We’ve briefly mentioned a few of our future plans for BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 in the past, but today we’d like to share a preview of how secure enterprise mobility management is growing and evolving to meet the needs of businesses worldwide with Secure Work Space for iOS and Android devices. BlackBerry has and continues to be the only choice for enterprises with security, functionality, and collaborative mobile strategies in mind. As needs evolve and IT departments face an ever-growing variety of devices being brought into the workplace, we’re building our solutions to match your needs and priorities.

BlackBerry security capabilities for data-at-rest and data-in-transit will soon be extended to iOS and Android devices; both for smartphones and tablets. A separate and secure work space will hold corporate apps, work email, calendar, contacts, and more. Administrators can configure, secure, wipe, and interact with the Secure Work Space, while employees can enjoy a work and personal experience on a single device. Check out just a few of the benefits:

• Trusted BlackBerry security extended to iOS and Android
• No need for an expensive VPN infrastructure to secure data in transit
• Third party MDM providers and multiple vendors aren’t required – we’ve designed Secure Work Space to be managed by BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 from a single console
• Deployment is straightforward, with all components on a single server
• Global and flexible technical support is available for all aspects of the solution, even further reducing the need for multiple IT and mobility vendors

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

For today’s Five Tip Friday, I thought I would provide some tips for keeping my personal information secure on my BlackBerry® smartphone. I’ll be covering everything from using a secure password to encryption of your documents stored on an inserted media card.

1. Use the Password Keeper app

BlackBerry Password Keeper allows you to securely store passwords or banking PINs on your BlackBerry smartphone. If you have never used the Password Keeper app, check out our blog post on how to set up and use BlackBerry Password Keeper to learn more.

On top of securely storing your information, you can use the Password Keeper app to generate a secure random password for you. To try out this feature, complete the following steps.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry Help Blog »

We’ve got a guest post from Thusenth about an important new feature in our latest OS update. Read on for more – Ed.

It’s no secret that BlackBerry® smartphones are known for their security. It’s baked deep into our BlackBerry OS DNA, and many features of the BlackBerry smartphone experience can be customized and managed by BlackBerry® Enterprise Servers and their administrators.

You might not think it obvious, but one segment of customers that can benefit from BlackBerry security are teens – they may even be children – with phones provided by their parents or guardian. You can see the parallels here with the Enterprise market – IT is now mom, and the Enterprise user is now little Jimmy.

If you provide a BlackBerry smartphone to a teen or child, you may want to set limits on what features or services your child has access to. We see there’s an opportunity here for us to leverage our expertise in security and manageability to help parents.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry Help Blog »

Today Research In Motion® (RIM®) has launched the next-generation in enterprise mobile device management (MDM) – BlackBerry® Mobile Fusion. This tool acts as a central platform giving IT managers the ability to effectively and efficiently manage the following:

• BlackBerry® 7 (and previous) smartphones
• BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablets (and BlackBerry® 10 smartphones in the future)
• As of today, tablets and smartphones running Android® and iOS®

I recently spoke with some enterprise customers during the BlackBerry® Innovation Forum in both Toronto and Atlanta about their thoughts on BlackBerry Mobile Fusion – clearly customers are excited. Beyond Mobile Fusion Studio and BlackBerry® Device Service – both of which we’ve discussed previously – many seem eager to deploy the Universal Device Service. Check out a video overview of BlackBerry Mobile Fusion below:

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

The biggest area of interest is around the specific details of the BlackBerry® Device Service component of BlackBerry Mobile Fusion. Simply put, the BlackBerry Device Service is to BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablets as the BlackBerry® Enterprise Server is to BlackBerry smartphones. The BlackBerry Enterprise Server manages your current BlackBerry smartphones, and the BlackBerry Device Service allows you to manage and secure your organization’s BlackBerry PlayBook tablets – and, moving forward, it will also manage BlackBerry® 10 smartphones. But that’s not all that BlackBerry Device Service offers – there’s even more going on underneath the covers.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

Hey blog readers! We’ve got a guest post today from Jason, who’s bringing you some useful tips and information about using the uber-handy BlackBerry® Protect app. Read on! – Ed.

It’s hard for any of us to imagine our beloved BlackBerry® smartphone being left in a taxi or getting stolen, but the truth is stuff happens – we misplace things, we accidentally leave behind a bag, or worse. If you’re on a BlackBerry® Enterprise Server, the data on your BlackBerry smartphone is backed up by your IT administrator, but what about the rest of us? We want all of you to know that the important (and sometimes sentimental) data such as contacts, calendars, tasks, memos, text messages and browser bookmarks from your missing device can be recovered easily as long as you have BlackBerry Protect set up completely and correctly.

Below are four simple steps to help make sure your data is protected.

Note: BlackBerry Protect is designed for backing up and restoring specific data from your BlackBerry smartphone and for wiping/locking your lost or stolen handset. BlackBerry Protect is not recommended to be used for switching to a new handset. If you want to move the data from one BlackBerry smartphone to a new one you’ve upgraded to, then I would recommend using BlackBerry® Desktop Software.

STEP 1: Set up your BlackBerry® ID on your New Device

If you haven’t already done so, set up your BlackBerry ID on your new device. This must be done because BlackBerry Protect uses your BlackBerry ID to help secure and restore your backed up data wirelessly. Don’t worry if you aren’t sure how to do this, as BlackBerry Protect will prompt you to create a new BlackBerry ID if you do not have one as part of Step 2 below.

STEP 2: Install BlackBerry Protect

The best way to get BlackBerry Protect depends on your operating system. For models running BlackBerry® Device Software 5.0 and upwards to BlackBerry® 6 OS, the BlackBerry Protect application must be downloaded from the BlackBerry App World™ storefront. For BlackBerry® 7 OS devices, the application is pre-installed on your device – you can find it in the Applications folder.

STEP 3: Do an Initial Backup

The first backup is the most important. If you are having issues with contacting your device for the first time from the BlackBerry Protect web portal, please ensure that you have completed the first backup. The first backup not only saves your data, but it’s also a “handshake” between your smartphone and the website.

STEP 4: Visit http://protect.BlackBerry.com

The dedicated BlackBerry Protect website is where you can manage your handset and backups, as well as find your smartphone. Since this website allows you to locate your BlackBerry smartphone or wipe all data for security purposes, this is the first place you should visit if your BlackBerry smartphone is lost or stolen. Be sure to write down the URL and keep it in a safe place, or save it as a Favorite on your desktop browser. You can also scan this QR code:

In addition to the above steps, I wanted to point out a few important points related to BlackBerry Protect:

• Use BlackBerry Desktop Software for Full Backup of your Data: BlackBerry Protect is designed primarily for a lost or stolen BlackBerry smartphone. BlackBerry Protect doesn’t for example, back up media content, such as your pictures. Make sure you continue using BlackBerry Desktop Software to do a full backup of your handset.

• BlackBerry Protect and BlackBerry Enterprise Servers: Be aware that BlackBerry Protect does not support corporate devices connected to a BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

• Using BlackBerry Protect to locate your device: If you are not sure where you left your BlackBerry smartphone, by using the “locate on a map” feature in BlackBerry Protect you’ll be able to see where your handset is. Additionally, the “loud ring” feature can help you locate a BlackBerry smartphone lost in the couch cushions by sounding your ringer at full volume, even if the phone is set to vibrate. If you think your phone has been stolen, we recommend that you contact law enforcement and do not try to track down the phone on your own using this feature.

So if you don’t already have BlackBerry Protect set up, I highly recommend doing so – you can thank me later! To check out the full list of features, get support on BlackBerry Protect, or for more information, visit our full info page here: http://us.blackberry.com/apps-software/protect/

Are you already using BlackBerry Protect? Has it gotten you out of some sticky situations? Let us know in the comments!

Good news for business: The Citrix® Receiver for the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet (Citrix Receiver) is now available for beta testing. Download it today from the Test Center on the BlackBerry App World™ storefront.

The Citrix Receiver is enterprise virtualization software that allows users to access virtual desktops (such as Citrix® XenDesktop) on servers running Microsoft® Windows, plus enterprise applications hosted within your organization to allow standalone app virtualization. With the Citrix Receiver, users can open: (1) any Windows software that’s installed on the server you’re accessing; (2) Software as a Service (SaaS), or (3) a web app.( I’m personally looking forward to using the Microsoft® Office® suite and Microsoft® Outlook® via the Citrix Receiver, as well as the Adobe® Creative Suite® of products.) Check out more important features below:

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

Protecting information on your BlackBerry® smartphone and finding it in case you misplaced it is made easier thanks to the BlackBerry® Protect™ app. This free application allows you to take advantage of several features such as automatic backups of your contacts, calendar entries and more. It is a great way to help ensure you do not lose important contact information; for example, if you happen to lose your BlackBerry smartphone.

Today I’d like to show you five reasons why you should be using BlackBerry Protect if you haven’t set it up already:

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry Help Blog »

(YouTube link for mobile viewing)

While the BlackBerry® platform is already synonymous in many circles with security, it’s important to our customers that the BlackBerry solution is not only functionally secure, but is recognized and certified as such. Our ongoing commitment to security was recently recognized as the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet from Research In Motion® (RIM®) became the first (and only) tablet device to achieve Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-2 security certification.

Beyond being a mandatory requirement for US government purchases and use, FIPS certification recognizes the BlackBerry platform’s ongoing commitment to security. This unwavering approach to product development is designed to enable our customers to focus on solving real business issues – navigating uncharted waters and moving their organizations forwards – instead of wasting time constantly trying to ‘batten down the hatches’ security-wise.

I was eager to congratulate my colleague Michael K. Brown, Director of Security Product Management at RIM, and was able to steal a few minutes of his time to chat further about what the FIPS certification of the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet means for our customers.

We have very significant news to share with our government customers – today the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet officially received FIPS 140-2 certification, the first tablet to ever have received this certification. With FIPS 140-2 certification, the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet can now be used by the U.S. federal government with confidence, knowing that it meets their policy requirements for securing and protecting sensitive data.

This absolutely underscores the commitment by Research In Motion® (RIM®) to building products that meet stringent security requirements of the US Federal Government.

There are a wide variety of smartphone and tablet products available on the market today, many of which don’t meet the highest level of security standards that government agencies demand. The BlackBerry PlayBook tablet and BlackBerry smartphones are clear exceptions.

The BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is a natural extension to the hundreds of thousands of BlackBerry® smartphones that are used in the Federal Government today. With the BlackBerry® Bridge™ application, the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet can be paired with a BlackBerry smartphone to provide secure access to information on the larger screen while keeping the data stored safely on the BlackBerry smartphone. Secure network communication is also extended to the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet in this manner, designed to allow the government to be assured that they can securely access applications and other critical data.

I’m pretty excited about the opportunities that the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet presents for government agencies. Pilot projects to use the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet are already underway across the government and the use case scenarios are impressive. Give me a shout in the comments if you would like to discuss how the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet would fit into your agency or department.