Quest Software Simplifies Email Migration for Customers With Windows Azure

Press release:

Quest Software Simplifies Email Migration for Customers With Windows Azure

Aug 31, 2012

Microsoft partner creates Windows Azure cloud solution to move customers to Microsoft Office 365 email.

inShare1

REDMOND, Wash. — Aug. 31, 2012 — Quest Software is simplifying how customers of all sizes move their email to the cloud with its email migration solution, Quest OnDemand Migration for Email. The solution is based on Windows Azure and helps customers migrate to Microsoft Office 365. By running the solution on Windows Azure, Quest was able to give companies large and small a fast, low-cost, low-risk way to migrate email to cloud environments.

Quest recognized that many customers wanted to migrate their email messaging from both on-premises infrastructures and other cloud solutions to Office 365 but had questions about the migration, noting that several email migration tools in the market were difficult to set up and required the deployment of on-site servers for large mailbox migrations. As a result, Quest created an email migration solution that could be delivered using a software-as-a-service (SaaS) deployment model with Windows Azure in which customers do not need to install or maintain any software for the move, helping save time and money.

“We wanted customers to gain instantaneous access to our migration product via any Web browser and start migrating users within minutes, not weeks,” said Ron Robbins, product manager, Migration Solutions at Quest Software.

By hosting its solution on Windows Azure, Quest can scale to meet its customers’ needs — from small businesses with hundreds of mailboxes to large enterprises with tens of thousands of mailboxes — all while keeping its migration service affordable. Quest’s pay-as-you-go pricing model, which is enabled by Windows Azure’s pricing model, also gives customers the flexibility to migrate all their users at once or spread the investment over time.

To date, Quest has migrated tens of thousands of email seats to Office 365 using OnDemand Migration for Email, and does so with exceptional levels of performance and availability from Windows Azure. Microsoft’s cloud platform also gives Quest the ability to expand its global reach.

“We can expand our markets because Windows Azure has datacenters worldwide,” Robbins said. “Deploying our own SaaS infrastructure worldwide would be cost-prohibitive, but with Windows Azure we can reach new markets without infrastructure concerns.”

Read more about Quest Software’s development of Quest OnDemand Migration for Email on Windows Azure in the case study.

More information about how organizations are turning to Microsoft technology is available in theMicrosoft Customer Spotlight newsroom.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

News Release from the FBI - Disaster Relief Fraud

Justice Department and FBI Raise Awareness of Disaster Fraud Hotline 

U.S. Department of JusticeMarch 08, 2012

Office of Public Affairs(202) 514-2007/TDD (202)514-1888

WASHINGTON—The Department of Justice, the FBI, and the National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) remind the public there is a potential for disaster fraud in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Suspected fraudulent activity pertaining to relief efforts associated with the recent series of tornadoes in the Midwest and South should be reported to the NCDF hotline at 866-720-5721. The hotline is staffed by a live operator 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for the purpose of reporting suspected scams being perpetrated by criminals in the aftermath of disasters.

NCDF was originally established in 2005 by the Department of Justice to investigate, prosecute, and deter fraud associated with federal disaster relief programs following Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. Its mission has expanded to include suspected fraud related to any natural or man-made disaster. More than 20 federal agencies, including the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, and the FBI, participate in the NCDF, allowing the center to act as a centralized clearinghouse of information related to disaster relief fraud.

In the wake of natural disasters, many individuals feel compelled to contribute to victim assistance programs and organizations across the country. The Department of Justice and the FBI remind the public to apply a critical eye and do its due diligence before giving to anyone soliciting donations on behalf of tornado victims. Solicitations can originate from e-mails, websites, door-to-door collections, mailings and telephone calls, and similar methods.

Before making a donation of any kind, consumers should adhere to certain guidelines, including the following:

• Do not respond to any unsolicited (spam) incoming e-mails, including clicking links contained within those messages, because they may contain computer viruses.
• Be skeptical of individuals representing themselves as surviving victims or officials asking for donations via e-mail or social networking sites.
• Beware of organizations with copycat names similar to but not exactly the same as those of reputable charities.
• Rather than following a purported link to a website, verify the existence and legitimacy of non-profit organizations by utilizing various Internet-based resources.
• Be cautious of e-mails that claim to show pictures of the disaster areas in attached files, because the files may contain viruses. Only open attachments from known senders.
• To ensure that contributions are received and used for intended purposes, make donations directly to known organizations rather than relying on others to make the donation on your behalf.
• Do not be pressured into making contributions; reputable charities do not use coercive tactics.
• Do not give your personal or financial information to anyone who solicits contributions. Providing such information may compromise your identity and make you vulnerable to identity theft.
• Avoid cash donations if possible. Pay by debit or credit card, or write a check directly to the charity. Do not make checks payable to individuals.
• Legitimate charities do not normally solicit donations via money transfer services.
• Most legitimate charities maintain websites ending in .org rather than .com.

In addition to raising public awareness, the NCDF is the intake center for all disaster relief fraud. Therefore, if you observe that someone has submitted a fraudulent claim for disaster relief, or any other suspected fraudulent activities pertaining to the receipt of government funds as part of disaster relief or clean up, please contact the NCDF.

If you believe that you have been a victim of fraud by a person or organization soliciting relief funds on behalf of tornado victims, or if you discover fraudulent disaster relief claims submitted by a person or organization, contact the NCDF by phone at (866) 720-5721, fax at (225) 334-4707, or e-mail at disaster@leo.gov.

You can also report suspicious e-mail solicitations or fraudulent websites to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov.

The Bright Side of Being Hacked

Excerpt from an article in

The New York Times

Monday, March 05, 2012

The Bright Side of Being Hacked

By SOMINI SENGUPTA and NICOLE PERLROTH

SAN FRANCISCO — Hackers operating under the banner Anonymous have been poking a finger in the eye of one private company after another for two years now.

They steal files from inside corporate computer systems and occasionally, as in the case of Stratfor last week, dump company e-mail online for all to see.

The Stratfor hack, in which Anonymous claimed to have joined forces with WikiLeaks, drove home a clear lesson about the era of ubiquitous “hactivism,” or hacking as a form of protest.

Despite the arrests of dozens of suspected members of Anonymous and its offshoots worldwide, it is far from diminished. Nor have most of its corporate targets been irreparably damaged by the attacks.

Rather, what Anonymous has done, experts said at the big RSA computer security conference here last week, is raise the alarm about the unguarded state of corporate computer systems.

By and large, the Anonymous break-ins take advantage of gaping computer holes and gullible human beings. The hackers ferret out weak passwords and take advantage of unencrypted e-mail stashes. They persuade company employees — one is all it takes — to click on rogue Web sites or divulge a confidential piece of information, in an exercise known as social engineering.

“Anonymous is a wake-up call,” said Roger Cressey, senior vice president of Booz Allen Hamilton, a defense and intelligence contractor that was attacked by the group last summer. “Any company that is patting themselves on the back and saying that they’re not a target or not susceptible to attack is in complete and utter denial.”

More to the point, a company that is a target of Anonymous may also be the target of a far more potent adversary. The social engineering tactics that Anonymous members have repeatedly used are often similar to those used by criminal hackers and state-sponsored actors who penetrate company systems in order to steal valuable secrets, whether for monetary gain or competitive edge.

Criminals Exploit Stolen Customer Data

Excerpt from an article in The New York Times
Monday, February 20, 2012

Criminals Exploit Stolen Customer Data From Stratfor 

By SOMINI SENGUPTA

It began as a case of political hacktivism. Late last year, under the banner of the loose collective known as Anonymous, hackers broke into the systems of Stratfor Global Intelligence Service, a company that analyzes geopolitical risks worldwide. They stole the names, e-mail addresses and credit card numbers of thousands of its subscribers and posted them online for all to see.

That information apparently became lucre for criminals with commercial goals. Stratfor customers began receiving e-mails from what, at first glance, looked like Stratfor. An attached PDF file came with what looked like Stratfor letterhead. It warned of the risk of "harmful software" and asked the user to download an antivirus program by clicking on an embedded link. As it turns out, the link downloaded a piece of malicious software. It was detected by Microsoft's Malware Protection Center, which posted about it on its blog this week.

It's a classic example of what is known as social engineering -- tricking unsuspecting Internet users into downloading malware that can in turn be used to extract financial gain. The social engineering messages are often disguised as e-mails from friends and associates.

Big Data

Excerpt from an article in The New York Times
Monday, February 20, 2012

I.B.M.: Big Data, Bigger Patterns 

By QUENTIN HARDY It's not just about Big Data. For the big players in enterprise technology algorithms, it's about finding big patterns beyond the data itself.

The explosion of online life and cheap computer hardware have made it possible to store immense amounts of unstructured information, like e-mails or Internet clickstreams, then search the stored information to find some trend that can be exploited. The real trick is to do this cost-effectively. Companies doing this at a large scale look for similarities between one field and another, hoping for a common means of analysis.

When it comes to algorithms, "if I can do a power grid, I can do water supply," said Steve Mills, I.B.M.'s senior vice president for software and systems. Even traffic, which like water and electricity has value when it flows effectively, can reuse some of the same algorithms. Mr. Mills, speaking at a Goldman Sachs technology conference in San Francisco on Wednesday, called it "leveraging the cost structure of new mathematics."

That kind of cross-pollination is reminiscent of the way Wall Street, starting in the 1990s, hired astrophysicists and theoretical mathematicians to design arcane financial products. Now the cost of computing has come down so much that it is useful to bring such talent to other industries. I.B.M., Mr. Mills said, is now the largest employer of Ph.D. mathematicians in the world, bringing their talents to things like oil exploration and medicine. "On the side we're doing astrophysics, genomics, proteomics," he said.

FBI Internet Scam Alerts

From the FBI:

Internet Crime Complaint Center's (IC3)
Scam Alerts

February 17, 2012

This report, which is based upon information from law enforcement and complaints submitted to the IC3, details recent cyber crime trends, new twists to previously-existing cyber scams, and announcements.

MYSTERY SHOPPER SCAM TO EVALUATE WIRE TRANSFER SERVICES

The IC3 has recently received over 250 complaints reporting a new twist to the online employment scam. The scam involves individuals who responded to online ads or were contacted via e-mail as a result of their resume being posted on job websites. The perpetrator posed as a research company and requested participants to complete a paid survey regarding services provided at wire transfer locations to improve the effectiveness of the company's money-transfer services.

Complainants were hired and then mailed a cashier's check or money order. They received instructions to cash the check/money order at their local bank, keep a portion as payment, and wire the remaining amount via wire transfer to a designated recipient. Victims were then asked to immediately e-mail their employer with the transfer number, amount wired, recipient's name and address, and the name of the wire transfer location evaluated. Upon sending the information, victims received a questionnaire form regarding their overall wire transfer experience to complete and return. Those who did not promptly follow through with the instructions received threatening e-mails stating if they did not respond within 24 hours, their information would be forwarded to the FBI and they could face 25 years in jail.

Shortly after the transactions, victims were informed by their banks that the checks were counterfeit and were held responsible for reimbursing their banks. Most victims owed their bank over $2,500.

SPAM REFERENCING U.S. MILITARY MEMBERS AND GADDAFI

Criminals continue to explore new avenues to lure victims, most recently by claiming to be a US military contractor, who was performing reconstruction work in Libya. Fraudsters sent unsolicited e-mails claiming that several metal boxes were found in cellars of high-rise buildings built and occupied by Muammar Gaddafi. Each box purportedly contained large sums of money, in addition to guns, armor, bullets, and drugs. The e-mails requested the recipient’s assistance with transferring the money out of Libya. The fraudsters also told the e-mail recipients that they were expected to receive, secure, and protect the boxes until the overseas assignment elapsed and promised the victims a 30 percent profit.

Often times in online scams, once communication with the fraudsters begins, they will request personal information, including but not limited to bank account details, claiming funds are needed to cover various expenses.

Be wary of any unsolicited e-mail, especially those requesting personal information or soliciting the submission of money for any reason. Unsolicited e-mails should not be opened, as they often contain viruses or other malicious software.

POX PARTY ONLINE ADVERTISEMENTS

Recently, the IC3 received a complaint from an individual reporting an advertisement on a social media site that offered ways to obtain "natural immunity" from the chickenpox by sharing lollipops licked by children infected with the virus. Parents have been known to take their child to a "Pox Party" as an alternative to vaccinating children from varicella, otherwise known as chickenpox, but sending virus-covered lollipops through the mail is against Federal law.

One individual posted a message stating "fresh batch of pox in Nashville shipping of suckers, spit, and Q-tips available tomorrow 50 dollars."

As a disclaimer, the social media site posted the following notice on their page:

"This page has never condoned the mailing of infectious diseases. For our members: The mailing of infectious items, such as lollipops, rags, etc, is a federal offense. This page is not private and can been seen by members and non members alike. You may post on the page that you have the pox and are willing to share in YOUR AREA but please keep your specifics in private messages between members. Again, this page can be seen by anyone and mailing is a federal offense. We are all intelligent adults but these guidelines will help protect your privacy."

According to the Center for Disease Control's (CDC) website, www.cdc.gov, chickenpox is spread in the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes. It can also be spread by touching or breathing in the virus particles that come from the chickenpox blisters. The CDC also discourages chickenpox parties because the disease can be serious. Dangerous diseases like hepatitis A and strep can be transmitted via saliva according to the CDC's website. Therefore, not only is the contaminated candy not likely to provide exposure to chickenpox, it could expose children to an entirely different disease.

Bogus FBI E-mail

News release from the FBI:

Bogus “FBI Funds Notifications” E-Mails 

FBI BaltimoreFebruary 13, 2012

Special Agent Rich Wolf(410) 265-8080

The Baltimore FBI office is receiving a large number of telephone calls concerning e-mails supposedly from the FBI Director, the Baltimore Special Agent in Charge, or other top Bureau officials. These e-mails claim that you are the “rightful beneficiary” of large sums of money wired from the Central Bank of Nigeria but intercepted by the FBI and that you can release the funds by obtaining your “Diplomatic Immunity Seal of Transfer” through the Baltimore FBI office. The e-mails also threaten legal action against you, including arrest and detention, if you do not comply.

These e-mails are not from the FBI and entirely fraudulent. Please do not respond to them or contact our office. Instead, please report this scam to the Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov.

Below is an example of one of these e-mails (and note the many grammatical errors):

ATTENTION BENEFICIARY:

This is to officially inform you that it has come to our notice; the Federal Bureau Investigation (FBI) that the sum of $8.3 Million U.S Dollars is here in the United State of America in your name wired to you from the Central Bank of Nigeria but was intercepted by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in Baltimore (Maryland) U.S.A. That is why we have decided to contact you directly to acquire the proper verifications and proof from you to show that you are the rightful owner of the fund, because the above mentioned amount is a huge amount of money, we want to make sure that money you are about to receive is legal and we need to verify that you are not involved in any terrorist movement and money laundry.

It has already been confirmed in your name, your funds and all other legal documents are right now in our custody in WASHINGTON D.C UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, waiting to be released to you, we have verified and Investigated that you are the rightful beneficiary to claim the funds, all we need from you is verification and proof by providing to this office the Hard Copy of your Diplomatic Immunity Seal of Transfer (DIST) due to the huge amount of money.

As a matter of national security, we are to serve and to protect the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. The only advice we can give to you as at this time is to provide the required document so that your funds will be release to you, this funds are rightfully yours. If you do not have this documents in your possession, which I don’t think you do not have, You can obtain it from the FBI Special Agent in Charge in Baltimore (Maryland) here in the United States, using the following information:

Richard A. McFeely
FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE
INVESTIGATIONS DEPARTMENT
BALTIMORE (MARYLAND) U.S.A
E-mail: investigationsunit@usa.com
PHONE: 410-265-8080 (Voice)
410-277-6677 (Fax)

We have done our verification on your FBI Identification Record and checked your criminal records, the only documents remaining now is the Diplomatic Immunity Seal Of Transfer(DIST) to “certisy” to us that the money you are about to receive is free from Terrorism and Money Laundry act and it is rightfuly yours.

You are to scan and forward the documents to us immediately if you have it with you, but if you don’t have it, you can get it from the FBI Special Agent in charge in Baltimore (Maryland) here in the States, you are to contact the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Baltimore (Maryland) to obtain the above required document.

An FBI Identification Record and Diplomatic Immunity Seal of Transfer (DIST) are often referred to as a Criminal History Record or Rap Sheet, is a listing of certain information taken from fingerprint submissions retained by the FBI in connection with arrests and, in some instances, federal employment, citizenship, or military service.

An individual may request a copy of his or her own FBI Identification Record for personal review or to challenge information on the Record. Other reasons an individual may request a copy of his or her own Identification Record may include international adoption or to certify a requirement to live or work in a foreign country ( i.e., Diplomatic Immunity Seal Of Transfer, letter of good conduct, criminal history background, etc.).

NOTE: We have asked for the above documents to be made available the most complete and up-to date records possible for no criminal justice purposes before your fund could be released to you. You are here by advice to Contact the FBI in Baltimore (Maryland), through the e-mail address above to inquire from them on how you are going to get the required document if not in your possession at present.

You are to do this immediately if you really want your fund to be released to you and also if you do not want any legal action to be taken on you. We have already informed the FBI in Baltimore (Maryland) about the present situation, so go ahead and contact the FBI Special Agent in charge immediately.

Your fund is now in our custody and will only be released to you upon the confirmation of your Diplomatic Immunity Seal of Transfer (DIST) documents, after that the fund will be released to you immediately without any delay.

WARNING: Failure to produce the above requirement in the next 48 hours, legal action will be taken immediately by arresting and detaining you, justificatory and if found guilty, you will be jailed for ancillary support to terrorist, drug trafficker and money launderer. I believe you know this is a serious offense in the United States of America today. The F.B.I will not stop at any length in tracking down and persecuting any criminal who indulges in this criminal acts.

CONTACT HIM IMMEDIATELY FOR HIS ASSISTANCE IN GETTING YOU A DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY SEAL OF TRANSFER (DIST) AND GET BACK TO US, SO THAT YOUR FUNDS CAN BE AUTHORIZED FOR FINAL RELEASED TO YOU.

FBI DIRECTOR
ROBERT S. MULLER

New Voice Mail to Text Service

News release from Nuance:


U.S. Cellular Announces New Voice Mail to Text Service Powered by Nuance

U.S. Cellular Subscribers Can Now Experience the Convenience of Reading Voice Mails as Text Messages and Emails, All Powered by Nuance's Dragon Voicemail-to-Text

CHICAGO and BURLINGTON, Mass. February 6, 2012 -- U.S. Cellular and Nuance Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) together announced the availability of U.S. Cellular’s new Voice Mail to Text service, powered by Nuance’s fully-automated Dragon Voicemail-to-Text platform. U.S. Cellular’s Voice Mail to Text lets subscribers read their voice messages via text message or email on their mobile phone – any time, any place.

U.S. Cellular’s new fully-automated Voice Mail to Text service was created with today’s mobile consumer in mind – always on the go, but always in demand and connected to friends, family, customers and colleagues. Voice Mail to Text lets users discreetly check their voice mail without the tedious retrieval steps, or having to listen to – and skip – multiple unimportant messages. People can easily respond to voice mail via text or email when calling back isn’t an option. Further, Voice Mail to Text makes searching voice mails incredibly easy. If necessary, Voice Mail to Text also offers the ability to listen to the original audio.

“Our customers are busy and always on the go, and want to stay connected to their friends and family,” said Jennifer Micek, senior director of the product group for U.S. Cellular. “With our new Voice Mail to Text service, our customers can get more done quickly and get back to what’s most important to them.”

“In today’s competitive mobile market, carriers need to offer their subscribers innovative services that deliver tangible, everyday value,” said John Pollard, general manager and vice president, voice to text services, Nuance Mobile. “Dragon Voicemail-to-Text is known for quickly and conveniently making people more responsive, and simply eliminating the need to ever retrieve voice mail. And because it’s powered by Dragon – you always get the message.”

Nuance’s Dragon Voice-to-Text services portfolio features the same core speech technology at the heart of Nuance’s renowned Dragon Mobile apps and Dragon NaturallySpeaking.

U.S. Cellular’s Voice Mail to Text is currently available and free to subscribers as a 30-day trial. The service is $2.99 per month after the 30-day free trial as a subscription service, which includes unlimited transcriptions, and is available as a vertical feature on all price plans. For more information, visit the Voice Mail to Text page on uscellular.com.

For more information on Nuance’s voice-to-text offerings, visit www.nuance.com.

About U.S. Cellular
U.S. Cellular rewards its customers with unmatched benefits and industry-leading innovations designed to elevate the customer experience. The Chicago-based carrier has a strong line-up of cutting-edge devices that are all backed by its high-speed nationwide network that has the highest call quality of any national carrier. U.S. Cellular was named a J.D. Power and Associates 2011 Customer Service Champion and received PC Magazine's 2011 Readers' Choice Award. To learn more about U.S. Cellular, visit one of its retail stores or uscellular.com. To get the latest news, promos and videos, connect with U.S. Cellular on Facebook.com/uscellular, Twitter.com/uscellular and YouTube.com/uscellularcorp.

Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) is a leading provider of voice and language solutions for businesses and consumers around the world.  Its technologies, applications and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with devices and systems. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance’s proven applications.  For more information, please visit www.nuance.com.

BlackBerry PlayBook Features Found Wanting by Analysts

Excerpt from January 17 New York Times article with the above title:


BlackBerry PlayBook Features Found Wanting by Analysts 

By IAN AUSTEN and BRIAN X. CHEN

OTTAWA — Nearly 10 months after its debut, the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet will finally get e-mail and other important missing features in February. But after examining a preview of the software upgrade last week, several analysts said the device’s maker, Research in Motion, continues to struggle with significant technical issues, which could hinder its effort to reverse its declining fortunes.

And they said the upgrade was unlikely to significantly improve sales of the tablet computer to businesses, a target market. RIM’s continued inability to make the PlayBook work directly with its global network means that corporations looking for high-security BlackBerry e-mail on their tablets will first need costly software upgrades to their computer systems. For consumers, it means that the popular BlackBerry Messenger instant-messaging system is still missing from the tablet.

Neither development, some analysts say, is a positive sign for the BlackBerry 10 operating system, a variation of the PlayBook’s software for the coming phones that RIM hopes will restore the BlackBerry’s popularity in North America.

“There are obviously some technical problems integrating this that they weren’t able to solve,” said Mike Abramsky, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets. “They’re being very disorganized and uncommunicative about it.”

Mr. Abramsky and other analysts who attended demonstrations of the software upgrade at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week complained that RIM’s reluctance to provide specifics about the new software, known as PlayBook O.S. 2, led to widespread confusion about its capabilities, particularly for business users.

Given that RIM effectively created the wireless e-mail market with the BlackBerry, there was considerable surprise when the PlayBook appeared last April without e-mail software or software for synching entries from users’ electronic calendars and address books.

RIM has never publicly explained the reason for that omission. But many industry and financial analysts have said the features were absent because the company could not make the device work with its unique global data network. That network connects directly to cellphone companies’ networks. It is a major reason business and government BlackBerry phones have such high e-mail security that it has been a source of contention in nations where law enforcement and security services would like to monitor BlackBerry users’ messages.

For consumers, the RIM network bypasses carriers’ normal text-messaging systems, making BlackBerry Messenger messages less expensive and faster.

But RIM’s network was designed so that only one hand-held device can be used with any particular user’s account, creating problems for people with both a BlackBerry phone and a PlayBook.

From what RIM previewed in Las Vegas last week, it appears that most PlayBooks will rely entirely on Microsoft Exchange Active Sync, the same technology found on phones or tablets that people use on the other common mobile operating systems — Apple’s iOS, Android from Google and Microsoft’s Windows Phone.

RIM has not disclosed what specific roles its network will play in that arrangement. But Tenille Kennedy, a spokeswoman for the company, which is based in Ontario, said PlayBooks with the new software “will significantly leverage RIM’s global BlackBerry infrastructure.”

Nor has the company offered a full explanation about the continued absence of BlackBerry Messenger. In an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation last week, Alec Saunders, vice president for developer relations at RIM, offered only this explanation: “Building software takes time.”

In an e-mail, Ms. Kennedy said corporate and government users who want highly encrypted BlackBerry service must update to the latest version of RIM’s BlackBerry Enterprise Server software. They also must use BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, which will not be sold until late February. When it was announced last year, the Fusion software was described as allowing corporations to manage iPhones and Android phones through their BlackBerry servers.

But several analysts said most corporations were not likely to upgrade to accommodate the PlayBook because in addition to cost, there is a potential for errors causing widespread disruption.

“This is not something many enterprises will do proactively unless they already have an active PlayBook deployment program,” said Jan Dawson, an analyst with Ovum who also saw the software demonstrated last week.

Bill Kreher, an analyst with Edward Jones, said the announcement last week was more of a signal that RIM had been struggling to make the new phones work.

“We fear the company is having big difficulty porting native e-mail to the BlackBerry 10 O.S.,” Mr. Kreher said. “RIM has had a poor track record in recent history in delivering their products.”

But Jeff Orr of ABI Research described the new software as “phase one” and said he expected improved e-mail systems to be released eventually. He acknowledged, however, that the development of the new phones did not seem smooth from the outside.

“Until that vision plays out, it’s going to appear fragmented and chaotic,” he said.

==========