BlackBerry is setting up a business unit to house its “innovative technology assets” beyond smartphones and enterprise computing, under the guidance of a former Ericsson exec.

Called BlackBerry Technology Solutions (BTS), the unit will house technology assets such as QNX (embedded software), Project Ion (Internet of Things application platform), Certicom (cryptography), Paratek (RF antenna tuning) as well as BlackBerry’s “extensive patent portfolio”.

With much of the attention having been focused on BlackBerry’s smartphones and enterprise units, BTS will bring together a disparate set of activities that have not fitted under one of the two other umbrellas.

And while BTS will house BlackBerry’s activities in several hot areas – including embedded software and Internet of Things – it is not clear that this will be a fast-growth business.

The company has not previously broke-out the performances of the various BTS components. QNX, for example, sits in a ‘software’ revenue line that also includes the BES enterprise platform, whereas licensing has been lumped into an ‘other’ line alongside non-warranty repairs, accessories and financial hedging instruments.

Heading the unit will be Sandeep Chennakeshu, who will be president of the unit. According to BlackBerry, he has been “engaged in research, product development, IP creation/licensing and general management in the wireless, electronics and semiconductor industry for over 25 years”.

Previous positions include president of Ericsson Mobile Platforms and CTO of Sony Ericsson.

John Chen, executive chairman and CEO of BlackBerry, said: “QNX, Certicom and Paratek are strategic and technically innovative assets with significant potential to address the much wider global markets for secure, reliable communications and embedded applications. Project Ion creates an application platform that enables secure and collaborative machine-to-machine communication required by the growing number of end-to-end, Internet of Things applications.”

“Our broad global portfolio of 44,000 patents is of value to several industry segments. Combining all these assets into a single business unit led by Sandeep will create operational synergies and new revenue streams, furthering our turnaround strategy,” he concluded.