Mobile device management tools are transforming into enterprise mobility management (EMM), which includes app and data security, among many other things. And while all the major offerings in this arena cover the basics when it comes to hardware management, there are differences when it comes to some of the extended features you may require.
Further reading: Mobile device management continues to broaden.
This checklist is a good first step for assessing which products you might want to focus in on. But experts caution that there can be big differences in how features are deployed and work in the real world, so be sure to do extensive testing prior to deployment.
Editor’s note: This chart was originally posted in May 2013 and was most recently updated on March 11, 2015. Since we posted the first version, Boxtone has been acquired by Good, and Fiberlink is now part of IBM. We chose the vendors and products included here based on conversations with independent analysts about which have significant market share or are important to include for other reasons including features and functions.
You can drag the chart below in order to see the hidden columns on the right side, or click the link at the bottom to show the hidden rows.
MDM features and functions
| AirWatch/VMware | Blackberry | Citrix | Good Technology | IBM | Microsoft | MobileIron | SAP | Soti | Symantec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deployment options | ||||||||||
| Product Name(s) | AirWatch Enterprise Mobility Management | BlackBerry Enterprise Service 12 | Citrix XenMobile | Good EMM Suites | IBM MobileFirst Protect | Microsoft Intune | MobileIron Platinum Bundle | SAP Mobile Secure, SAP Mobile Device Management, SAP Mobile Documents, SAP Mobile Place, SAP Mobile App Protection by Mocana | MobiControl | Symantec Mobility: Suite |
| On premises | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes, integrated solution: Microsoft Intune and System Center Configuration Manager | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Cloud/SaaS | Yes | Planned for 2015 | Yes | Yes | Yes & hybrid | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile platforms supported | ||||||||||
| Product name(s) | AirWatch Enterprise Mobility Management | BlackBerry Enterprise Service 12 | Citrix XenMobile | Good EMM Suites | IBM MobileFirst Protect | Microsoft Intune | MobileIron Platinum Bundle | SAP Mobile Secure, SAP Mobile Device Management, SAP Mobile Documents, SAP Mobile Place, SAP Mobile App Protection by Mocana | MobiControl | Symantec Mobility: Suite |
| iOS | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Extended Android APIs | Yes (Samsung KNOX and SAFE; LG Gate; Motorola; MotoMX; Kindle Fire; Nook HD HTC; Dell; Lenovo; Huawei; Panasonic) | Motorola, Samsung KNOX | Yes | Yes (KNOX) | Yes | Samsung KNOX | Yes | Yes (KNOX SAFE, LG) | Yes | Yes: KNOX |
| BlackBerry | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (MSM) | Yes | No | Yes (via ActiveSync) | No | No | |
| Windows Mobile | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Windows Phone 7 | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Windows Phone 8 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Other (name) | Mac OS X 10.7 and higher; Windows 32, 8, 8.1, RT and RT 8.1; Symbian S60 and ^3; QNX | Not answered | Samsung SAFE, Samsung KNOX, HTC | Windows 8 Pro | Kindle Fire, Apple TV, Mac OS, Windows XP, Vista, 7 | Yes; no further info provided | Not answered | Not answered | Not answered | None |
| Mobile device management | ||||||||||
| Product Name(s) | AirWatch Enterprise Mobility Management | BlackBerry Enterprise Service 12 | Citrix XenMobile | Good EMM Suites | IBM MobileFirst Protect | Microsoft Intune | MobileIron Platinum Bundle | SAP Mobile Device Management | MobiControl | Symantec Mobility: Suite |
| Password protection | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Password reset | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Remote device wipe | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Selective wipe | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Remote lock | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Set VPN, Wi-Fi, APN, proxy/gateway settings | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Disable Wi-Fi | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Disable carrier data connection | Yes (for Samsung SAFE, LG, Kindle); restricts data when roaming for iOS | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes (Roaming) | No | Yes | Yes, on supported OEM/model | Yes |
| Configuration monitoring/auditing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Automated provisioning/enrollment | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Disable camera | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Disable Bluetooth | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes; for Android 5.0 |
| Manage mobile-attached devices (e.g printers, scanners) | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No, but can block removable storage | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Support multiple users per device (auto-configure device settings based on the currently logged in user) | Yes | No | Yes | No (Planned) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Application management | ||||||||||
| Product name(s) | AirWatch Enterprise Mobility Management | BlackBerry Enterprise Service 12 | Citrix XenMobile | Good EMM Suites | IBM MobileFirst Protect | Microsoft Intune | MobileIron Platinum Bundle | SAP Mobile Place, SAP Mobile App Protection by Mocana | MobiControl | Symantec Mobility: Suite |
| User self-service app delivery | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Full-featured enterprise app store | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Containerization/sandboxing | Yes (via AirWatch Container; Samsung KNOX; Android Secure Launcher) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| App containerization using developer SDK/toolkit | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| App containerization using app wrapping | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Block copy/paste between apps | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes on supported OEM/model | Yes |
| Block copy/paste from email | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes, with SAP Mobile App Protection wrapped email clients | Yes, on supported platform | Yes |
| Restrict which apps can open a given file | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes, with iOS managed open-in features | Yes on supported OEM/platform | Yes |
| App inventory tracking | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not answered | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| App usage monitoring | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Apple volume purchase program integration (decrements volume purchase agreement quantity available as users download apps from store) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No (in development) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Remote desktop access (access to apps and data on desktop from smartphone or tablet) | Yes (support for various virtualization technologies, including VMware vSphere 4.1 and VMware Workspace) | No | Yes | Yes (via Splashtop) | Yes | Yes with Azure RemoteApp and Microsoft Remote Desktop App | Yes (via AppConnect partners) | No | Roadmap | Yes, through partners |
| Security | ||||||||||
| Product name(s) | AirWatch Enterprise Mobility Management | BlackBerry Enterprise Service 12 | Citrix XenMobile | Good EMM Suites | IBM MobileFirst Protect | Microsoft Intune and Azure Active Directory | MobileIron Platinum Bundle | SAP Mobile Secure, SAP Mobile App Protection by Mocana | MobiControl | Symantec Mobility: Suite |
| Secure Web browser | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Application blacklisting/whitelisting | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Data loss prevention (DLP) | Yes (via advanced device security features and AirWatch Content Locker) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Email attachment data loss prevention | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Device compromise detection (jailbreak/rooting) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Device-level encryption | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Encrypted folder | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (OneDrive for business capability) | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Encrypted email attachments | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (Azure RMS capability) | Yes | Yes, iOS data protection with a device PIN/passcode | Yes | Yes |
| Encrypted email message body | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (Azure RMS capability) | Yes | Yes, iOS data protection with a device PIN/passcode | Yes | Yes |
| Geofencing | Yes | Yes (via partner solutions) | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Time fencing | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Mobile VPN | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| App-level micro VPN | Yes | Yes (app level of iOS) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Multifactor device/app authentication (token-based, facial recognition, client access card support, etc.) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not needed; uses dedicated NOC-based connection and requires no open inbound ports | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes, on supported OEM/model | Yes |
| Malware detection | Yes (integration with F-Secure and others) | No | No | No | Yes & Remediation | Yes | Yes | Yes, through jailbreak/root detection | Yes | Yes |
| Includes firewall | Yes (virtual firewall using managed profiles; Samsung KNOX) | No | Yes (with NetScaler Web Application Firewall) | Uses dedicated NOC-based connection; requires no open inbound ports | Yes for PCs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Single sign-on support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes, on supported OEM/model | Yes |
| Document/content management | ||||||||||
| Product name(s) | AirWatch Enterprise Mobility Management | BlackBerry Enterprise Service 12 | Citrix XenMobile | Good EMM Suites | IBM MobileFirst Protect | Microsoft Intune and OneDrive For Business | MobileIron Platinum Bundle | SAP Mobile Documents | MobiControl | Symantec Mobility: Suite |
| Encrypted document container | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Secure email | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes, through SAP Mobile App Protection wrapped email client and/or Symantec Touchdown integration | Yes | Yes |
| File server access | Yes | Yes (BlackBerry) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes, using Work File Advanced |
| Secure SharePoint access | Yes | Yes (BlackBerry), others via partners | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes, using Work File Advanced |
| Integrates with enterprise document management software | Yes (over 35 supported content respositories) | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes, with any content management interoperability services-compliant system | Yes | Yes; using Work File Advanced, and through partners (KiteWorks, Polaris, WatchDox, and others) |
| Network management | ||||||||||
| Product name(s) | AirWatch Enterprise Mobility Management | BlackBerry Enterprise Service 12 | Citrix XenMobile | Good EMM Suites | IBM MobileFirst Protect | Microsoft Intune | MobileIron Platinum Bundle | SAP Mobile Secure, SAP Mobile Devlce Management | MobiControl | Symantec Mobility: Suite |
| Data usage management (restrict where, when and whether downloads occur over Wi-Fi or celluluar) | Yes | Yes (BlackBerry) | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Roaming cost control (such as auto disablement of data when roaming) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (we can disable roaming) | Yes | Yes | No |
| Device diagnostics | Yes | Yes (BlackBerry) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Usage monitoring | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Block device from accessing email if policies violated | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Service management | ||||||||||
| Product name(s) | AirWatch Enterprise Mobility Management | Citrix XenMobile | Good EMM Suites | IBM MobileFirst Protect | Microsoft Intune | MobileIron Platinum Bundle | SAP Mobile Secure | MobiControl | Symantec Mobility: Suite | |
| Help desk support management | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No; available as part of Symantec Support Desk |
| Service monitoring | Yes | Yes (via partner solutions) | With integration with third-party tools | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Remote control of device | Yes (Windows Mobile and Samsung SAFE devices) | No | Yes (Samsung APIs allow this today) | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| User self-service portal | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Integration with PC management tools | ||||||||||
| Product name(s) | AirWatch Enterprise Mobility Management | BlackBerry Enterprise Service 12 | Citrix XenMobile | Good EMM Suites | IBM MobileFirst Protect | Microsoft Intune | MobileIron Platinum Bundle | SAP Mobile Secure, SAP Mobile Devlce Management | MobiControl | Symantec Mobility: Suite |
| Offers a separate or integrated PC management tool | Yes (manage all devices from a unified console) | No | Yes | Yes (Windows 8 Pro-only) | Yes | Yes, seamless integration with System Center Configuration Manager | No | Yes | Yes | Yes; Symantec IT Management Suite |
| Integrates with a third-party tool (name) | Yes (Microsoft SCCM, SCOM and Windows Event Viewer) | No | No | Microsoft SCCM (MSM-only) | Yes | No | Yes (SCCM) | No | Yes | No |
| Offers integrated management console for PC and mobile management | Yes (manage all devices from a unified console) | No | Yes (applicable for Win 8.1 Pro and potentially some Android devices; rest are all dedicated mobile platforms) | Yes (Windows 8 Pro only) | Yes | Yes, seamless integration with System Center Configuration Manager | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Offers integrated app store for both desktop and mobile app deployment | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Reporting | ||||||||||
| Product name(s) | AirWatch Enterprise Mobility Management | BlackBerry Enterprise Service 12 | Citrix XenMobile | Good EMM Suites | IBM MobileFirst Protect | Microsoft Intune | MobileIron Platinum Bundle | SAP Mobile Secure, SAP Mobile Device Management, SAP Mobile Place, SAP Mobile App Protection by Mocana, SAP Mobile Documents | MobiControl | Symantec Mobility: Suite |
| Alerts | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Automated responses to alerts | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Automated, scheduled report delivery | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Real-time dashboards | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Device-level analytics | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| App-level analytics | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Sources: MDM vendors
