Sprint, Verizon embrace new BlackBerry enterprise voice server

Sprint (NYSE: S) and Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) are beefing up their mobile business service portfolios just as the foul economy is forcing enterprises to cut back on wireless spending. Both companies today announced support for the new BlackBerry Mobile Voice System (MVS), Research in Motion's (NASDAQ: RIMM) fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) platform that extends PBX functions over the cellular network to BlackBerry smartphones.

Verizon Business has been selling MVS since June, when it shelved its hardware-based PBX Mobile Extension solution in favor of RIM's PBX-agnostic software solution. Meanwhile, Sprint is upgrading to the next-generation BlackBerry MVS after offering Ascendant Systems original version of the platform for eight years. Called Mobile Extension, the CPE-based FMC solution serves 75,000 mobile workers. Sprint also offers a network-based platform from Cisco Systems called Enterprise Extension solution, which leverage's Sprint IP multimedia system (IMS) architecture.

RIM's solution allows mobile workers to move seamlessly between their desktop phones and mobile phones, creating a single number for up to four devices, a unified voicemail box and a seamless bridge for advanced PBX features such as conference calling, user groups and messaging between the wide-area mobile and local-area enterprise networks. The latest version of RIM's MVS integrates directly with the BlackBerry Enterprise Server deployed by thousands of businesses and is optimized for Cisco's Unified Communications Manager, the fully IP replacement to Cisco's Call Manager. The MVS, however, is designed to integrate with both new IP systems and legacy time-division multiplexing (TDM) PBX systems.

Both Sprint and Verizon are offering the services as a joint solution between their business and wireless groups, selling wireless voice and data plans along with IP trunking services to link the devices securely to the enterprise. Sprint will be offering the FMC solution over both its CDMA and Nextel iDEN networks.

RIM announced a host of new partnerships and products at the Wireless Enterprise Symposium, its annual BlackBerry extravaganza in Orlando, including a new partnership with HP that integrates its Operations Manager with the BlackBerry Enterprise server and extends functions such as cloud-based printing to RIM's smartphones. RIM also opened up its push technology to the BlackBerry developers for the first time, allowing third-party applications to deliver real-time content.

Perhaps the biggest news from WES, however, was NPD's report that the BlackBerry had outpaced Apple's red-hot iPhone in sales in the first quarter, driven largely by Verizon's buy-one-get-one free offer.