IBM and RIM Partner on Social Networking for BlackBerry

BlackBerry Applications for Lotus Software Now Available from IBM

ORLANDO, FL & LOTUSPHERE - 18 Jan 2010: IBM ( IBM) and Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced the availability of rich, new social networking applications for BlackBerry smartphones.

By demand of their mutual customers, IBM and RIM are bringing the BlackBerry Client for IBM Lotus Quickr and a new version of the BlackBerry Client for IBM Lotus Connections to market through IBM.

The new social software offerings will be showcased at the 17th annual Lotusphere conference in Orlando, Florida this week.

Lotus Connections on BlackBerry

Lotus Connections social software on BlackBerry smartphones enables mobile workers to more easily tap into their colleagues’ expertise and internal knowledge bases.

According to a recent report, Gartner expects to see steep growth rates for sales of premises- and cloud-based social networking services. As the industry moves toward the three billion phones worldwide with the purpose of providing communications and collaboration anytime and anywhere, Gartner expects more people to spend significant time using collaborative tools on these devices.*

Lotus Connections social software on BlackBerry smartphones enables mobile workers to more easily tap into their colleagues' expertise and internal knowledge bases. Lotus Quickr software allows them to more easily collaborate on documents and files. Lotus Sametime brings secure enterprise Instant Messaging into the mix. Together these mobile apps allow workers to more easily and effectively participate on team projects while outside the office or away from their desks.

The combination of Lotus Software and the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution offers customers an unparalleled enterprise social networking and collaboration solution that can help busy professionals work smarter on the move," said Alistair Rennie, general manager, IBM Lotus Software. "This new agreement between IBM and RIM reinforces our mutual commitment to customers."

"We are making Lotus Software easily accessible to customers that are already working through IBM sales channels," said Jeff McDowell, Senior Vice President, Alliances at Research In Motion. "This agreement expands RIM's channels of distribution and helps us meet the growing market demand for enterprise social networking and collaboration solutions."

For close to ten years, IBM's Mobile Enterprise Services organization has managed and maintained the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution for customers. IBM delivers comprehensive services that allow IBM's clients to transform their enterprise by bringing together the power of the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution, IBM software and IBM services and support. Along with telecommunications providers around the world, IBM already provides these services to a wide range of clients worldwide.

Source: Research In Motion (RIM)