HP and RIM announce new allied services

The mobile enterprise sector has got its newest supergroup. Today, HP and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion announced their alliance and that their first collaborative efforts are ready to be shown to the public: HP CloudPrint for BlackBerry Smartphones, and HP Operations Manager for BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

CloudPrint is a product of HP Labs, which, in short, is a cloud-based print server. It allows Internet-connected mobile devices to print e-mail attachments, Web pages, photos, and documents, and has been in various stages of development since 2007. Through its partnership with RIM, HP will make the service available to BlackBerry Internet Service subscribers and BlackBerry Enterprise Server customers.

Operations Manager is HP's software for monitoring IT infrastructure, and the BlackBerry-specific version monitors both real and virtual assets. The software is capable of managing BlackBerry Enterprise Server software, mail servers, databases, Microsoft Active Directory, and server operating systems.

"Emerging models of communications and collaboration have created an opportunity for RIM and HP to provide service-based mobile solutions that deliver value to customers," said Ann Livermore, Executive Vice President of HP's Technology Solutions Group.