Research in Motion Ltd. released its BlackBerry Mobile Fusion solution today for mobile device management across various operating systems.
Theproduct, first announced in November, enables BlackBerry, iOS andAndroid devices to be managed using asingle interface. The release comes just days after RIM posted afourth-quarterloss anda 25 per cent drop in full-year sales for 2011. The company alsoannounced the departure of former co-CEO Jim Balsillie.
“BlackBerryMobile Fusion (BMF) allows organizations to manage a mixed environmentofdevices in the most secure, simple, and cost efficient mannerpossible,” Alan Panezic, RIM’s vice-president of enterprise productmanagement and marketing, said in a released statement.
The release of BMF appears to mesh with new RIM CEO Thorsten Heins’emphasis in last week’s earnings release that the Waterloo, Ont.company will get back to focusing on the enterprise spacerather thanthe wider consumer market.
Although BMF gives RIM a chance to capitalize on the BYODtrend, competitors likeZenprise and Sybase Inc. have already established a lead in the mobiledevice management (MDM) market. RIM has lost ground in catering to theconsumerization of IT in the enterprise, Info-Tech analyst MarkTauschek toldITBusiness.ca following Heins’ promotion to CEO in January.
“Where (RIM) really fell down was they completely missed theconsumerization of IT trend and BYOD,” Tauschek said. “They’re tryingto make up for it now but it came out of left field for them. Theyshould’ve seen it coming. They’re playing catch up there.”
BMF is designed to establish and maintain a BlackBerrySecure Connection from the business network to the BlackBerry PlayBooktablet. BMF also supports the latest MDM capabilities available in iOS and Android, and is designed to enableadministrators to apply corporate policies and configurations to manageand secure these devices.