/webacc), bookmarking it would be a good idea, login, and enjoy. 

We've noticed that when you use this, ALWAYS exit from within the interface, otherwise something strange happen on the BIS (Blackberry Internet Server) where it seems to cache the connection, so every time you login afterwards it says your "Login is not currrent" and you never really get anywhere. It's "user" resettable by changing the browser emulation mode to "OpenWave", saving, logging in and exiting "gracefully, then changing back to MS Pocket IE again.