Mr. Grant Courville reports

BLACKBERRY LAUNCHES QNX EVERYWHERE TO ADDRESS GLOBAL EMBEDDED SOFTWARE DEVELOPER SKILLS SHORTAGE

BlackBerry Ltd. has launched QNX Everywhere, a new initiative to address growing global demand for highly skilled embedded system developers. As markets including automotive, industrial, robotics and medical pursue a software-defined future, software engineers familiar with the most popular platforms and technologies are in high demand. With QNX Everywhere, BlackBerry is offering easy access for students, academic and research organizations and hobbyists to develop knowledge of QNX technologies that are trusted by the leading eight medical device manufacturers and more than 45 of the leading vehicle manufacturers worldwide.

"Embedded devices are becoming increasingly software defined, complex and pervasive at a speed that is outpacing the talent market's ability to upskill on practical knowledge," said Grant Courville, vice-president, products and strategy, BlackBerry QNX. "The QNX Everywhere initiative offers frictionless access to QNX software for students, hobbyists, and academic and advanced research organizations. By making QNX accessible to these enthusiasts and groups, we hope to increase availability of valuable skills across the global developer ecosystem."

QNX Everywhere will introduce elements including self-service access to QNX software, on-demand training, QNX-optimized open-source projects and easy access to cloud-enabled development tools. Additionally, QNX will be providing support for broadly available, low-cost CPU (central processing unit) boards to help enable developers to easily design and test their software on embedded hardware.

The initiative will commence in early 2024, with further details to be available on the BlackBerry website in coming weeks.

About BlackBerry Ltd.

BlackBerry provides intelligent security software and services to enterprises and governments around the world. The company secures more than 500 million end points, including over 235 million vehicles. Based in Waterloo, Ont., the company leverages AI (artificial intelligence) and machine learning to deliver innovative solutions in the areas of cybersecurity, safety and data privacy solutions and is a leader in the areas of end point management, end point security, encryption and embedded systems. BlackBerry's vision is clear -- to secure a connected future you can trust.