BlackBerry sets up new government solutions unit, stock gains

Shares of BlackBerry (BB) jumped over 2.8% on Tuesday after the enterprise software and IoT firm announced that it has established a new unit – BlackBerry Government Solutions – with an aim to deepen ties with the US federal government.

This independent wholly-owned subsidiary would be headed by Rear Admiral Bob Day, who has been with the firm since 2016.

The new subsidiary would be headquartered in Washington DC and will have a governance structure that is different from its corporate parent, in order to adhere to the requirements of national security.

Currently, BlackBerry’s crisis communication solution is used by over 70% of US federal employees.

CEO John Chen said, “This new subsidiary allows us to deepen our reach within the U.S. government sector by ensuring our next-generation cybersecurity solutions and Spark platform meet FedRAMP and ATO (authority to operate) certifications, as well as provide our customers with a higher-level of service.”

FedRAMP is a solution that gives governments a standardized approach to cloud security systems.

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In a separate press release, the Canadian company also said NATO’s Communications and Information Agency has awarded a contract for BlackBerry’s SecuSUITE for Government to encrypt the conversations of its technology and cyber leaders.

Terms of the contract were not disclosed. Blackberry will report is quarterly results on March 29.

SVP of BlackBerry unit Secusmart, Christoph Erdmann, said, “Eavesdropping on calls is one of the easiest ways to gain access to private information. We are extremely proud that the NCI Agency has put its trust in BlackBerry’s software to secure their voice communication.”

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