Toronto’s Fixmo looks to lure BlackBerry refugees

Perhaps betting that BlackBerry’s remaining security-minded customers will be searching for a new platform in the immediate future, Toronto’s Fixmo will be rolling out its Fixmo Enterprise Mobility Platform (EMP) for Hosters, in collaboration with Ashburn, Virginia-based distributor SteelCloud on Monday.

“The channel is ready to move from BlackBerry,” said Nigel Hughes, SteelCloud’s vice-president of sales, in an interview with Computer Reseller News. “The channel is ready for iOS and Android solutions with BlackBerry-like security.”

Security is probably the hill that BlackBerry will die on, as many now believe it may abandon hardware in favour of its real area of expertise; network security.

But with BlackBerry losing ground in the corporate, government, medical, legal and financial verticals, all customers with sensitive data to protect, not to mention at the consumer level, Fixmo and SteelCloud are looking to capture much of the market that BlackBerry once had cornered.

Citing the “tens of thousands” of security-minded BlackBerry refugees he expects to see adopting iOS and Android operating systems over the next year and a half, Fixmo’s CMO Tyler Lessard says, “There is a very big sense of urgency for those who need to make the leap. Right now, there is a very serious risk of not addressing the problem head on.”

Microsoft has been trying to tempt away wavering BlackBerry clients with its ActiveSync mobile security platform. Hughes is dismissive, saying, “ActiveSync does not cut it.” A press release to be issued Monday touts Fixmo and SteelCloud’s new EMP’s “comprehensive mobile device management, data encryption and application security features that go beyond the capabilities of ActiveSync.” Hughes adds, “EMP does not just have BlackBerry-like security, but it goes beyond it.”

With BlackBerry’s fate lurching from worse to worst, it’s clear that what remains of the tech giant’s assets and client base are up for grabs. BlackBerry has just been hit with an investor lawsuit, and even Rogers has announced that it won’t stock the Z30 when it’s released later this year.

On the heels of collaborating with Lockheed Martin on a secure authentication system this past February, Fixmo looks poised to do kick away the last leg BlackBerry has left to stand on.

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