Pentagon to Move From BlackBerry to Android, iPhones

[Asrokhel]

RIM experiencing several large firms moving thousands of employees from BlackBerry to iPhones and Android-powered smartphones.

RIM has been dealt a further blow with the news of the Pentagon due to move up of to 8 million employees from its BlackBerry devices to Android-powered smartphones and Apple's iPhone.

The Defense Department is planning to hire a contractor to build a system that will both manage and secure at least 162,500 Android devices, in addition to Apple products including the iPhone and iPad. It's possible that the system may be expanded to handle 8 million devices, the department confirmed.

The project is ?a significant step towards delivering a secure mobile communications capability?? to the agency, it said. The Pentagon wishes to gives employees the opportunity to access its network through a broader range of mobile devices so it can ?take advantage of the increasing wireless capabilities that exist and that are developing in the marketplace."

The Pentagon?s Defense Information Systems Agency will grant the contract to a single company by April, with bids due by November 27.

Although the Defense Department is not instructing contractors to propose systems that can manage RIM devices, it ?desires? a system that can also handle BlackBerry smartphones, in addition to Android and iOS devices.

Last week, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said it will end the contract it holds with RIM, subsequently leading to 17,600 employees moving away from BlackBerry devices to the iPhone. Preceding that was consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton dropping BlackBerry in favor of the iPhone and Android smartphones for about 25,000 employees.

http://www.tomshardw...roid,18822.html

[Growled Member]

Poor RIM can't win anything these days. Just a question.....is it possible to secure iPhones and Android phones?

[+Eternal Tempest MVC]

Poor RIM can't win anything these days. Just a question.....is it possible to secure iPhones and Android phones?

Contractor can use a Nexus brand hardware, and customize the code from AOSP.

On top of that, Android 4.2 suppose to have a lot of internal changes making it more secure which should be out soon.

I do think Microsoft missing an opportunity but not having RIM level enterprise management in place from the start. But to be fair, Android and iOS are not there yet either.

[BobSlob]

Not to the extent the Blackberry can. I can't think of any way to disable cameras on the iphone, for example.

[~Johnny]

is it possible to secure iPhones and Android phones?

Well I'd say you'd have an easier job of a Windows Phone 8 or RIM device over an iPhone, which are probably all easier than securing an Android device to the level they need.

[Growled Member]

As a taxpayer i'm against them paying a premium for an iphone, when they can get the same equivalence if not better from an android device for much less.

I really don't care what they buy as long as it's secure. I'm not sure anything can be as secure as a Blackberry.

[+Majesticmerc MVC]

Well I'd say you'd have an easier job of a Windows Phone 8 or RIM device over an iPhone, which are probably all easier than securing an Android device to the level they need.

How so? If they needed to, they could literally change the Android source to suit their needs. Not so much for the others, although the government could probably come to an agreement with the respective companies to get access to the source.

[Argi]

How so? If they needed to, they could literally change the Android source to suit their needs. Not so much for the others, although the government could probably come to an agreement with the respective companies to get access to the source.

Then you're basically hiring contract developers which is going to cost a fortune to even get familiar and up to speed before you can start making changes.

[ThePitt]

The Defense Department is planning to hire a contractor to build a system

LOL, they better keep an eye where is that contractor from, could be from china or NK :laugh:

[Elliott]

can't think of any way to disable cameras on the iphone, for example.

You can through the Apple Configurator, OS X Server profiles, or ActiveSync.

[PGHammer]

You can through the Apple Configurator, OS X Server profiles, or ActiveSync.

The biggest reason they are moving is the cost of the handsets.

Right now, the cost of an iPhone that would be compliant (iPhone 4S or newer) is less than any Blackberry that is DMS (Defense Message System) compliant; basically, price is the entire reason for the move.

[Techno_Funky]

Not to the extent the Blackberry can. I can't think of any way to disable cameras on the iphone, for example.

You can through the Apple Configurator, OS X Server profiles, or ActiveSync.

Also MDM's like Afaria, IBM Bigfix that can do this.

The devices can be even configured such a way that say you enter into a secure zone where there are no cameras allowed, as per your geo location as soon as you step into this facility your camera will automatically be turned off.