Purchase of AtHoc Adds to BlackBerry's Growing List of Acquisitions

It has been a little less than two years, 20 months to be exact since John Chen took over the reins from Thorsten Heins as the CEO of BlackBerry. Chen’s feeling has always been that the key to bringing a company back from multiple quarters of losses is to not let those obstacles drag you down. Slowly he has changed the focus of the company from smartphone sales to enterprise software and security.

After many job cuts resulting from weak smartphone sales, BlackBerry said the move was part of a plan to reallocate certain resources in an effort to help grow its operations. In keeping with Chen’s philosophy and reallocation process throughout his tenure as CEO, BlackBerry has acquired three companies dealing with voice and data encryption, virtual SIM solutions and enterprise data syncing and share solutions.

It was announced earlier this week that BlackBerry has signed a deal to buy California-based software company AtHoc, which develops emergency alert systems for government agencies, military bodies, as well as other organizations. Its clients include the U.S. departments of defense and homeland security as well as public and private enterprises.

It seems that the hope of this acquisition is that AtHoc will bring more large scale customers back to BlackBerry. There is also the impression that the BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) service can augment AtHoc’s alerts system.

In an interview with Reuters, John Chen said, "AtHoc is an alerts system, but it also needs richer content and that can be provided by BlackBerry Messenger, which offers not just text, but voice, picture and video sharing, so we can provide a much richer experience to their clients. AtHoc, with its messaging alerts, is the next piece in the puzzle.”

Due to the fact that AtHoc’s technology can operate from outside a company’s internal communications system, the software works even if a cyberattack shuts down a corporate network. It is more redundant and secure allowing an organization to communicate even when it’s under attack. It also allows companies to trigger an alert automatically or by a person.

According to a blog posting by BlackBerry Chief Operating Officer Marty Beard, "BlackBerry is focused on enhancing our capabilities in security, privacy and the Internet of Things. We're making the move to acquire AtHoc, because we knew we could take a government-grade, secure software platform meant for crisis communication and enhance it with our current enterprise portfolio and trusted global network. And when we unite BlackBerry's experience and innovation with AtHoc's expertise and technology, we'll be able to deliver new solutions for safety, security and mission-critical business communications."

At this time, no real details have been given as to the terms of the deal. The only certainty is that the deal is expected to close later this year by November.