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In a development that strengthens its leading position as a provider of  secure mobile enterprise solutions,  BlackBerry has announced that it is buying mobile device management vendor Good Technology for $425 million in cash.

BlackBerry might have a dwindling share of the mobile handset market, losing its once dominant position to Apple and Android-powered smartphones, but it still has a strong presence in government and in enterprises where security of devices and data is an overriding priority. Good Technology is a leading player in the mobile device management sector, with expertise in multi-OS management. By acquiring the company, BlackBerry will expand its ability to offer a unified, secure mobility platform with applications for any mobile device on any operating system.

Good Technology serves more than 6,200 organizations, including commercial banks, aerospace and defence firms, and leaders across healthcare, manufacturing and retail. BlackBerry is the mobility partner of all G7 governments, global banks and law firms, and is strong in managed healthcare, investment services, and oil and gas sectors.

The company will bring complementary capabilities and technologies to BlackBerry, including secure applications and containerisation that protects end user privacy. With 64 percent of activations coming from Apple iOS devices, Good complements BlackBerry’s own OS. The proven Good Dynamics platform provides app-level encryption, advanced data loss prevention and secure communication between applications. The platform has more than 2,000 independent software vendor and custom applications.

“By providing even stronger cross-platform capabilities our customers will not have to compromise on their choice of operating systems, deployment models or any level of privacy and security,” said John Chen, BlackBerry Executive Chairman and CEO. “Like BlackBerry, Good has a very strong presence in enterprises and governments around the world and, with this transaction, BlackBerry will enhance its sales and distribution capabilities and further grow its enterprise software revenue stream.”

“Joining forces enables customers and partners to benefit from the combined decades of secure mobility expertise and deliver the most comprehensive portfolio at global scale. The Good Dynamics platform and broad application suite remains at the heart of the joint solution, and combined with BlackBerry’s enterprise portfolio and trusted global network, will enable us together to deliver a unified secure mobility platform spanning the widest array of endpoints – from smartphones, tablets, PCs, wearables through IoT – to power business productivity any time, anywhere," said  Christy Wyatt, Chairman and CEO, Good Technology.

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Cloud-based mobile application platform vendor, FeedHenry, has commented on BlackBerry’s decision to open up its BlackBerry 10 operating system to allow its smartphones to be directly managed by third party companies: AirWatch, Citrix, IBM and SAP.

FeedHenry, an AirWatch partner, believes that the announcement is a further signal that enterprises are looking for the flexibility to support employees using an array of mobile devices and operating systems. Consequently, enterprise providers need to deliver an end-to-end mobile experience that facilitates management of data and applications consumed on those devices.

Commenting on BlackBerry’s decision, Cathal McGloin CEO of FeedHenry, said,

“Rather than managing the device, enterprises are now focused on controlling access to sensitive data as it moves between the organisation and the device. MDM, app development and app distribution are linked by the common thread of data security. It makes sense to secure apps and multiple devices and manage user policies through the same platform. Releasing BlackBerry 10 APIs to the leading MDM providers helps enterprises in this task.”

At the start of 2014, former IDC analyst Stephen Drake, VP Business Development at FeedHenry, predicted that BlackBerry would become a cross-platform Enterprise Software Provider, “Where BlackBerry recognises its strength and value is in cross-platform mobile enterprise software solutions, starting with security, MDM and, in the future, mobile applications.

BlackBerry has approximately 100,000 BlackBerry Enterprise Servers across the globe in major organisations. The company is focused on retaining those customers with cross-platform offerings that have begun with an MDM solution and will include more completed mobile enterprise offerings for iOS and Android, such software offerings are core to its new direction.”

In February FeedHenry announced a partnership and platform integration with AirWatch, the world’s leading enterprise mobility management vendor, to enable enterprises to manage multiple apps and devices from a single platform. AirWatch was acquired by cloud pioneer, VMWare, in January 2014.