BlackBerry Browser architecture
Available network gateways
The BlackBerry® Browser can communicate via several different network gateways or proxies. Each network gateway requires the browser to communicate using a different network transport.
The ability of the browser to communicate through each of these network gateways depends on which network transports have been provisioned on the device. Newer BlackBerry devices typically have at least Wi-Fi® and WAP network transports available.
In BlackBerry 6, the browser chooses which network transport it will use, based on availability, cost, and performance.
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Network gateway or proxy |
Description |
|---|---|
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Wi-Fi hotspot |
A Wi-Fi hotspot provides Wi-Fi-enabled BlackBerry devices with access to the Internet over a wireless LAN. A Wi-Fi connection is the fastest and least expensive data routing option. It provides greater bandwidth than the wireless network, and circumvents the data charges that are associated with transferring browser content over a wireless connection. When a Wi-Fi connection is available, this gateway is the preferred option. |
|
BlackBerry® Internet Service Browsing |
The BlackBerry Internet Service Browsing network gateway acts as a proxy for the BlackBerry Browser. This gateway compresses the content in the response to enhance wireless network efficiency. Over a wireless network, the BlackBerry Internet Service Browsing gateway, when available, is the preferred option. It provides the fastest and most efficient browsing for BlackBerry devices among wireless network gateways. |
|
BlackBerry® MDS Connection Service |
The BlackBerry MDS Connection Service network gateway is designed to provide users with secure access to their organization's intranets. The BlackBerry MDS Connection Service is a component of the BlackBerry® Enterprise Server that exists on the organization's network, behind a firewall. This gateway can also provide access to the Internet, but is not optimized for use with the BlackBerry Browser included with BlackBerry 6. If the BlackBerry Enterprise Server permits it, it is possible for the BlackBerry Browser to connect to the BlackBerry MDS Connection Service over a Wi-Fi connection, allowing users to access intranet resources over a faster and cheaper connection. Because all communication between the BlackBerry device and the BlackBerry Enterprise Server is Triple-DES encrypted, accessing the BlackBerry MDS Connection Service over Wi-Fi is secure. |
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WAP gateway |
WAP network gateways are hosted by wireless service providers. WAP gateways typically use the WAP 2.0 protocol, to deliver content to mobile devices. The features and behavior of each WAP gateway is determined by the wireless service provider. These gateways typically do not provide the same level of compression and optimization that is available with the BlackBerry Internet Service Browsing gateway. Wireless service providers can configure the browser to use their WAP gateway as the default gateway. |
Automated transport selection
In earlier versions of the BlackBerry® Device Software, users were required to manually change which network transport they wanted the browser to communicate over by selecting a specific configuration of the browser. In BlackBerry 6, the BlackBerry® Browser automatically selects which network transport it will use. The browser chooses which transport to use based on which available transport offers results in the least cost and the highest performance among the available transports.
By default, the browser prioritizes the available transports in the following order:
- If the user has a Wi-Fi® connection available, the browser uses the Wi-Fi transport
- If the user has a Wi-Fi connection available and is attempting to retrieve an intranet resource, the browser uses the Wi-Fi transport to connect directly to the BlackBerry® MDS Connection Service and access the intranet resource. The BlackBerry® Enterprise Server must be configured to permit the BlackBerry Browser to connect to the BlackBerry MDS Connection Service via a Wi-Fi connection.
- If the user does not have a Wi-Fi connection available, the browser uses the BlackBerry® Internet Service Browsing transport to connect to the BlackBerry Internet Service Browsing proxy.
- If the user does not have a Wi-Fi connection available and is attempting to retrieve an intranet resource, the browser uses the BlackBerry MDS Connection Service transport to connect to the BlackBerry MDS Connection Service.
- If none of the above conditions apply, the browser uses the WAP transport to connect to the wireless service provider proxy.