BlackBerry has announced it is making available to developers its software development kit (SDK). With the SDK, developers will be able to integrate secure messaging, voice and video capabilities into applications and services. It also marks the entrance of Blackberry into the Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) market.
In an announcement, Blackberry said the BBM Enterprise SDK will become available from this month to allow BlackBerry to be competitive with other cloud communications platforms by presenting enterprises and developers APIs to enhance overall business processes.
“We are constantly innovating and looking for ways to leverage our legacy and expertise in secure mobility to solve real business problems,” said Marty Beard, Chief Operating Officer, BlackBerry. “We are opening up a new revenue stream for the company with a fully cloud-based communication service that is designed to help developers, ISVs, and enterprises meet the most demanding security and compliance requirements.”
As instant messaging becomes a primary means of communication in the enterprise, current market offerings do not provide the same level of security and encryption for which BlackBerry is known, putting businesses at risk. With more than 80 security certifications and approvals to date – more than any other mobile vendor – BBM Enterprise SDK leverages this expertise to provide the highest-level of security for messages, voice, and video for iOS and Android.
Examples of capabilities being provided to developers include:
Secure Messaging: 1:1 chat and group chatting; message quoting, retraction, editing and deletion
Secure Voice and Video Communications: 1:1 voice and video calling; accept an incoming voice or video call while app is running in the background; display a thumbnail preview of the video call; view video call in full screen
Secure File Sharing and Collaboration: share files, text, contact cards, media, data, and location
Secure Real-time Notifications: push notifications; messaging and collaboration-related notifications
Benefits of using BBM Enterprise SDK include:
Enterprise-Grade Security with BlackBerry’s renowned NOC architecture: BlackBerry’s renowned NOC was built with security in mind and is designed to meet the most demanding enterprise needs. It is globally accessible and provides built-in redundancies to ensure optimal performance, flexibility, QoS and availability for products being built for mass scale.
Faster Time to Market: By leveraging BlackBerry’s comprehensive, secure communications framework for mobile applications and services, developers can focus more on what matters most versus worrying about the complexities of developing secure messaging capabilities and an IT infrastructure.
Greater Scalability: Developers can help guard against unforeseen spikes in usage that may affect service availability through a secure, hosted cloud, all without having to deploy a complex and costly infrastructure.
Reduced Costs: Enterprises can avoid upfront investments in hardware infrastructure by utilizing BBM Enterprise’s fully cloud-based model, as well as control operational costs with an affordable subscription-based per-user licensing model.
Partner Pipeline for Success
BlackBerry’s existing ecosystem of developers, which has created more than 4,000 third-party enterprise applications on the BlackBerry Development Platform, can now easily integrate real-time communications.
The company has a pipeline of partners ready to use the BBM Enterprise SDK when it becomes available. Below are quotes from a few of these partners, which support various industries such as healthcare, law enforcement, and financial services.
“Mobile Innovations is excited to leverage BBM Enterprise SDK. Our law enforcement customers have a strong need for highly secure and protected IM and multi-OS chat groups, as they come together to staff incidents, attend occurrences, and solve crimes,” said Gary Bauer, President, Mobile Innovations Corp.
“Forrest Green will integrate the BBM Enterprise SDK for collaborating with indigenous communities and businesses to securely provide data and analytical solutions. We already leverage BBM Enterprise in a strategic alliance with Mohawk Internet Technologies, to provide data management solutions that are Canadian Federal Government Protected B and PHIPA certified. BBM Enterprise SDK ensures secure communications with federal and provincial health and social service providers to proactively help vulnerable persons. Sharing secure and timely data with Chiefs and Community Managers is critical to improving safety, lowering costs and demonstrating measurable outcomes,” according Murray Rowe Jr., President, Forrest Green Group of Companies
“By building powerful tools for communication and collaboration between physicians and specialists, we can tackle one of the biggest problems in healthcare and dramatically improve wait times to deliver quality care when it is most important to patients – in real-time! We proudly chose BBM Enterprise as our cross-platform backbone communication technology for security and reliability that is second to none,” Charlie Farkas, Director, Engineering and Product Development, Oculys Health Informatics, said.
“The biggest challenge to global communication, collaboration and trade is the language barrier. Our real-time translation tools combined with BlackBerry’s secure communication platform will enable customers and partners on any device to conduct business globally with greater efficiency and productivity. We are thrilled to be leveraging the new BBM Enterprise SDK”, said Ed Karthaus, President & CEO of Yappn Corp
“We are excited to extend our long-standing relationship with BlackBerry. Combining the security and functionality of BBM Enterprise SDK into Tango Networks’ Kinetic Communications Platform will allow us to deliver solutions that meet and exceed current and future compliance standards. In conjunction with the BBM Enterprise platform, we will be able to decrease the complexity, infrastructure, and cost for our enterprise customers while ensuring the strictest security requirements and protection,” Derek Peper, Senior Vice President, Tango Networks, said.
