A year after revealing a major upgrade of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server was under way, Research in Motion this week, at the WES finally fleshed out what the new version will do, and put a delivery date on it.

The upcoming release of BlackBerry Enterprise Server 5.0, codenamed Argon, is a critical piece in RIM's effort to make its software and smartphones a foundation for next-generation mobile applications. For that to happen, enterprise BlackBerry administrators need to move visibility into the BES. They also need tools to simplify and automate deploying and managing scores of mobile applications, including line-of-business programs. Finally, they need improvements in BES to make it more reliable and scaleable if it's to be the linchpin for mission-critical mobile business and communications.

All of these requirements are being addressed in BES 5.0. Read more here.