Fw: New Yorker Cartoon: Parenting for Monday September 14, 2009 from Its from Onion on 2009-09-13 (file.mbox)

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From: kondrak <kon..._at_phreaker.net>
Subject: Fwd: [ISN] BlackBerry Backup: Surviving a Blackout
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>
>
>http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1915931,00.asp
>
>By Carmen Nobel
>January 27, 2006
>
>Analysis: The BlackBerry patent saga and worries over a potential
>shutdown continue. Here's what you need to know to avoid being
>stranded.
>
>The Research In Motion and NTP patent dispute provided a few more
>twists and turns this week as the Supreme Court refused to hear an
>appeal and a federal court judge set Feb. 24 as a key hearing date.
>
>On Jan. 23, the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal in an ongoing
>battle that has loomed over BlackBerry customers for years.
>
>Then on Jan. 25 a federal judge set a Feb. 24 hearing date in the
>Eastern District Court of Virginia to consider a possible injunction
>that could shut down BlackBerry wireless e-mail service in the United
>States.
>
>What's next? More court hearings. More big headlines. And more big
>questions facing enterprises as managers ponder what it will mean for
>business if the BlackBerry goes bust.
>
>With that in mind, here's an FAQ to help you map out a plan.
>
>
>What's the back story?
>
>Holding company NTP sued Canadian BlackBerry maker Research in Motion
>for alleged patent infringement on nine wireless e-mail patents in
>2001.
>
>U.S. District Judge James Spencer ruled in favor of NTP in 2003,
>instructing RIM to halt its sales of BlackBerry devices and services
>in the United States until NTP's patents run out in 2012.
>
>Spencer stayed the ruling, however, pending appeal. Since then, the
>case has gone through several appeals and failed settlement attempts.
>
>In the meantime, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has been
>re-evaluating several of the disputed patents for months. The USPTO
>has indicated that it intends to reject all of NTP's claims
>eventually, in which the case would be null and void.
>
>Industry experts said the process could take several months, though,
>as NTP has voiced plans to appeal every decision it can.
>
>Since Judge Spencer ruled against RIM, NTP has secured patent
>licensing deals with several of RIM's competitors in the remote access
>software industry, including Nokia in June 2004, Good Technology in
>March 2005 and Visto in Dec. 2005.
>
>"RIM refuses to take a license and pay NTP," said Kevin Anderson, an
>attorney with Wiley Rein & Fielding of Washington, one of the law
>firms that represent NTP.
>
>"If someone camps on your front lawn and refuses to pay you, you have
>no choice but to seek assistance in removing the squatter."
>
>
>How ugly can this get?
>
>Very ugly. Of the 4.3 million BlackBerry customers worldwide, 75
>percent are in North America. For those customers, the worst thing in
>the near term would be for Judge Spencer to shut down BlackBerry sales
>and services in the United States, which could happen after the Feb.
>24 hearing.
>
>For those who use their BlackBerrys as cell phones, the phone service
>would remain in place, but the e-mail service would be shelved.
>
>"While removing BlackBerry support from my life does seem very
>appealing, the truth is this service has become an integral part of
>our day-to-day business operations," said Nick Gass, IT manager at
>Color Kinetics, a digital lighting company in Boston.
>
>"Our sales team relies on their BlackBerry devices as their primary
>means of contact, and our executive team uses them to an almost manic
>degree. BlackBerries have become practically indispensable."
>
>Should an injunction occur, it is likely that customers would get a
>little time before a shutdown. In a recent court filing arguing for
>the injunction, NTP recommended that BlackBerry customers be given a
>30-day grace period.
>
>
>Is there a real workaround?
>
>RIM maintains that the company has tested and readied a legal
>technical workaround solution that would let the company continue
>offering its mobile e-mail service even if the judge orders an
>injunction before the patent office rules.
>
>In an earnings call late last month, RIM Chairman and Co-CEO Jim
>Balsillie said the company will reveal details of a workaround "very
>soon" that it could ship latent in future products. Balsillie said a
>workaround will not violate any of NTP's patents.
>
>Nevertheless, details of this workaround have remained a stubborn
>mystery.
>
>RIM officials say that they have yet to release the details of the
>workaround - "for legal reasons," and so as not to tip a hand to NTP
>more than necessary. The bottom line is that customers have been left
>in the dark.
>
>"Nobody knows," said Alex Kogan, director of network and data center
>services at Boston Properties, a real estate company in Boston with a
>deployment of 170 BlackBerrys. "NTP is saying there's no solution that
>will work without defying the patent. It's kind of a waiting game."
>
>
>Will the workaround be pain free?
>
>Probably not. RIM's own court filings indicate that implementing a
>workaround won't be easy.
>
>"Implementing a workaround requires reloading software on servers and
>BlackBerry handheld devices," reads a January 17 court briefing from
>RIM's legal team.
>
>"This which would likely involve some significant effort on behalf of
>users and their supporting organizations, which will need to take time
>to implement the upgrades, and will likely experience typical problems
>experienced with undertaking upgrades."
>
>RIM goes on to note that customers could defect to other services
>rather than install any workaround, which may still be challenged by
>NTP.
>
>"Injunctions cover all products 'not colorably different' from the
>enjoined product," Anderson said. "So, if the workaround is merely to
>take an existing BlackBerry and call it a 'RedBerry,' then that
>product would be in contempt."
>
>
>Do I need a contingency plan?
>
>A backup plan certainly wouldn't hurt and it's a good idea to be aware
>of alternatives.
>
>Clyde Foster, chief operating officer of Intellisync, which makes
>server and client-side software that competes with RIM's, said he has
>seen an increase in interest in piloting his software largely from
>potential customers in financial services and government.
>
>John Halamka, CIO of Harvard Medical School and Caregroup Healthcare
>System, a Boston-area hospital group that supports some 800 BlackBerry
>devices, has explored alternatives even though he thinks RIM will
>prevail.
>
>"As risk mitigation, I've tested alternatives such as the [Palm] Treo
>700, and they just do not work as well as BlackBerry for high volume
>e-mail users=97600 e-mails a day for me," said Halamka.
>
>Also, remember that RIM's rivals may not be above scare tactics.
>"There have been a lot of companies out there trying to profit from
>this," Boston Properties' Kogan said. "A couple of them have contacted
>us."
>
>Indeed, on December 9 the Boston Properties IT team received an e-mail
>with the subject header "BlackBerry Shutdown at Boston Properties,
>Inc."
>
>The sender: the chief software architect at Mobiliam, a mobile
>computing software company that competes with RIM. Boston Properties'
>CEO was cc'd on the message.
>
>Kogan, however, said he'll implement a workaround if needed and
>long-term will consider defecting from BlackBerry, depending on how
>the installation goes.
>
>One IT manager told eWEEK that while he plans to keep supporting
>around 700 BlackBerrys on his company's network, he also is rolling
>out a separate server from Good Technology and buying around ten Treo
>700 devices for the top executives.
>
>In case of a BlackBerry shutdown, these executives will be taken care
>of immediately, and an alternate server will be in place for future
>Treo deployments.
>
>
>Will RIM and NTP make up?
>
>Gartner estimates there's a 35 percent chance the two companies will
>settle and a 20 percent chance RIM will enact a workaround.
>
>Nevertheless, RIM and NTP almost made peace in the past. In March
>2005, the companies announced a settlement deal worth $450 million,
>but the deal fell apart a couple of months later when the companies
>failed to agree to terms.
>
>Recently, NTP has proposed various licensing plans in court briefings,
>but RIM officials remain publicly confident that the Patent Office
>will reject the NTP patents. Still, many customers are banking on the
>companies making nice.
>
>"We're confident that there will be a settlement," Kogan said. "RIM
>won't shut down for that many customers. It would kill their business
>... It will either be ruled in RIM's favor or there will be a
>settlement. But if there's an outage, we'll deal with it accordingly."
>

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<html>
<body>
<blockquote type=3Dcite class=3Dcite cite=3D""> 
<a href=3D"http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1915931,00.asp" eudora=3D"a=
utourl">
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1915931,00.asp</a> 
By Carmen Nobel 
January 27, 2006 
Analysis: The BlackBerry patent saga and worries over a potential 
shutdown continue. Here's what you need to know to avoid being 
stranded. 
The Research In Motion and NTP patent dispute provided a few more 
twists and turns this week as the Supreme Court refused to hear an 
appeal and a federal court judge set Feb. 24 as a key hearing
date. 
On Jan. 23, the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal in an
ongoing 
battle that has loomed over BlackBerry customers for years. 
Then on Jan. 25 a federal judge set a Feb. 24 hearing date in the 
Eastern District Court of Virginia to consider a possible injunction 
that could shut down BlackBerry wireless e-mail service in the
United 
States. 
What's next? More court hearings. More big headlines. And more big 
questions facing enterprises as managers ponder what it will mean
for 
business if the BlackBerry goes bust. 
With that in mind, here's an FAQ to help you map out a plan. 
 
What's the back story? 
Holding company NTP sued Canadian BlackBerry maker Research in
Motion 
for alleged patent infringement on nine wireless e-mail patents in 
2001. 
U.S. District Judge James Spencer ruled in favor of NTP in 2003, 
instructing RIM to halt its sales of BlackBerry devices and services 
in the United States until NTP's patents run out in 2012. 
  
Spencer stayed the ruling, however, pending appeal. Since then, the 
case has gone through several appeals and failed settlement
attempts. 
In the meantime, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has been 
re-evaluating several of the disputed patents for months. The USPTO 
has indicated that it intends to reject all of NTP's claims 
eventually, in which the case would be null and void. 
Industry experts said the process could take several months, though, 
as NTP has voiced plans to appeal every decision it can. 
Since Judge Spencer ruled against RIM, NTP has secured patent 
licensing deals with several of RIM's competitors in the remote
access 
software industry, including Nokia in June 2004, Good Technology in 
March 2005 and Visto in Dec. 2005. 
"RIM refuses to take a license and pay NTP," said Kevin
Anderson, an 
attorney with Wiley Rein & Fielding of Washington, one of the
law 
firms that represent NTP. 
"If someone camps on your front lawn and refuses to pay you, you
have 
no choice but to seek assistance in removing the squatter." 
 
How ugly can this get? 
Very ugly. Of the 4.3 million BlackBerry customers worldwide, 75 
percent are in North America. For those customers, the worst thing
in 
the near term would be for Judge Spencer to shut down BlackBerry
sales 
and services in the United States, which could happen after the
Feb.  
24 hearing. 
For those who use their BlackBerrys as cell phones, the phone
service 
would remain in place, but the e-mail service would be shelved. 
"While removing BlackBerry support from my life does seem very 
appealing, the truth is this service has become an integral part of 
our day-to-day business operations," said Nick Gass, IT manager
at 
Color Kinetics, a digital lighting company in Boston. 
"Our sales team relies on their BlackBerry devices as their
primary 
means of contact, and our executive team uses them to an almost
manic 
degree. BlackBerries have become practically
indispensable." 
Should an injunction occur, it is likely that customers would get a 
little time before a shutdown. In a recent court filing arguing for 
the injunction, NTP recommended that BlackBerry customers be given a 
30-day grace period. 
 
Is there a real workaround? 
RIM maintains that the company has tested and readied a legal 
technical workaround solution that would let the company continue 
offering its mobile e-mail service even if the judge orders an 
injunction before the patent office rules. 
In an earnings call late last month, RIM Chairman and Co-CEO Jim 
Balsillie said the company will reveal details of a workaround
"very 
soon" that it could ship latent in future products. Balsillie said
a 
workaround will not violate any of NTP's patents. 
Nevertheless, details of this workaround have remained a stubborn 
mystery. 
RIM officials say that they have yet to release the details of the 
workaround - "for legal reasons," and so as not to tip a hand
to NTP 
more than necessary. The bottom line is that customers have been
left 
in the dark. 
"Nobody knows," said Alex Kogan, director of network and data
center 
services at Boston Properties, a real estate company in Boston with
a 
deployment of 170 BlackBerrys. "NTP is saying there's no solution
that 
will work without defying the patent. It's kind of a waiting
game." 
 
Will the workaround be pain free? 
Probably not. RIM's own court filings indicate that implementing a 
workaround won't be easy. 
"Implementing a workaround requires reloading software on servers
and 
BlackBerry handheld devices," reads a January 17 court briefing
from 
RIM's legal team. 
"This which would likely involve some significant effort on behalf
of 
users and their supporting organizations, which will need to take
time 
to implement the upgrades, and will likely experience typical
problems 
experienced with undertaking upgrades." 
RIM goes on to note that customers could defect to other services 
rather than install any workaround, which may still be challenged by 
NTP. 
"Injunctions cover all products 'not colorably different' from
the 
enjoined product," Anderson said. "So, if the workaround is
merely to 
take an existing BlackBerry and call it a 'RedBerry,' then that 
product would be in contempt." 
 
Do I need a contingency plan? 
A backup plan certainly wouldn't hurt and it's a good idea to be
aware 
of alternatives. 
Clyde Foster, chief operating officer of Intellisync, which makes 
server and client-side software that competes with RIM's, said he
has 
seen an increase in interest in piloting his software largely from 
potential customers in financial services and government. 
John Halamka, CIO of Harvard Medical School and Caregroup Healthcare 
System, a Boston-area hospital group that supports some 800
BlackBerry 
devices, has explored alternatives even though he thinks RIM will 
prevail. 
"As risk mitigation, I've tested alternatives such as the [Palm]
Treo 
700, and they just do not work as well as BlackBerry for high volume 
e-mail users=97600 e-mails a day for me," said Halamka. 
Also, remember that RIM's rivals may not be above scare tactics. 
 
"There have been a lot of companies out there trying to profit
from 
this," Boston Properties' Kogan said. "A couple of them have
contacted 
us." 
Indeed, on December 9 the Boston Properties IT team received an
e-mail 
with the subject header "BlackBerry Shutdown at Boston
Properties, 
Inc." 
The sender: the chief software architect at Mobiliam, a mobile 
computing software company that competes with RIM. Boston
Properties' 
CEO was cc'd on the message. 
Kogan, however, said he'll implement a workaround if needed and 
long-term will consider defecting from BlackBerry, depending on how 
the installation goes. 
One IT manager told eWEEK that while he plans to keep supporting 
around 700 BlackBerrys on his company's network, he also is rolling 
out a separate server from Good Technology and buying around ten
Treo 
700 devices for the top executives. 
In case of a BlackBerry shutdown, these executives will be taken
care 
of immediately, and an alternate server will be in place for future 
Treo deployments. 
 
Will RIM and NTP make up? 
Gartner estimates there's a 35 percent chance the two companies will 
settle and a 20 percent chance RIM will enact a workaround. 
Nevertheless, RIM and NTP almost made peace in the past. In March 
2005, the companies announced a settlement deal worth $450 million, 
but the deal fell apart a couple of months later when the companies 
failed to agree to terms. 
Recently, NTP has proposed various licensing plans in court
briefings, 
but RIM officials remain publicly confident that the Patent Office 
will reject the NTP patents. Still, many customers are banking on
the 
companies making nice. 
"We're confident that there will be a settlement," Kogan said.
"RIM 
won't shut down for that many customers. It would kill their
business 
... It will either be ruled in RIM's favor or there will be a 
settlement. But if there's an outage, we'll deal with it
accordingly." 
 
</blockquote></body>
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Received on Sat Mar 02 2024 - 00:57:22 CST

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