BlackBerry Ltd. is stepping up its enterprise security game.
Today the Waterloo, Ont.-based Canadian tech icon, which in recent months has increased its efforts to pivot from device manufacturer to software provider, announced that it would be combining its multiple enterprise offerings into BlackBerry Secure, a mobile software-based security system aimed at businesses.
The new platform will incorporate several of the company’s prior cross-platform acquisitions in the enterprise security space, including Good Technology, WatchDox, AtHoc, and Encription, BlackBerry Chief Operating Officer Marty Beard told reporters during a Dec. 8 conference call – ideal for business users who need to reliably transmit confidential data between multiple sensitive endpoints.
“Market demand for security is really shifting from the network of computers to really a network of endpoints, and that is moving very quickly, and we know that traditional security software players are really scrambling to fill the gap,” Beard said. “At the same time, enterprises are quickly realizing that the need for 360-degree architecture – and again, today’s point products really aren’t addressing the central problem… Data breaches and cybersecurity threats.”
BlackBerry Secure, Beard said, is especially well-equipped to secure customer data because it’s platform-agnostic, compatible not only with current products BlackBerry products and third-party software such as Microsoft 365, but “future-proofed” to address upcoming capabilities such as messaging and analytics.
“We are no longer about the smartphone, but the smart in the phone – and in cars, and containers, and in medical devices and wearables,” Beard said.
Like most of the company’s software offerings, BlackBerry Secure is based on the company’s mobile software security platform, and is designed to help companies manage and protect both their mobile devices and connected things by securing communications for all messaging and file types.
In particular, the company is aiming at what it calls the “Enterprise of Things,” the collection of devices, computers, sensors, trackers, and other equipment that communicate with each other to enable smart product development, production, distribution, and marketing and sales.
The company hopes that BlackBerry Secure will allow it to enter new markets: for example, preventing hackers from penetrating devices and computers, providing intelligence for secure supply chain communications, ensure patient confidentiality in healthcare, and safeguarding assets in the financial industry.
Beard said that BlackBerry expects to release the product sometime during the first 10 days of January 2017, and while he couldn’t name customers for the time being, the platform is currently in beta and is likely to be adopted by “thousands” of its predecessors’ current enterprise users.
For more information on BlackBerry Secure, visit the company’s website.