BlackBerry is having a busy week.
On April 12, the enterprise software company announced it was chosen by Shared Services Canada (SSC), the federal agency overseeing government IT systems, to be its supplier of secure productivity and communication software.
The multi-year agreement (no exact contract length was given) will provide public servants across the federal government access to BlackBerry Spark unified endpoint management (UEM) and BlackBerry SecuSuite, according to an April 12 news release.
“BlackBerry and the Government of Canada have been trusted partners for over thirty years,” said John Chen, executive chairman and chief executive officer, BlackBerry, in the release. “Shared Services Canada plays a critical role in Canada’s digital transformation strategy and we are very pleased to be their partner.”
BlackBerry Spark UEM layers on endpoint management and policy control for devices and apps. It has a single management console and end-to-end security – crucial needs for today’s remote workers, especially those handling sensitive data.
SecuSuite provides encrypted voice calls and messaging for enterprises and governments.
“This contract consolidates and replaces multiple expiring contracts for the management of smart devices within the Government of Canada. Blackberry Spark and SECUsuite will be used as the Mobile Device Management solution for smartphones and provide additional security features for departments managed by SSC,” a spokesperson for the SSC wrote in an email response. “Previously, SSC was using Blackberry Unified Endpoint Manager (UEM) for the delivery of these. Blackberry was chosen in order to maintain the operational continuity. This agreement was not driven from the recent budget.”
There’s more
BlackBerry also announced a new partnership with IBM to bring its Spark platform to more organizations across Canada.
BlackBerry says IBM will resell its endpoint management, endpoint security, and critical event management software to enterprises and governments nationwide.
“We are proud to partner with BlackBerry to enable the digital transformation of organizations across Canada,” said Xerxes Cooper, IBM Canada’s general manager for Global Technology Services, in an April 13 news release. “Together with BlackBerry, the solutions we provide will help address critical business issues for Canadian organizations.”