Amazon Alexa will make its way to enterprise; Secured by BlackBerry

Earlier in August, we got up close with Alex Thurber, the General Manager of BlackBerry Mobility Solutions, to learn more about BlackBerry’s future, since the company has transitioned itself to a software company. Alex Thurber discussed about how BlackBerry is pacing to be the next big fish in cyber-space and his aim to see ‘BlackBerry Secure’ tagline with each products and services BlackBerry gets involved in. Looks like Amazon’s Alexa for Business is going to be one of those products.

Alexa for Business speakers will provide a bit different experience than the regular consumer assistant. Sanjay Ramaswamy, a product market at Amazon, wrote this: “With a simple extension to the AVS Device SDK, device makers can leverage Alexa for Business to bring the power of voice to enterprises. Together, the solutions allow for: (1) deployment of third-party devices to shared spaces such as conference rooms, hotel and dorm rooms, lobbies, kitchens, break rooms, and copy rooms, (2) device management as part of the device makers’ existing management flow, such as room designation, device health monitoring, and location setting and (3) skill management, such as public and private skill assignment for shared devices without publishing to the public Alexa Skills Store.”

One of the partners Amazon will be working with is BlackBerry. Other brands named include Plantronics, iHome, Extron, and Linkplay. Responding to email questions from IT World Canada, a BlackBerry spokesperson says the partnership will see more than one device manufactured. “We are working on multiple Alexa-powered smart speakers that will be built with BlackBerry’s secure technology. The first device will be available in the first half of next year.” A spokesperson confirms that a hardware partner will also be involved to produce the Alexa speakers, but declined to name the partner at this time.

Source: NationalPost, Amazon