Samsung and BlackBerry extend partnership over KNOX

BlackBerry and Samsung Electronics have announced to extend their partnership with the planned integration of Samsung KNOX with two new BlackBerry enterprise services – WorkLife by BlackBerry and SecuSUITE. The companies have also announced that BlackBerry enterprise solutions will be offered through Samsung Business Services.

WorkLife will integrate seamlessly with Samsung KNOX, making it straightforward to split work and personal use. It is a very flexible approach – enterprises can choose to pay for all employee usage within the KNOX container, or they can select specific work applications to be billed to the company.

BlackBerry subsidiary Secusmart and its SecuSUITE solution offers highly security-conscious organizations like governments virtually tap-proof voice and SMS communications that are secure enough for world leaders. BlackBerry and Samsung are working closely together to bring this government-grade security to KNOX-enabled smartphones, including the newly announced Samsung Galaxy S6. SecuSUITE for KNOX will use the Secusmart Security Card that, in conjunction with BES12, will provide hardware-based end-to-end encryption and cryptographically secured subscriber authentication. Voice and SMS as well as data from the KNOX Workspace will be fully encrypted and protected.

Samsung will also offer the growing selection of BlackBerry enterprise products and services through its new Samsung Business Services. This service will offer enterprise customers a single point of contact to help manage and support their Samsung mobile devices, along with a range of associated services and solutions.

“Workers are tired of carrying two devices and companies are growing sensitive to the risks of having company assets tied to personal smartphones. With the introduction of these new services from BlackBerry, the needs of both enterprises and their employees will be met with Samsung KNOX devices,” said Injong Rhee, Executive Vice-President of Enterprise Business, IT & Mobile Communications Division, Samsung Electronics.

“Customers tell us that enterprise solutions have to provide flexibility in terms of device choice and mobile deployment models such as BYOD or COPE. Working with Samsung, we’ll be able to provide a great experience for both SecuSUITE and WorkLife on Samsung’s KNOX-enabled devices. With these great choices, companies won’t need to choose between security and compliance on the one hand and employee choice and productivity on the other. With these easy-to-deploy services, they will have both,” said Billy Ho, Executive Vice-President, Enterprise Product and Value Added Solutions, BlackBerry.

WorkLife by BlackBerry will be available on all Samsung KNOX-enabled devices and will be activated through carrier partners. BlackBerry and Samsung are working with carriers worldwide to enable the service and expect the service to launch later in 2015. Pricing and availability will be announced on a carrier-by-carrier basis. Enterprises can sign up here to be notified of availability.