Research In Motion, of Waterloo, Ontario, announced Nov. 8 that it snagged a U.S. government security clearance for its not-yet-launched Blackberry 10 smartphones.
“The certification will enable government agencies to deploy BlackBerry 10 smartphones and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, RIM’s new mobile enterprise management solution, from the day of launch. This is the first time BlackBerry products have been FIPS certified ahead of launch,” RIM announced in a news release.
FIPS, or Federal Information Processing Standard, certification is given by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
What hasn’t been top secret is that RIM’s fortunes have been flagging lately. The question now is whether the new encryption capacity will help the company retain its government clients.
As Reuters reports: “Last month, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) said it would end its contract with the BlackBerry maker in favor of Apple’s iPhone. The agency said it intends to buy iPhones for more than 17,000 employees.”
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