Each year, more than two million New York City corporate passengers get a ride with the Executive Transportation Group (ETG), whose clients include some of the largest and most notable government institutions, banks and law firms in the city.

ETG first deployed a BlackBerry® solution in 2005 to streamline communications and automate their dispatch process. In early 2012, ETG performed a four month review of smartphones and tablets, opting to stay with BlackBerry and upgrade their existing BlackBerry smartphones to a newer model.

As a company transporting top executives at financial institutions and important government officials, security is ETG’s number one concern. According to Mark Heminway, ETG’s Vice President of Operations and Business Development, “Some of our customers told us they use RIM products because they provide the most secure environment and we chose a BlackBerry solution because we want our clients to know we are taking security very, very seriously.”

For their 2012 upgrade, ETG deployed 1,800 BlackBerry® Bold™ smartphones to management and drivers. Because the company was already running on a BlackBerry® Enterprise Server, the new smartphones integrated seamlessly with the third-party, custom application that runs ETG’s automated dispatch system. This integration allows ETG to manage the workflow of their 200 employees and 1,800 vehicles.

“We operate 24/7, 365 days a year in a fast-paced, high-volume business,” said Heminway. “To stay competitive, we need a fast, reliable and highly secure mobile solution and that’s exactly what we’re getting with our BlackBerry solution.”

How does your business or organization use BlackBerry security features? Tell us in the comments below.

A couple weeks ago, I posted that BlackBerry® 7 OS had been approved in North America for Department of Defense use. This was great news, and apparently has now been extended to include BlackBerry® 7.1 OS devices as well. In fact, many US government organizations are responding to this certification quite positively and contacting dodsales@rim.com to take advantage of a variety of trade-up/trade-in programs.

However, within minutes of publishing that blog post, my Research In Motion® (RIM®) colleagues began BBMing me to point out that I’m not the only story in town. Apparently there’s a bigger story than I was aware of! As important as the USDOD approval is – and despite my local pride in the achievement of my North American friends on the security, regulatory compliance, and government marketing teams – apparently, RIM staff across the pond and around the world have their own bragging rights with governments globally certifying BlackBerry 7 OS for use.

In Australia, for example, the BlackBerry 7.0 and 7.1 Operating Systems (BlackBerry 7) were successfully evaluated and approved for Government use by the Defence Signals Directorate (DSD) of the Australian Government. This certification affirms that BlackBerry 7 OS meets the Australian and New Zealand Governments’ strict security standards for a wide range of scenarios, representing the majority of day-to-day operational communications. This includes potential use in securing information classified up to and including PROTECTED (Australia) and RESTRICTED (New Zealand).

Not to be outdone, my U.K. counterparts chimed in adding that the CESG (Communications-Electronics Security Group), the National Technical Authority for Information Assurance, has also approved BlackBerry 7 for government use across the U.K., making BlackBerry the only mobile solution approved by CESG to protect material ‘Restricted’ materials.

Whether it’s U.S., U.K., or Australia, governments around the world continue to use and officially approve the BlackBerry platform. For political reasons, it’s seldom they can speak about it publically, but time and again, after significant testing and review, our solutions pass with flying colors – acknowledging key facets of the BlackBerry solution including security, manageability, and scalability.

However, leading organizations, from both government and corporate sectors must look beyond certifications and focus simply on leveraging their investment in mobile infrastructure. Ensuring their staff have the tools they need to be the most productive often means accessing newer technology like the advanced features incorporated in the newest BlackBerry 7 OS smartphones – fast web browsing, NFC interoperability, augmented reality applications, and so on.

Moreover, in light of consumerization demands, IT organizations need to appease end user demands, opening up access to BlackBerry consumer features like the MP3 player, built-in radio, and camera functionality, not to mention access to fun and entertaining apps in the BlackBerry App World™ storefront.

So whether driven by regulatory approval or the built-in benefits (both personal and organizational), organizations are increasingly moving towards BlackBerry 7 OS. These governments have clearly defined their enterprise grade device choice, providing departments and staff with a much needed benchmark. Where is your organization at in defining your ‘approved’ mobile solution…are you leading or lagging public sector?

Your peers would be as grateful as I would be to hear your comments on mobile device selection and policy. Where is your organization at in defining and controlling device selection? Do you provide approved lists? Do you depend on analogous industry certifications or do you have your own approval program? Where does Mobile Strategy stop and Mobile Device Management start? What criteria do you use to evaluate whether a device is worthy of your organization’s staff and data?

In a recent blog post on the Inside BlackBerry® for Business Blog, we highlighted the BlackBerry® Academic Program and a Pace University project that spanned the globe to assist first graders in developmental education. Today, I’d like to share another incredible example of how mobile solutions and dedicated learning contribute to education. Luciano Freire, Coordinator of Undergraduate Programs in Computer Science and Computer Networks at Universidade Anhembi Morumbi (UAM) in Sao Paulo, Brazil, is currently utilizing mobile solutions as educational tools. As Coordinator of Undergraduate Programs in Computer Science and Computer Networks, Professor Freire is using BlackBerry Academic Program resources to help his students gain a competitive edge in the job market.

UAM wanted to ensure that their students gained a well-rounded set of skills to help them take advantage of the growing mobile market in Brazil. “Mobile development and mobile management are new topics in Brazil,” explains Professor Freire, “so there are few resources about these topics. The BlackBerry Academic Program provides curriculum resources that explicitly reference these mobile topics. Students and professors have access to extensive, high quality resources to study and prepare for classes.”

Students are also given the opportunity to build and test their applications on BlackBerry® smartphones provided by Research In Motion® (RIM®). “This is important,” he says, “because I believe that BlackBerry smartphones are becoming increasingly popular in Brazilian companies. The BlackBerry smartphones provide an opportunity for students to gain exposure to industry technology before beginning their careers.”

UAM’s Ubiquitous Computing course gets students involved in mobile application development. “Students learn to develop and deploy applications for the BlackBerry platform through a balance of theoretical concepts and practical application of the course topics,” Professor Freire explains. Final student projects see students developing applications to solve everyday issues. Students identify problem scenarios that they encounter in their day-to-day lives and create an application that would provide a solution to that problem. Some project examples include an appointment book and a personal finance manager.

The success of teaching mobile solutions has led to UAM’s plans to include BlackBerry Academic Program resources in their Information Systems courses. For the 2012 academic year, UAM is planning on using BlackBerry smartphones in research projects related to augmented reality and mobile development, as part of their Masters of Digital Design degree program.

For more information about the BlackBerry Academic Program, visit www.blackberry.com/academic. You can also view the full UAM story here.