Dive Brief:
- BlackBerry made a slew of announcements Tuesday, including two new security-related contracts with the federal government.
- The U.S. Senate Sergeant at Arms Office awarded a multi-million dollar order for the BlackBerry AtHoc crisis communications software, which will power its emergency mass notification system.
- BlackBerry also announced its mobility solutions achieved STIG approval from the Defense Information Systems Agency for use at the U.S. Department of Defense, which means its security platform meets the highest level of requirements for regulated industries.
Dive Insight:
John Chen, executive chairman and CEO of BlackBerry, said the AtHoc deal will "enable highly secure information-exchange" while the STIG approval is critical to helping prevent cyberattacks for the federal government, Department of Defense agencies and commercial businesses.
With the two deals, the struggling company now has more government certifications and approvals than any other mobile vendor, according to a company press release.
The once-prominent smartphone maker has worked to shift its business strategy as demand for its phones plummeted in recent years, and has made a number of cybersecurity focused software and services acquisitions over the last year.
Until it has proven its expertise in the security space, companies may be hesitant to adopt BlackBerry's solutions.
While the announcements were positive news for BlackBerry, experts say more deals will need to come to fruition before BlackBerry’s reputation begins to shift. "We're going to have to see a lot of these types of deals from them going forward to really get the sense that they are moving in the right direction," Phil Hochmuth, program director for enterprise mobility at International Data Corp. told Reuters.
