BlackBerry 10 ready for service on defence networks
BlackBerry said it has now completed the security certification for its BlackBerry 10 operating system on US Department of Defense (DoD) networks.
Tech Pro Research
It said BlackBerry 10 has received 'full operational capability' certification from the US Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). This follows the 'authority to operate' certification it received last year and allows government users with a BlackBerry 10 smartphone, connected with BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 (BES10), to access email, data, apps and services.
DoD smartphone users will now be able to use the BlackBerry Balance feature which seperates work data from personal content, allowing them to toggle between work and personal profiles. Since last summer the DISA has been upgrading its systems with the aim of supporting 80,000 BlackBerry users across its network, plus other devices.
The UK government's security advice for using BlackBerry 10 devices can be found in its 'End User Devices Security Guidance: BlackBerry 10.1' document.
The company said BES12, the next version of its mobile device management suite which will combine its BES10 and BES5 software is due by the end of 2014, with an early adopter programme opening up in the summer.
Despite a difficult few years, BlackBerry's devices are still popular in government because of their security and device management capabilities.
The firm still has a number of loyal enterprise customers in other industries too: for example Europe's second largest car manufacturer PSA Peugeot Citroen recently confirmed it is to provide 10,000 Z10 smartphones to staff in France and Spain and is moving to BES10.
In its latest quarterly results published today, BlackBerry said it sold 3.4 million smartphones during the fourth quarter, although two-thirds of all phones sold were handsets running the older BlackBerry 7 OS.