BlackBerry Offers BES 10 as a Hosted Service

Mobile communications provider BlackBerry (BBRY) announced the availablity of its popular BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 (BES10) as a hosted service through third-party partners worldwide, giving BlackBerry, iOS and Android users the opportunity to utilize the company’s exclusive enterprise mobility management system through a hosting provider.

The company also revealed 10 new enterprise mobile apps for Secure Work Space for iOS and Android in conjunction with its availability on the new platforms, including Apparound BLEND for Sector, Fliplet Viewer for Sector and SalesNOW for Sector.

“BlackBerry’s BES10 Hosted is focused on providing more choices and flexibility in how enterprise customers can manage their mobile environments,” said John Sims, president of Enterprise Services at BlackBerry, in a statement. “We’re working closely with our hosting partners to deliver best-in-class managed services to customers in a way that meets their unique business needs without compromising on security, reliability and cost-efficiency.”

BES10 Hosted users will have access to all of the functionality found in the on-premise version, including a user self-service portal for authentication and device management. The EMM will include container options for all supported devices, with native built-in BlackBerry Balance for BlackBerry 10 devices and Secure Work Space for iOS and Android, according to the release. All users will be able to use the software’s unified console to manage existing BlackBerry OS devices as well as BlackBerry 10, iOS and Android devices. BlackBerry has also included support for BES10 Gold level EMM and BBM Protected.

BES10 Hosted is available now, with hosting partners having the option of offering silver and gold tiers of BES10 to their customers.

The company, which has seen its fair share of financial troubles in the past several years, recently appointed new chairman and chief executive John Chen to take over the ailing businesses in November in the hopes of stemming its losses. In May, the company announced that several third-party mobile device management (MDM) companies including AirWatch, Cirtrix, IBM and SAP would be the first to directly manage mobile devices running the BES10 operating system, as BlackBerry looks to gain a higher stake in the growing Internet of Things (IoT) market.

BlackBerry also announced this week that it has appointed former Sybase executive Marty Beard as its latest COO, tasking him with advancing the company’s stake in the enterprise mobility market.