GEMA, RIM partner on MDM deployments

INDUSTRY

GEMA, the Global Enterprise Mobility Alliance, and Research In Motion (RIM) have announced an agreement to jointly deliver global managed mobility solutions for multinational customers. Leveraging BlackBerry® Mobile Fusion,  RIM’s Mobile Device Management solution, and supported by the global managed mobility services from GEMA members, customers will have a globally consistent approach to service delivery and technical expertise, offering them the best possible experience from their mobile deployments comprising BlackBerry®, iOS®, and Android™ devices.

GEMA currently comprises of seven members that collectively span much of the globe: Berkley Technical Services Limited (UK and Ireland); Emitac Mobile Solutions, LLC (EMS) (Middle East, Africa, CIS, and Eastern Europe); GPXS Services BVBA (The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and France); MSC Mobility Pty Ltd (Australia and New Zealand); Mobi All Technologia S.A. (known as Navita) (Latin America); Schiffl Mobile GmbH (Germany, Austria and Switzerland); and Vox Mobile Inc. (US and Canada). The seven GEMA organizations are also each Elite members of the BlackBerry® Alliance Program, and GEMA is currently in discussions with other members of the BlackBerry Alliance Program that are also interested in joining GEMA and the global initiative with RIM.

GEMA and RIM understand that multinational customers are faced with an increasingly complex multi-platform mobile environment, challenges with BYOD, and that global workforces require the information and applications needed to serve their customers effectively while maintaining the security of information on smartphones and tablets. GEMA and RIM are jointly bringing to market the products and services that can enable multinational customers to keep their mobile workforces reliably and securely connected, serviced 24x7, and able to meet a rapidly changing global business environment.

GEMA members will offer BlackBerry Mobile Fusion as a managed service to deliver a cost-efficient, secure, reliable, and scalable solution that provides:

• mobile device management (MDM) and administration for BlackBerry, iOS, and Android smartphones and tablets

• the ability to push mandatory applications and updates to BlackBerry users and alerts to iOS and Android users of required applications

• BlackBerry® Balance™ technology, a feature of BlackBerry smartphones and BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablets that enables a customer to use their device for both work and personal purposes by keeping business information and applications highly secure and separate from personal information

BlackBerry Mobile Fusion will prepare organizations for a simple and straightforward upgrade to BlackBerry® Enterprise Service 10, which will launch with the first BlackBerry® 10 devices. BlackBerry® Enterprise Service 10 is designed to integrate an existing BlackBerry Enterprise Server deployment and manage BlackBerry® 7 OS and prior smartphones, BlackBerry 10 devices, BlackBerry PlayBook tablets, and iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, all from a single, unified web-based console.

Derek Peper, VP, Enterprise Strategic Partnerships and Alliances at RIM, said, “Mobility in multinational organizations continues to expand with both company-provisioned and BYOD devices, creating new challenges for them. RIM has successfully worked closely with the GEMA members for many years to provide our mutual customers with first-class BlackBerry services and support. We are delighted to extend these relationships globally and partner with GEMA to provide multinational customers with world class managed mobility solutions.”

Kris Snyder, CEO of Vox Mobile and Chair of the GEMA Steering Group, said, “Each of the GEMA members has built their business on the market and technologies created by RIM. We are each very proud to be able to work closely with RIM and support our customers in the next phase in the evolution of enterprise mobility. The BlackBerry solution offers a consistently high level of security, reliability, and manageability for customers around the globe, which is uniquely matched by the consistently high level of global service GEMA provides our customers.”