Sprint and RIM today announced plans to offer BlackBerry to Sprint business customers later this year. Under terms of the agreement, the wireless email solution will be available on select handheld devices certified to operate on the enhanced Sprint Nationwide PCS network.

"Sprint recognizes that the BlackBerry solution has a strong following with many enterprise customers, including government, financial and legal services," said Tim Donahue, vice president – Enterprise Marketing, Sprint Business Solutions. "By combining this popular platform with the clarity and breadth of the enhanced Sprint Nationwide PCS Network, Sprint can provide an attractive wireless offering to better serve these customers."

For corporate customers, BlackBerry Enterprise Server software tightly integrates with Microsoft Exchange or IBM Lotus Domino (Novell GroupWise support is expected later this year) and works with existing enterprise systems to enable secure, push-based, wireless access to email and other corporate data.

"We have seen significant demand to offer BlackBerry on the Sprint Nationwide PCS Network, and we are pleased to partner with Sprint to deliver world-class products and services," said Mark Guibert, vice president, corporate marketing at Research In Motion. "Interest in wireless data solutions continues to grow broader and deeper as customers realize the potential personal and business benefits. Our new relationship with Sprint will offer customers a leading network and a leading platform to support their existing and future needs."

Further details regarding availability and pricing will be announced at a later date.