France has two national police forces, the National Police (Police Nationale), and the National Gendarmerie. Both organisations put out a tender to supply their forces with smartphones and tablets, to make them more effective in the field. The great news is that Sony Mobile won the hardware tender, with Orange providing SIM cards, in a combined deal that is worth €56 million over the next four years.
As part of the deal, Sony Mobile will be supplying the French force with 67,000 Xperia X smartphones and 18,300 Xperia Z4 Tablets. The devices will be running a stock version of Android, with the National Agency for the Security of Information Systems (ANSSI) adding their own security protocols on top.
Some of the key criteria assess during the tender included the robustness of the devices, picture quality and battery life. The police teams will be using these devices for various tasks, including using the cameras on the smartphones to instantaneously identify the validity of driving licences, as well as accessing documents stored in a secure private cloud. It will also officers to flesh out traffic accident reports, enabling them to add notes and incorporate photographs.
It is great to see Sony Mobile picking up an enterprise contract of this size, it is something the company has been trying to focus on more of in recent years. Let’s hope we’ll be reporting on more big wins in the future.
Via Sud Ouest.
Thanks Moisés!
