BlackBerry Announces Partnership with Brightstar to Deliver Enterprise Mobility Solutions

Source: BlackBerry - Press Releases - November 13, 2014 

BlackBerry Announces Partnership with Brightstar to Deliver Enterprise Mobility Solutions 

Brightstar will distribute BlackBerry’s cross-platform Enterprise Mobility Management solution

Waterloo, ON and Miami, FL – BlackBerry Limited (NASDAQ: BBRY; TSX: BB), a global leader in mobile communications, today announced Brightstar Corp., the world’s largest wireless distribution company and leader in services for the wireless industry, will be a distributor of BES12™: a cross-platform EMM solution by BlackBerry®.

Launched today, BES12 is the foundation for BlackBerry’s extensive portfolio of enterprise security, productivity, identity and communication and collaboration services that will help organizations securely connect employees with each other and with the corporate information and machines that are required to get their jobs done. BES12 securely manages devices from all of the major enterprise mobile platforms.

By adding BES12 to Brightstar’s portfolio, customers will have the opportunity to adopt a single command and control center for managing the availability and usage of devices, apps, activities and mission-critical data.

“As BlackBerry’s long-standing partner, we’re excited to offer to find global market opportunities for BES12 to help simplify the way mobility is managed while improving capabilities for better communication, productivity and security,” said Arturo Osorio, Brightstar’s President & COO. “BlackBerry’s ability to extend security across multiple device platforms, including Windows Phone, iOS and Android, will be of particular interest to our customers who have to meet the demands of a diverse group of users.”

According to a global study released today, 68 percent of respondents believe that mobile devices are the weakest link in their enterprise security framework, and 66 percent of those surveyed acknowledge they find it difficult to keep up with current and emerging mobile threats. (1) To help enterprises mitigate security threats, BES12 provides end-to-end platform-level security that keeps an organization’s data safe and secure while in transit and at rest.

“As workforces become ever more mobile, BlackBerry leads the industry in developing solutions that provide flexibility and productivity without sacrificing security,” said John Sims, President, Global Enterprise Services, BlackBerry. “BES12 leverages BlackBerry’s trusted global infrastructure and provides expanded EMM capabilities that can manage any mobile device usage model, such as BYOD, COPE and COBO. We’re excited to work with Brightstar globally to provide our solutions to enterprises more effectively to help mobilize their organizations.”

The BES12 platform seamlessly supports iOS, Android™, Windows Phone®, BlackBerry® 10 and BlackBerry® OS. The flexibility and scalability of the new BES12 architecture will allow customers to move easily and securely from on-premise environments to various cloud models, including private, public and hybrid.(2) For additional information on BES12 features, visitwww.blackberry.com/bes12.

1. 1) BlackBerry and Loudhouse Research, “Mobility Risk Tolerance,” September 2014
2. 2) Private cloud today, and public cloud and hybrid architecture to come

About BlackBerry

A global leader in mobile communications, BlackBerry® revolutionized the mobile industry when it was introduced in 1999. Today, BlackBerry aims to inspire the success of our millions of customers around the world by continuously pushing the boundaries of mobile experiences. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, BlackBerry operates offices in North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America. The Company trades under the ticker symbols “BB” on the Toronto Stock Exchange and "BBRY" on the NASDAQ. For more information, visit www.blackberry.com

About Brightstar

Brightstar is the world’s largest specialized wireless distributor and a leading provider of diversified services focused on enhancing the performance and results of the key participants in the wireless device value chain: manufacturers, operators and retailers. For more information, please visit Brightstar.com.