Gartner to IT: Place BlackBerry deployments on hold

Computerworld - Enterprises should halt business-critical deployments of BlackBerry devices until the BlackBerry's maker, Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM), clarifies its legal position with regard to its patent tussle with NTP Inc., Gartner Inc. is advising.
The market research and consulting firm issued its recommendation after a U.S. federal judge's decision last week opened the door to a possible injunction that would stop sales of BlackBerry mobile e-mail devices and shut down BlackBerry service in the U.S.
Judge James Spencer of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia last week denied RIM's motion to enforce an agreement with NTP to settle the case. He also refused a RIM motion to stop the court proceedings in NTP's patent lawsuit against it while the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office re-examines NTP's patents.
The judge ruled that the settlement agreement reached in March between the companies is unenforceable and said his court can't suspend the case during a patent re-examination that could take years. As a result, four Gartner analysts published a research brief this week alerting current and prospective enterprise RIM customers to "stop or delay all mission-critical BlackBerry deployments and investments in the platform until RIM's legal position is clarified."
Gartner is also advising customers to pressure RIM into making public its work-around plans for preventing disruption to its service while bypassing the patents in question.
Another option Gartner says enterprises can consider is a migration of critical BlackBerry-based applications to another platform, such as laptops with wireless cards.
RIM officials didn't immediately reply to several requests for comment.

Read more about Mobile and Wireless in Computerworld's Mobile and Wireless Topic Center.