Samsung eyes corporate security solution clients

Samsung Electronics and Google announced that Samsung’s KNOX technology, a set of mobile enterprise security solutions, will be integrated into the next version of the Android at Google’s developer conference, held in San Francisco on Friday.

‘‘With the move, KNOX, which has been used only with the Samsung Galaxy series, will be applied to other Android-based smartphones developed by LG Electronics, HTC and Lenovo down the road,’’ a company official said.

Industry watchers said the tech giant was using KNOX to tap into more opportunities in the business-to-business market amid the sluggish growth in smartphone sales.

“Jointly (with Samsung Electronics) we are bringing enterprise-grade security and management capabilities to all manufacturers participating in the Android ecosystem,” said Hiroshi Lockheimer, vice-president of engineering for Google’s Android unit.

Samsung Electronics has traditionally had the upper hand in the consumer market. However, with the saturation of the high-end smartphone market, the tech giant is eyeing new markets including wearables and the business-to-business market to seek new revenue sources, industry watchers said.

“Samsung Electronics is eyeing growth potential in the B2B market, though it may not be as big as the consumer market,” said Lee Young-so, a researcher at ICD Korea.

Asked whether Samsung can make a profit from sales of KNOX solutions, however, the company’s spokesperson declined to comment, saying, “We are not able to disclose the contract in detail.”

Samsung KNOX is currently the only Android provider of defense-grade and government-certified mobile security in compliance with key U.S. Government and Department of Defense initiatives and other standards for mobile device security. Early this month, five Galaxy smartphones that come with KNOX received approval by the U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency.

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)