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The beginning of the end of BYOD as we know it
F5 Networks's recently released Mobile App Manager is a sign of things to come for the MDM market.
By Zeus Kerravala on Wed, 02/20/13 - 9:37am.Earlier this week, the market leader in application delivery controllers (ADCs), F5 Networks, added to its security portfolio by announcing its own BYOD solution, known as Mobile Application Manager. Mobile App Manager is designed to remove many of the challenges associated with BYOD by taking the burden off the device and pushing the functions into the network.
The industry is still in the early days of BYOD and many companies have looked to mobile device management (MDM) solutions to help enterprises handle the influx of consumer devices. In my opinion, and I’ve said this for a while, traditional MDM solutions are a great stop gap technology to help deliver BYOD quickly, but these solutions are device-centric and that limits their scalability.
RELATED: F5 jumpts into BYOD with new app manager
BYOD could drive more MDM-focused mergers and acquisitions
Devices are coming into the enterprise at a faster and faster pace. Trying to manage BYOD from the device and through the user is an old-school IT concept. Mobile computing is a network-centric compute model, meaning the network needs to play a bigger part in giving IT the control and security it had when IT owned the devices. One example of the limitations of current MDM solutions is the way it handles onboard data. If a device is lost or stolen, most current MDM solutions wipe the device clean of all data instead of having the ability to leave personal content and wiping out only business content.
Mobile App Manager is a SaaS offering that works with F5’s Big IP Access Policy Manager (APM) to securely connect corporate applications to the user’s device. The solution manages only the enterprise content and applications on the device instead of trying to manage the device. Using a function called App Wrapper inside App Manager, IT departments can secure both off-the-shelf applications and custom applications before they’re made available to employees on their personal devices. The management interface enables IT to manage single devices or groups of devices and then push or pull back applications and data to the devices. If a remote wipe or lock is needed, only the secure workspace is impacted, instead of everything on the device.
This gives the worker the best of both worlds. Secure access to applications through a PIN-protected interface combined with leaving all personal photos, contacts and content alone. The employee’s personal information is protected from the company and the company’s information is protected against threats coming from the personal data.
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- About Network Intelligence
Zeus Kerravala is the founder and principal analyst with ZK Research. Kerravala provides a mix of tactical advice to help his clients in the current business climate and long term strategic advice. Kerravala provides research and advice to the following constituents: End user IT and network managers, vendors of IT hardware, software and services and the financial community looking to invest in the companies that he covers.
Kerravala does research through a mix of end user and channel interviews, surveys of IT buyers, investor interviews as well as briefings from the IT vendor community. This gives Kerravala a 360 degree view of the technologies he covers from buyers of technology, investors, resellers and manufacturers.
Kerravala uses the traditional on line and email distribution channel for the research but heavily augments opinion and insight through social media including LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Blogs. Kerravala is also heavily quoted in business press and the technology press and is a regular speaker at events such as Interop and Enterprise Connect.
Kerravala remains associated with Yankee Group through the company's affiliate program.
Prior to ZK Research, Zeus Kerravala spent 10 years as an analyst at Yankee Group. He joined Yankee Group in March of 2001 as a Director and left Yankee Group as a Senior Vice President and Distinguished Research Fellow, the firms most senior research analyst. Before Yankee Group, Kerravala had a number of technical roles including a senior technical position at Greenwich Technology Partners (GTP) where he worked with Johna Til Johnson, the founder of Nemertes Research. Prior to GTP, Kerravala had numerous internal IT positions including VP of IT and Deputy CIO of Ferris, Baker Watts and Senior Project Manager at Alex. Brown and Sons, Incorporated.
Kerravala holds a Bachelor of Science in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada.
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