BlackBerry has launched a suite of services to bring mobility support to the enterprise. The biggest announcement is BlackBerry Enterprise Service 12, its cross-platform enterprise mobility management technology supporting iOS, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry OS devices. Also announced is BBM Meetings, a mobile-first collaboration app for Android and BlackBerry devices as well as PC and Mac on the desktop.
A strategic partnership with Samsung will additionally bring BES 12 technology to Samsung KNOX devices.
BlackBerry has unveiled a new technology to enable split corporate and personal voice and data carrier billing using a single SIM card.
BlackBerry Enterprise Service 12
Key features of BES 12 include:
Comprehensive Cross-Platform EMM: Provides complete management and security for devices, applications and company data across all platforms and all tiers of device ownership and deployment models.
End-to-End Security: Leverages advanced encryption, containerization, application wrapping and BlackBerry’s secure global network infrastructure. Provides end-to-end platform-level security that keeps an organization’s data safe and secure while in transit and at rest.
Scalable Architecture: Scalable up to 25,000 devices per server and 150,000 devices per domain. BES12 is designed to reduce deployment cost and complexity and ensure maximum uptime with support for active-active high availability.
Streamlined User Experience: Enables administrators to holistically manage all users, devices, policies and profiles natively, from one easy-to-use unified console. A new attribute-driven, endpoint management model enables more flexible management of devices, applications and data. Comprehensive reporting and dashboards simplify the management of complex fleets of devices.
Industry Leading Total Cost of Ownership: In 2014, Strategy Analytics found that in multi-platform enterprise mobility management, BES10 offered the highest level of security with the lowest 5 year cost of ownership(4). BlackBerry highlights that with BES12, the TCO savings go even further.
Designed for the Internet of Things: BES12 is the first BES platform that will extend beyond smartphones and tablets to support the management of things, including medical diagnostic equipment, industrial machinery and automobiles.
Global Support: All BES12 subscriptions include industry leading BlackBerry Technical Support Services to help manage the complexity and demanding requirements of mobility and evolving EMM strategies.
Advanced EMM Services
BES 12 forms the “central nervous system” of a powerful environment that brings together mobile devices, apps, cloud services and mobile operator services. Companies can extend their EMM capabilities by integrating a number of additional services from BlackBerry, including:
Enterprise Identity by BlackBerry: Will simplify secure access to cloud based services with a single point of entitlement, control and audit for all cloud app.
VPN Authentication by BlackBerry: Will provide the option of eliminating the need for employee passwords or PINs and hardware tokens, improving the productivity of mobile workers reducing overall costs.
BBM™ Meetings: Provides a mobile-first collaboration app that provides a new way to work smarter and be more productive on BlackBerry and Android devices as well as connecting with users on a Windows® PC or Mac.
BlackBerry® Blend for Enterprise: Makes it possible for employees to conveniently and securely access personal and work data from their BlackBerry smartphone on any device. BlackBerry Blend revolutionizes IT administration by shifting from managing devices to managing information movement.
WorkLife by BlackBerry: Will allow enterprises to easily add a separate corporate phone number to personal devices brought in by their employees or for the employee to add a separate personal phone number to a corporate-liable device provided by the company. Work usage of voice, SMS and data will be charged to the company while all other usage is charged directly to the employee, with no need to file and process expense reports or pay stipends. The solution will cover voice, SMS and data and will operate while in the home network as well as in roaming situations.
BlackBerry EZ Pass
The BlackBerry EZ Pass migration program is designed to help customers take full advantage of the BES12 cross-platform EMM solution by seamlessly migrating from BES5 or BES10 and includes access to BlackBerry’s technical support services. Enterprises will be able to upgrade to BES12 free of charge through this offer. To take advantage of the BlackBerry EZ Pass migration program, visit: www.blackberry.com/ezpass
Samsung KNOX
BlackBerry has also announced a strategic partership with Samsung to provide a highly secure mobility solution for Android, by combining the security of BES 12 with Samsung’s KNOX platfom.
With KNOX, Samsung has created a set of Android devices capable of safeguarding enterprise data with multiple layers of hardware- and software- based protection. BlackBerry brings to the partnership a class-leading cross-platform enterprise mobility management (EMM) solution and a highly secure network infrastructure. Working together, the companies can now offer enterprises with a new and highly secure mobility option.
With BES12 and Samsung KNOX, customers can take advantage of the following benefits:
An integrated solution that brings together the secure connectivity and class-leading device, applications and data management capabilities BlackBerry is known for together with the security features embedded in Samsung Galaxy devices.
Android security enhancements that reduce threats that bypass application security mechanisms while minimizing damage from flawed applications.
Complete separation of business and personal data for uncompromised corporate security and employee privacy.
A series of core security enhancements to better protect device integrity from kernel to apps.
Enhanced user experience Workspace for a more flexible approach for enterprise deployment.
Availability is expected in early 2015. Samsung will resell BES12 to joint customers and BlackBerry will offer KNOX support as part of the Gold family of BES12 subscriptions. Pricing will be announced upon availability.
BBM Meetings
Voice and video conferencing is an increasingly important capability for enterprises, but current solutions fall short of providing an effective collaboration tool for their increasingly mobile workforce.
Through BBM Meetings, BBM™ users on Android™ and BlackBerry® 10 smartphones as well as users on a Windows® PC or Mac have access to high quality audio and video conferencing capabilities that leverage the collaboration benefits and functionality that BlackBerry is known for. BBM Meetings makes it simpler and easier for mobile workers to join meetings on the go. It is also a fraction of the cost of other apps that provide similar functionality.
Key features of BBM Meetings include:
Schedule on the go: With BBM Meetings, you can easily initiate or schedule a video and audio conference from your mobile device. Attendees can be invited from your local or company address book by BBM or email. All your meetings are instantly added to your device calendar.
BBM Chats become meetings at the touch of a button: BBM Meetings makes it easy to turn any BBM chat, multi person chat, group chat or Voice call into a live BBM Meeting with a simple touch of a button.
Ring, answer, meet: Joining a meeting is as easy as that. With BBM Meetings, when it’s time to meet your phone rings. Answer it just like a voice call and you’re in the meeting ready to go, without the need to struggle with conference IDs, passcodes and PINs.
Present anywhere: Joining a meeting from your mobile device shouldn’t limit your ability to present and participate. BBM Meetings is designed first for the mobile participant, so you can present from your device of choice – mobile or desktop. Show your screen, deliver a presentation, share a document, or even annotate.
HD video and voice conferencing: Bring great ideas to life with HD video & voice conferencing for up to 25 participants. View the speaker full screen, what they are presenting, or swipe through a gallery of attendees.
Enterprise Identity by BlackBerry® and VPN Authentication by BlackBerry®
VPN Authentication by BlackBerry will be an entirely new way to securely connect increasingly mobile employees to their organization’s network when and where it is needed. The solution will allow employees to use their iOS, Android™ or BlackBerry® smartphone for two factor authentication, which means no user passwords or PINs. This will eliminate the need for the issuance, management and use of costly and inconvenient hardware tokens, helping minimize overall expenses and improve employee productivity.
Enterprise Identity by BlackBerry benefits will include:
Single point of control: Provides control over and management of access to a wide range of services, offering policies for entitlement and authentication. The solution helps achieve compliance, offering reporting and auditing across cloud services. And with the BlackBerry Identity Proxy, it’s possible to securely take advantage of the power of an existing on-premise directory without copying or syncing sensitive corporate data to the cloud.
One person, identity and sign on: An employee has one sign on for all their enterprise applications, eliminating the need for the employee to manage and recall many usernames and passwords. This improves the user experience, giving employees more seamless access to their business and productivity applications, and reducing calls to IT for password resets.
Easy to deploy: A turn-key solution that is easy to deploy, Enterprise Identity by BlackBerry does not require significant investment for integration. It is standards-based and offers a host of pre-federated cloud services allowing a cost-effective solution to entitlement and access for all types of users.
VPN Authentication by BlackBerry features will include:
Reduce cost and hassle: Offering a user experience superior to traditional hardware tokens, VPN Authentication by BlackBerry also reduces overall IT hardware and support costs. It works with managed iPhone, Android and BlackBerry devices, including those that have already been deployed, offering superior value and equivalent or better security. And by eliminating support required for synchronization problems and PIN resets through the helpdesk, the solution helps reduce support costs and time wasted by employees.
Secure and scalable: With Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) authentication and an on-premises server, VPN Authentication by BlackBerry keeps security high when moving away from traditional hardware tokens. And with Active Directory integration, IT can quickly deploy and control VPN access and configuration of user profiles.
Flexible authentication options: The solution can be customized to an organization’s policies and requirements, with tailored authentication methods for different user groups. Get two-factor authentication by choosing device or Active Directory credentials as the first factor, while one-click acceptance on the smartphone acts as the second factor.
VPN Authentication by BlackBerry will be avaible for iOS and Android devices with BES12 and available for BlackBerry devices with BES5, BES10 or BES12. VPN Authentication by BlackBerry has no upfront or perpetual license costs, and will start at $3 USD per user, per month (billed annually). Enterprise Identity by BlackBerry and VPN Authentication by BlackBerry will be available later this year.
For additional information on Enterprise Identity by BlackBerry visit www.blackberry.com/enterpriseidentity
A trial of BES 12 and additional information is available from www.blackberry.com/bes12.