BlackBerry (NASDAQ:BBRY) is teaming up with Samsung Electronics and IBM to offer a highly secure tablet for government and enterprise workers, but it will cost around $2,380.
BlackBerry unit Secusmart is partnering with IBM to release the SecuTablet, a high-security tablet based on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5. The solution is undergoing certification at the German Federal Office for Information Security for the German VS-NfD ("classified–for official use only") security rating.
The tablet uses Secusmart's encryption technology, which is being used by the German and Canadian governments, among others, to guard against eavesdropping. BlackBerry said the tablet can be seamlessly integrated into existing SecuSUITE security systems.
Further, IBM has provided the secure "app wrapping" technology for the tablet to separate business applications from work ones. IBM will also help in implementing the high security solutions from Secusmart within government clients.
However, all of that comes at a high price. According to the Wall Street Journal, which cited BlackBerry, the tablet should be available as early as this summer and will be sold for around about $2,380.
Hans-Christoph Quelle, Secusmart's CEO, said the new tablet will be easy to use. "Every user familiar with an Android tablet won't have any problems," he told the Journal on the sidelines of the CeBIT technology conference in Hanover, Germany, where the device was introduced.
BlackBerry's deal with Samsung continues BlackBerry's partnership with the smartphone giant. Earlier this month BlackBerry announced it will be bringing new security features to Samsung phones, including the forthcoming Galaxy S6. One is called WorkLife and lets enterprises separate personal and work phone numbers and have separate billing for voice, texting and data usage on a single SIM card. Another is SecuSUITE, which offers highly security-conscious organizations like governments virtually tap-proof voice and SMS communications. BlackBerry and Samsung are working closely together to bring this government-grade security to Samsung smartphones with Samsung's KNOX security suite, including the GS6.
At the same time, Samsung has said it will resell the BlackBerry Enterprise Service 12 platform to customers. Enterprise customers that buy Samsung Galaxy smartphones and tablets embedded with KNOX management software for Android can add BlackBerry's BES12 end-to-end security and encryption solution on top of it.
For more:
- see this release
- see this WSJ article (sub. req.)
- see this Reuters article
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