BlackBerry has entered into a distribution partnership with Carahsoft to increase public sector access to its cybersecurity solutions portfolio. Brandi Hiebert, the sales director leading the BlackBerry team at Carahsoft, said the collaboration reflects a joint commitment to provide organizations with tools to combat cyberthreats.
Under the agreement, Carahsoft will offer BlackBerry products to state and local governments, K-12 school districts and higher education institutions using its National Association of State Procurement Officials ValuePoint contract.
Carahsoft is one of the 61 contractors that were awarded the NASPO ValuePoint contract, which allows software developers to partner with the selected vendors and provide public sector entities with the solution they require.
“This new route to market is exciting for both BlackBerry and for the NASPO membership,” said Chris Russo, BlackBerry’s U.S. state, local and education sales director.
BlackBerry, previously a manufacturer of pagers, smartphones and tablets, became a cybersecurity enterprise software and services company in 2016 as part of its business transformation strategy. In 2018, it acquired Cylance to add artificial intelligence capabilities to existing software products and provide customers with better threat protection, Cyber Magazine reported.
The company recently updated its Cylance AI cybersecurity portfolio to speed up incident response, expand cloud defense coverage and simplify the adoption of zero trust security. The portfolio includes CylanceEndpoint, CylanceEdge, CylanceIntelligence, CylanceGuard and BlackBerry UEM.