RIM, HP Announce BlackBerry Print-on-the-Go Tech

Research in Motion and Hewlett-Packard announced a partnership Monday to allow BlackBerry users to print to the nearest physical printer, using cloud services.

Dubbed CloudPrint, the service will be made available to both users of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, used by business customers, as well as the consumer-focused BlackBerry Internet Service. The service is part of a larger partnership announced Monday between Hewlett-Packard and RIM, which is hosting its Wireless Enterprise Symposium 2009 in Orlando, Flor., this week. Shane Robison, HP's executive vice president and chief strategy and technology officer, will deliver one of the keynote addresses.

As the conference's name suggests, the focus will be on the enterprise. RIM also announced that HP is introducing software to centrally monitor and manage the extended BlackBerry solution ecosystem, including the BlackBerry Enterprise Server software, mail servers, databases, Microsoft Active Directory and server operating systems such as Windows Server. HP also said that its ProLiant servers can be used to run the BES software.

The CloudPrint service will not require an HP printer, or a specialized driver, HP said. It will print documents, photos or Web pages. However, the companies did not provide a timetable for when the service would be made available, and whether it would be provided via RIM's applications store or as an operating-system update.

"RIM and HP are working together to deliver solutions to customers that weave mobility into their daily operations – from innovative new services in the cloud to managed mobile services for the enterprise," said Jim Balsillie, co-chief executive officer, Research In Motion, in a statement. "Through our collaboration with HP, businesses will have access to an expanded set of applications and services for their BlackBerry smartphone deployments."