Struggling BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIMM +0.61%) announced today that it has won an important security certification that will allow government agencies to deploy its next generation of devices running its BlackBerry 10 operating system. This is the first time that BlackBerry devices have been certified prior to launch.
The Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) certification by the National Institute of Standards and Technology enables both U.S. and Canadian government agencies to use devices that meet requirements on security and encryption. Michael Brown, RIM's vice president of security production management and research, said no other platform has achieved the level of security accreditation BlackBerry 10 has.
Competition in the consumer space continues to escalate, and RIM needs to reinforce its advantages in the enterprise and government sectors. BlackBerry 10 is slated for launch in early 2013.
