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How BlackBerry Ltd is using its security credentials to grow its global footprint | Financial Post
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NEW YORK — After several years of floundering about in the market, and paying the price in sales and share value, BlackBerry Ltd. is returning to its enterprise roots.
CEO John Chen made that abundantly clear in New York on July 28 at BlackBerry’s Security Summit (to which I was among those flown in), saying that the company’s focus will be on regulated industries: government, healthcare, financial services, and energy.
Despite analyst pronouncements of doom, Mr. Chen said that while the company faces challenges in North America, globally the picture is very different. Europe, South America, and the Middle East are all strong markets, and he said that the company is doing well there.
“We are investing in a global footprint,” he said. “Interest is picking up. Identity, security, voice, data, anti-breach, are all important, and [customers] like [BlackBerry's approach].”
Part of that approach is an investment in securing the popular BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) instant messaging service for the enterprise. With the flip of a virtual switch on a company’s BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), all BBM communications within the company, and with its outside partners, can be encrypted with FIPS-2 approved cryptographic libraries and symmetric encryption keys. BBM Protected is the first component of an upcoming eBBM suite of products and services, and is expected to launch this summer. BBM is now available on all major mobile platforms, with the release of the BBM for Windows Phone 8 public beta.
The announcement of the pending acquisition of Dusseldorf-based Secusmart (currently awaiting regulatory approval) further strengthens BlackBerry’s security footprint. Secusmart’s voice encrypted BlackBerry made headlines in 2012 when it was adopted by German chancellor Angela Merkel, and SecuSUITE for BlackBerry 10 is now being rolled out at NATO headquarters. CEO Dr. Hans-Christoph Quelle told Summit attendees that, with 346 trillion possible encryption keys, it would take an estimated 149 billion years to crack.
“It combines smartphone convenience with high security,” he said. “Today our goal is to get this secure device in the hands of every president or chancellor. Our second goal is to secure enterprise voice.”
“If there were any lingering doubts that BlackBerry’s future revolves around security, its acquisition of Secusmart should lay them to rest,” said independent analyst Carmi Levy. “The deal reinforces BlackBerry’s belief that security is top-of-mind to virtually all corporate and IT decision-makers, and that thinking will only become more pervasive as the threats to an increasingly mobile, technologically-diverse workforce continue to multiply.”
BlackBerry aims to extend its reach to more endpoints in the enterprise as well. John Sims, BlackBerry’s president of global enterprise services, noted that the next version of BlackBerry Enterprise Server, BES 12, will manage all BlackBerry mobile devices, plus iOS and Android, combining the capabilities of BES 5 and BES 10, and will add support for Windows Phone 8. This will give it the ability to manage virtually any mobile phone in an organization on a single platform, a requirement in a BYOD environment where the company can’t dictate which device employees use.
Through its QNX arm, BlackBerry is also preparing to secure and manage the Internet of Things, Mr. Chen said. QNX is already embedded in cars – some 250 models – but he plans to push it into homes and factories, running everything from industrial robots to home healthcare devices, where, he pointed out, “it’s all about security”.
Added Mr. Levy, “Thanks to mobility, the burgeoning Internet of Things space and the emergence of ever more sophisticated forms of online attack, companies almost don’t know what questions to ask when considering their security needs. Deals like the one announced this week position BlackBerry to be top-of-mind when customers are looking for answers.”08-01-14 01:53 PM
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The BBRY Café. [Formerly: I support BBRY and I buy shares!]
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