Samsung's Galaxy S3 has joined the ranks of smartphones and tablets marked as Safe for work with an enterprise stamp of approval.

The Samsung approved for enterprise (Safe) initiative is an answer to the many business owners who are being asked by employees if they can use their own devices – aka BYOD, or Bring Your Own Device - instead of the normal corporate standard issue of a BlackBerry device.

Safe hardware and software

The Safe tests address both hardware and software security and focuses on on-Device Encryption and Mobile Device Management (MDM).

Safe devices are also equipped with enhanced features that maximize efficiency and productivity through Virtual Private Network (VPN) connectivity and enhanced Corporate Email/Calendar/Contact features.

The basic hardware Safe specification looks at support for AES-256 bit encryption, VPN and Mobile Device Management functionality, along with the ability to enable/disable Bluetooth, the camera and Wi-Fi.

On the software side Safe devices will have enhanced support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, and virtualisation technology.

A multi-business initiative

To make sure that the Safe stamp has credibility with businesses Samsung have developed the "quality assurance program" in conjunction with third-party software and service providers, including AirWatch, Juniper Networks, Cisco, F5, MobileIron, SOTI MobiControl and Sybase Afaria.

The Galaxy S3 joins the first devices to be labelled Safe, the Galaxy Note and the Galaxy Tab in October of 2011.