BlackBerry has teamed up with IBM and other companies to offer BlackBerry 10 device management to a wider audience.
The partnership will allow IBM to directly manage devices running the BlackBerry 10 operating system, tearing down some previous walls to accessibility and giving companies more choices to choose from.
The deal is the first of many planned with mobile device management companies, including IBM, Citrix, and VMware's Airwatch. Others are expected to follow in the coming months.
Opening up
The move will be a much-needed boost for BlackBerry, formerly known as RIM, which has seen its market share shrink to rivals Google and Apple, even in the enterprise sector, its strongest holdout.
"Offering the end-to-end secure solutions valued by our customers in government and other regulated industries remains central to our strategy; however BlackBerry understands the opportunity and importance of opening our BlackBerry 10 software," said Ron Louks, President of Devices and Emerging Solutions at BlackBerry.
"This is a natural next step in our enterprise strategy as we seek to provide our customers with maximum choice in how they will meet the full array of employee mobility needs."
BlackBerry also said it will launch the multi-platform BlackBerry Enterprise Service (BES) 12 later this year, and will include Windows Phone 8 support.
