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Thursday, 02 May 2013 22:01

Blackberry 10 and Samsung's Knox Chosen by the DoD... Apple and Microsoft Left Out

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Blackberry and Samsung have made it through the first round of testing for use in DoD (Department of Defense) networks. For Blackberry this is something of a return, but it establishes that their new Blackberry 10 OS is up to scratch for the DoD. For Samsung this is a first for them although the OS is a version of Android called Knox. Knox is a hardened version of Android that Samsung created to specifically address the security needs of enterprise users.

Conspicuously absent from the announcement was Apple and Microsoft which is interesting considering the rumors running around that the Pentagon was going to place a large order for Apple devices. When asked about this, the Pentagon stated that they were not aware of any order for Apple devices. This is very similar to when it was reported that the Air Force was buying several thousand iPads for pilots. It turned out that this rumor was also in error.

For Microsoft’s part their new Mobile OS has some issues that are preventing its rapid adoption. One of the most common is its failure to connect to wireless networks secured by EAP and not WAP2. If you have an open network and rely on corporate login information using EAP the phone will fail to connect. It is even more complicated if the SSID is not broadcasting. Microsoft has not addressed this issue yet so we have a feeling this issue (and others) would lock them out of the game for now.

We are sure that Samsung’s inclusion is, at the very least, annoying to Apple as they have tried to pain Samsung as a company that cannot innovate and is behind Apple at all times (hence the need to copy from Apple). I would not be surprised to find out that Apple is working on securing their OS and hardening their phones just so they can get on the list of acceptable products for the DoD… too bad that makes them the follower and not the innovator they like to claim they are.

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Read 2434 times Last modified on Thursday, 02 May 2013 22:04

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