Samsung is negotiating an unlikely partner to strengthen its security offerings for business, Blackberry. The two firms disclosed a new security focused cooperation last week that will use Blackberry's encryption system to firms using Samsung Galaxy smartphones.
Starting in the first quarter of 2015, Samsung will incorporate Blackberry's BES12 end-to-end encryption service, into its Know Software. Samsung licenses Know to business clients in order to have extra layer of security in their Android devices, although the service has been said to have weak encryption.
John Sims, Blackberry's President of Global Enterprise Services released a statement, saying, "BlackBerry has developed a very close partnership with Samsung and we're committed to deepening the interaction between our engineering and product development teams for the long-term."
Sims added, "It is a natural progression in our path to providing our customers with more alternatives to meet their evolving mobile needs. Samsung KNOX offers a number of hardware and software security features and our partnership allows us to tightly integrate these capabilities with BES12."
According to Injong Rhee, Senior Vice President of KNOX Business Group, Samsung Electronics, "We share the goal to provide enterprises with the most secure mobility solutions through this partnership with BlackBerry,. Samsung KNOX is focused on delivering secure mobility solutions to enterprises and, combined with BES12, we will offer more options for customers that need enhanced levels of security on Android devices."
The unusual partnership gives both firms benefits, Samsung would be able to give business consumers with stronger security, while Blackberry being a struggling company will be able to recover and expand to reach new consumers who don't use Blackberry gadgets.
Beatriz Valle from Blackberry explained, "It's a very symbiotic deal for both companies. Samsung capitalises on BlackBerry's enterprise background and BlackBerry is capitalising on Samsung's penetration of mobile devices. So both of them are benefiting from it." Samsung will start to provide the software next year, but the firm has not disclosed the price yet.
