A Thorny Tangle Of Blackberry Vines

I can see it now. Your restraint has reached its breaking point. You are a nanosecond away from bursting into your boss's office and hurling forth with a resounding "I-told-you-so," the vehemence of which can result in only two outcomes, your firing or your promotion. There is no in-between.

Ever since the first employee sparked a support ticket to get his Blackberry device hooked to the network, you've felt the ill wind of insecurity, knowing it was only a matter of time before mobile devices achieved their full nuisance potential.

So when a Federal judge ruled yesterday that the $450 million settlement in March between Research In Motion and NTP Inc. was invalid, and a possible injunction preventing RIM for offering its mobile e-mail service in the U.S. was back on the table, you felt a little vindication, didn't you? Be honest.All these devices, with their different operating systems and different connectivity and security issues have been a source of concern for IT departments everywhere.

RIM said it is already preparing to make changes to its technology, a workaround of sorts, if U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer does decide to issue an injunction. But what does that mean? We won't know, of course, unless RIM loses its argument against an injunction. RIM could also try to sweeten the pot for another settlement with NTP, an Arlington, VA patent holding company.

In order to reassure shaken shareholders, the company will have to act decisively, but while RIM is trying to figure out how to keep its stock from tanking, your wondering how any technology change or loss of service is going to affect you and your users.

But uncertainty has highlighted the relationship between these intelligent devices and IT all through their short history together. And, as always, you'll just have to stay tuned. So hold back from storming your boss's office and vent a little steam by changing his encryption trigger on the Blackberry server. You do have an enterprise Blackberry server, right?