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Pentagon gives thumbs up to BlackBerry and Samsung

by on03 May 2013



Secure enough

The Pentagon has cleared BlackBerry and Samsung mobile devices for use on Defense Department networks. It is a move toward opening up the military to a wide variety of technology equipment makers while still ensuring communications security.

Lieutenant Colonel Damien Pickart, a Pentagon spokesman, said the department cleared the use of BlackBerry 10 smart phones and BlackBerry PlayBook tablets using its Enterprise Service 10 system, as well as Samsung's Android Knox. Pickart said that the Pentagon wants to establish a multi-vendor environment that supports a variety of state-of-the-art devices and operating systems.

It seems that even Apple will get clearance eventually,  although it will take a little longer to knock the iOS6 operating system into shape. What can be expected now is a fight for Pentagon customers among BlackBerry, Apple and Samsung.

The Pentagon currently has some 600,000 users of smart phones, computer tablets and other mobile devices. The department has 470,000 BlackBerry users, 41,000 Apple users and 8,700 people with Android devices. Most Apple and Android systems are in pilot or test programmes.

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