Blackberry Internet Service vs Blackberry Enterprise Service
The Blackberry Enterprise Service and Blackberry Internet Service, which are abbreviated as BES and BIS respectively, are two service plans that can be acquired for use with a Blackberry smart phone. BES is the plan that a lot of big corporations use as it allows the Blackberry phone to connect directly to the company intranet and function from there. The BIS is the plan that individuals who do not have or need access to a corporate server. The BIS serves more or less the same functionality as the BES but not on the same level.
Since the servers on the BES are inside a corporate intranet, they have full control of the traffic to and from the Blackberry phones on the network. They are free to set rules and restrictions depending on their needs. The BIS is provided by the telecom company and the users are dependent on what the telecom company deems appropriate. Corporations often take advantage of BES to restrict access to unnecessary sites. BIS lacks this ability and users often have full access to the internet.
The level of security that is imposed on a company intranet is pretty tight, and this carries over to the Blackberry device as well. The security level implemented by telecom companies for their BIS subscribers, though sufficient for most users, is not as sophisticated as that of most corporate companies. So to generalize on security systems, BES servers are more secure than BIS servers.
Companies with BES have the ability to ‘push’ certain applications to the Blackberries that are a part of their network. The deployment is done on the server and the application is sent over the air to the Blackberry devices, which is very convenient for companies with a lot of employees. This further simplifies the task of keeping everybody’s devices on the same level at all times. This is not possible on devices that have BIS plans and software installation must be done on an individual basis. Keeping multiple devices up to date at all times can be quite a daunting task.
Summary:
1. BES provides a connection to a corporate server while BIS connects you to a server operated by your telecom company.
2. The company has control of the BES while the telecom company is responsible for the BIS.
3. BES is more secure compared to BIS.
4. BES allows ‘application push’ while BIS does not.