U.S. Defense Department To Use Range of Mobile Devices

By: Zain Nabi  |   February 27th, 2013   |   News, O Canada, Smartphones

U.S. Defense Department has decided to use a range of mobile devices instead of relying only on BlackBerry to share its classified and protected data. As per the recent development, the department has announced to use different devices including those using Android and iOS from 2014.

 

More than 600,000 DOD employees use government-issued mobile devices, most of them can handle classified data. Mostly BlackBerry devices are issued by the government to these employees, but this trend might change now. However, that does not mean that the department will completely abandon the Canadian-based smartphone manufacturer. The idea behind allowing other mobile devices to operate is to adapt to the ever-changing technological trend.

 

Teri Takai, DOD’s chief information officer, told American Forces Press Service and the Pentagon Channel:

 

“We will be able to not only use multiple commercial devices, but we will have a better process for bringing new commercial devices onto the network.”

 

The main aim of the department to use one or many devices is to ensure security of classified information. According to Takai:

“The challenge for DOD is to balance the concern of cybersecurity with the need to have the capability of these devices. The commercial mobile device market is moving so quickly, we can’t wait. If we don’t get something in place, we will have multiple solutions, just because the demand out there to be able to use these devices is so strong.”

 

Meanwhile, AppleInsider has reported that the DOD is not going to totally end its dependence on BlackBerry, just like Home Depot has done. AppleInsider quoted Lt. Col. Damien Pickart, a representative of the department, as saying:

 

“It won’t be a shotgun approach, where everyone gets the same apps and devices. The key takeaway is that it’s a multi-vendor solution. We will have a DOD-wide device management system and a DOD-wide app storefront.”

 

He also maintained that the move was not aimed at promoting the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) idea. Many companies have adopted the BYOD standard, but the DOD is not planning on adopting it for now. Pickart said:

 

“It’s not BYOD; it is the department migrating to a multi-vendor environment that is going to include more than BlackBerry currently. BYOD is a long-term objective, but we’re just not there yet. The technology is there, but things like security, we’re not quite there yet.”

 

Photo: AndroidAuthority