BlackBerry partners up for security solutions push
BlackBerry has unveiled its new mobile-device management and security platform and struck wide-ranging partnerships to bolster its capabilities, sending its shares more than 6 per cent higher.
BlackBerry said it would team up with Samsung to provide a "highly secure mobility solution" for Samsung's Android phones. The system couples the Canadian company's device management capability with the KNOX software embedded on Samsung's Galaxy phones and tablets, and will be available in early 2015, the companies said.
"The partnership with Samsung is a very big deal," said John Jackson, a technology analyst at IDC. "It's hard to imagine a partnership with more significant practical impact potential." The new platform, the BlackBerry Enterprise Service, or BES 12, will allow corporations and government agencies to manage and make secure not only BlackBerry's mobile devices, but also those running on rival operating systems such as Google's Android, Apple's iOS and Microsoft's Windows platform.
