Free BlackBerry Professional Software and CAL’s

On September 16, 2009 · 7 Comments · In RIM, Technology

** Update: See this updated post about the new way to get BES software free without paying for any CAL’s.

Image by Honou @ flickr

Image by Honou @ flickr

One of the best changes we have made as a department where I work was moving to Blackberry’s as our solution for data phones. When I first looked at the pricing for Blackberry Enterprise Server my jaw hit the floor. In a small-medium business, its hard to justify spending thousands on a piece of software and CAL’s that we were getting with Windows Mobile for little to no cost. Sure we could roll the Blackberry’s out and set them up with Blackberry Internet Service to tap into Outlook Web Access, but we were looking at increasing our functions as administrators and gain more control over the devices themselves. A similar solution with Microsoft and ActiveSync for their mobile phone server would only be a few hundred dollars.

Then our Verizon rep pointed out that we can get Blackberry Professional Software for FREE, and a CAL to go along with it. With BPS, you can setup a BES like server (we’ll call it BPS from this point on) that will allow up to 30 users to connect and sync with Exchange. This fit perfect, now we just need to buy CAL’s for each device. Wrong. EACH Blackberry you buy from Verizon can be registered, to receive one free copy of BPS and a CAL to go along with it. As long as you or your company owns the devices, you can register them and be on your way with the install.

Follow these steps to receive your free software and CAL to go along with it:
1. Purchase your Blackberry (This is confirmed only with Verizon at this point, but the site looks like it accepts all carriers)
2. Go to this website and register your PIN for the phone
3. You will receive an email with instructions on how to receive your software, and most importantly your CAL

So now we have taken huge steps in improving our support with mobile devices, and cut administration and trouble shooting time down to nearly nothing with the implementation of BPS. We have control over the devices from our server, and can help users while they are the road much better than we could with Windows Mobile Devices. To top it off, with each registered device you will get one complimentary BB Support incident, to take care of any problems that may come up during installation or going forward.

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  • Dan

    This is an offer from Blackberry (RIM) not just verizon. We just switched from Windows Mobile to Blackberry and i was not told about this offer until i was in a meeting with my verizon rep and the company owners (I wanted to hide in the corner). We have since rolled out the blackberries. One thing we did get from VZW is 10 free CAL’s so it might not hurt to ask your carrier if they have any specials on CAL’s

  • Dan

    This is an offer from Blackberry (RIM) not just verizon. We just switched from Windows Mobile to Blackberry and i was not told about this offer until i was in a meeting with my verizon rep and the company owners (I wanted to hide in the corner). We have since rolled out the blackberries. One thing we did get from VZW is 10 free CAL’s so it might not hurt to ask your carrier if they have any specials on CAL’s

  • Peter

    Let me get this right, does this mean that u can take the CAL from each registered device and apply it to the BPS and it will work? Have you actually done this and confirm it is working? Our t-mobile rep said that 5 cals are 800 bucks, which is more than we want to pay for…

  • Peter

    Let me get this right, does this mean that u can take the CAL from each registered device and apply it to the BPS and it will work? Have you actually done this and confirm it is working? Our t-mobile rep said that 5 cals are 800 bucks, which is more than we want to pay for…

  • http://www.synergy-blog.com/ Steve

    I made the same mistake and bought 5 CAL’s before I discovered that each device came with one of their own. From what I understand the CAL’s are also transferable if you upgrade to BES at any point.

  • http://www.synergy-blog.com Steve

    I made the same mistake and bought 5 CAL’s before I discovered that each device came with one of their own. From what I understand the CAL’s are also transferable if you upgrade to BES at any point.