Fixmo Leads Great Migration: 'Make The Leap' From BlackBerry

In an exclusive interview, Tyler Lessard, chief marketing officer at Toronto, Ontario-based Fixmo, and Nigel Hughes, vice president of sales at Ashburn, Va.-based SteelCloud, told CRN the companies Monday will reveal "Fixmo Enterprise Mobility Platform (EMP) for Hosters," to be distributed worldwide through SteelCloud.

"The channel is ready to move from BlackBerry," said Hughes. "The channel is ready for iOS and Android solutions with BlackBerry-like security."

[Related: Ditching BlackBerry Could Open Channel Floodgates ]

Lessard said he expects to see "tens of thousands" migrating to iOS and Android operating systems via the EMP platform in the next 12 to 18 months largely because BlackBerry is losing steam. In fact, Lessard said Fixmo has already observed in the last year a spike in iOS and Android devices in the hands of large enterprise and government employees because of amped up security features found in recent versions of both operating systems.

"There is a very big sense of urgency for those who need to make the leap [from BlackBerry]. Right now, there is a very serious risk of not addressing the problem head on," Lessard said.

"The demand for security of data is in all businesses of course, but legal, medical and financial [verticals], that is where we are going to see the immediate growth," Hughes said. "We'll see some of the larger players come on board very quickly, medium businesses quickly after that, and small developing markets will then come on board as well," he said.

EMP is a mobile platform both organizations say is capable of safely migrating trusted BlackBerry users to iOS and Android without having to second-guess security. According to a press release the companies provided CRN prior to the official announcement, the platform is loaded with "comprehensive mobile device management, data encryption and application security features that go beyond the capabilities of ActiveSync."

Microsoft's mobile security platform, ActiveSync, Hughes said, is the current next-best option to the BlackBerry platform.

"ActiveSync does not cut it," Hughes said. "EMP does not just have BlackBerry-like security, but it goes beyond it."

"What we do not want is people saying 'no' to a new [operating system] out of the fear of a security risk," said Lessard.

According to Hughes, the demand for BlackBerry-grade security is astonishing, a demand he believes EMP will not only fill but also provide the safety net for which BlackBerry users are looking so they can once and for all leap away from the sinking BlackBerry ship.

PUBLISHED Oct. 4, 2013