BlackBerry Cloud Services launched on Microsoft Office 365

The service will allow BlackBerry users to manage deployments in the cloud

Research in Motion (RIM) has unveiled a free download of BlackBerry Cloud Services for enterprise subscribers of Microsoft's cloud offering, Office 365.

The new service, targeted at businesses and government organisations, allows customers to manage BlackBerry deployments in the cloud.

Users will be able to wirelessly synchronise with Microsoft Exchange Online email, calendar and organiser data from a BlackBerry smartphone. The download presents a unified view of personal and work data, but keeps the content separate, which RIM argues should allay security concerns.

"This new cloud-based option allows customers to cost-effectively support mobility across their organisations and easily manage and secure their BlackBerry deployments," said Alan Panezic, vice president, enterprise product management and marketing at RIM.

IT administrators will provision, manage and secure BlackBerry smartphones through a web-based console, and there is also online access to employee security functions, allowing users to reset a device password or remotely wipe a phone.