RIM’s BB 10 and the Federal Government
RIM’s BB 10 and the Federal Government by UCStrategies Staff
Research In Motion (RIM) has seen the decline of BlackBerry’s loyal following, prompting the company to stir interest among its enterprise customers as the January 30, 2013 launch of BlackBerry 10 (BB 10) approaches. However, RIM can always count on the United States government – the segment of BlackBerry users who never completely rode the Android-iPhone bandwagon.
Security is the main reason the U.S. federal government preferred the BlackBerry over any other mobile device. RIM’s distinctive mix of security and communication through the BlackBerry Enterprise Server gave the Canada-based mobile phone manufacturer the edge to serve the needs of the federal government.
In the past several years, however, the BlackBerry eroded its traction on the government as touch screen capabilities and new devices were developed by Apple and manufacturers of Android devices. Although many U.S. government agencies still required BlackBerry units for their employees, the number of government agencies giving iPhones and the like to their employees is growing. NASA made a move to use the Android and iPhone. Proposals from the Department of Defense and contractors like Booz Allen Hamilton were also presented.
The decline in BlackBerry use among federal agencies can be attributed to two reasons: there are newer, better alternatives, and those new options now come with enhanced security and mobile management capabilities.
Nevertheless, a small victory for RIM’s BlackBerry was announced on December 13. The Immigrations and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agency will run a pilot program testing the BlackBerry 10 mobile operating system with the BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 (BES 10) in January 2013. ICE will be among the first batch of federal agencies to try out BB 10.
“Our priority is to ensure that ICE and all government agencies understand the full capabilities of the new BlackBerry 10 platform and how it can help them meet their mobility needs today and in the future,” said Scott Totzke, senior vice president of BlackBerry Security at RIM, in his emailed statement to ReadWrite. “We are confident that they will be impressed by what they see and how BlackBerry 10 can help them develop new opportunities, improve service delivery and fully leverage the potential of mobile communications. We look forward to continuing our long-standing relationship with ICE and other global government organizations.”
It is interesting to note that the announcement’s timing is a little off, because two months ago, ICE had declared that it allowed its employees to use iPhones in place of BlackBerrys. Around 17,000 employees of the ICE had their BlackBerrys replaced with Apple devices.
Even so, what’s noteworthy is RIM’s showing of BB 10’s FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards) 140-2 certification in November. Typically, FIPS certification for an OS or a device takes around four to six months after its release because the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) takes a while to assess the line of devices for use by the federal government. The FIPS 140-2 certification in November for BlackBerry 10, which is still yet to be released in January 2013, indicates that RIM has had a near-consumer-ready prototype of the device since at least the middle of the year.
When it comes to securing mobile devices and selecting the types of devices for their employees, a significant number of large enterprises and government contractors look up to the federal government as their model. And although there are numerous security certifications for enterprise-grade solutions, FIPS remains the standard in mobile security. Thus, RIM’s future and the success of BB 10 can hinge on the pilot program by the Immigrations and Custom Enforcement and other federal agencies.
RIM is undoubtedly proactive in placing its BlackBerry line in the hands of federal employees. The ICE-sanctioned pilot program, for instance, is a good start. (KOM) Link