Blackberry has completed its $1.4bn (£1.1bn) acquisition of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity firm Cylance after previously announcing that it would be acquiring the company in November.

The Canadian enterprise software company will look to use its acquisition of Cylance to speed up the development of Blackberry Spark, the company’s secure communications for the Internet of Things (IoT).

“Today BlackBerry took a giant step forward toward our goal of being the worlds largest and most trusted AI-cybersecurity company,” said John Chen, executive chairman and CEO of BlackBerry. “Securing endpoints and the data that flows between them is absolutely critical in todays hyperconnected world. By adding Cylances technology to our arsenal of cybersecurity solutions we will help enterprises intelligently connect, protect and build secure endpoints that users can trust.”

Cylance will continue to operate as a separate business unit within Blackberry, retaining its current chief executive and founder, Stuart McClure, who has now become president of Blackberry Cylance.