BlackBerry 7 and 7.1 Operating Systems Approved for Use by Australian and New Zealand Governments

Sydney, Australia, 17 May 2012 – In conjunction with the release today of the BlackBerry 7.1 Operating System in the Australian market, Research In Motion (RIM) announced that BlackBerry smartphones running the BlackBerry 7.0 and 7.1 Operating Systems (BlackBerry 7) have been successfully evaluated and approved for Government use by the Defence Signals Directorate (DSD) of the Australian Government. The certification from the DSD affirms that the BlackBerry 7 Operating System meets the Australian and New Zealand Government’s strict security standards for a wide range of the Governments’ information classifications, representing the majority of day-to-day operational communications.

BlackBerry 7.0 and 7.1 Operating Systems, when used in accordance with Government guidance, can be used to secure information with a classification of up to and including PROTECTED for the Australian Government and up to and including RESTRICTED for the New Zealand Government.

"With the DSD approval of BlackBerry 7, Research In Motion continues to lead the industry when it comes to meeting the security certification requirements of governments around the world,” said Scott Deacon, Manager, Security Certifications, Research In Motion.

Tim Dillon, Associate Vice President Asia Pacific End User & Mobility Research, IDC Asia/Pacific, said, “As organisations continue to embrace mobility across all facets of their operations, the security risk escalates considerably. In today's environment, mobile security is more than just device management. Organisations need an integrated capability that spans device, network, applications and data.”

BlackBerry 7 powers the new generation of BlackBerry smartphones and includes significant performance enhancements as well as many new features and functionality including Liquid Graphics™ technology, fast BlackBerry browsing and NFC technology. BlackBerry 7 continues to set the standard for information protection, with support for ECC (Elliptical Curve Cryptography), AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) and the ability to protect enterprise data transmitted between a BlackBerry smartphone and internal systems.

To find out more about BlackBerry security certifications, please visit www.blackberry.com/go/security.

For more information about the BlackBerry 7 Operating System, please visit http://au.blackberry.com/services/blackberry7/

About Research In Motion
Research In Motion (RIM), a global leader in wireless innovation, revolutionised the mobile industry with the introduction of the BlackBerry solution in 1999. Today, BlackBerry products and services are used by millions of customers around the world to stay connected to the people and content that matter most throughout their day. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, RIM operates offices in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. RIM is listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market (NASDAQ: RIMM) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RIM). For more information, visit www.rim.com or www.blackberry.com.

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Media Contacts:
Antoinette Trovato - Research In Motion
+ 61 (0) 437 763 316
atrovato@rim.com

Jessica Tubnor - Spectrum Communications (PR agency for RIM)
+61 (0) 2 9954 3299
blackberry@spectrumcomms.com.au