Research In Motion (RIM) is working with IBM Corp. to enable enterprise instant messaging on the BlackBerry platform. The solution will bring together the Presence awareness capabilities of IBM Lotus Instant Messaging and Web Conferencing and the security and performance advantages of the push-based BlackBerry wireless platform.

"Enterprise instant messaging is an important application for our customers and wireless instant messaging will be a very complementary addition to the existing suite of productivity applications available to BlackBerry users," said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at Research In Motion. "Together Lotus Instant Messaging and BlackBerry will offer greater opportunities for organizations to support their mobile workforce with enhanced communication and collaboration capabilities."

"As the leader in enterprise collaboration solutions, we are pleased to be extending the reach of Lotus Instant Messaging to BlackBerry users through our reseller and partner community," said Ken Bisconti, Vice President, Workplace, Portal and Collaboration Products, IBM. "Customers can now leverage the security and reliability of Lotus Instant Messaging on their Blackberry devices, helping to ensure productivity while they are mobile."

The Lotus Instant Messaging client for BlackBerry will communicate through the Lotus Instant Messaging published interfaces to connect BlackBerry users into their existing corporate instant messaging community. Lotus Instant Messaging for BlackBerry will also provide a server-based audit trail of messages, helping organizations to comply with certain industry and government requirements.

The Lotus Instant Messaging client for BlackBerry is optimized for wireless use and extends many benefits of Lotus Instant Messaging to mobile environments. Employees will be able to work more efficiently and quickly assemble teams to share information for improved decision-making and faster problem resolution.

Lotus Instant Messaging for BlackBerry is expected to be available later this year. The solution is being demonstrated at the IBM booth at the Wireless Enterprise Symposium 2005 in Orlando, FL, this week (www.attendwes.com).

Further information on Lotus Instant Messaging for BlackBerry will be available at a later date.

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