Anyone personally implemented a mobile device management solution yet for their enterprise?

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billgates

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Topic # 85759 24-Jun-2011 14:23

Hi folks, Wanting some information as to if any one here at geekzone has deployed a mobile device management/application solution for their or another company?

We have few now and in future are looking at getting a boat load of mobile devices like Windows phones, iPads, iPhones etc. Currently we are running on a in house Blackberry infrastructure (BES) with loads of BB's on the field. We are trialling Windows Phone and iPads in IT at the moment but before we can start handing them out, we need to lock them down with various security policies and have the control to lock down the marketplace/app stores and allow/block applications.

Active sync does gives us access to certain policies that we can enforce but we would like to have more features like GPS tracking and solution which provides a web portal for the helpdesk to log in to as well.

Have found solutions like NotifyMDM, Sybase Afaria and McAfee EMM. Just wondering what else is out there and what others are using and what are the costs/client that you folks are paying?

Do whatever you want to do man.

Regs

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Reply # 485634 24-Jun-2011 23:08

what about microsoft system center configuration manager 2012?

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/ff657840.aspx

"Empower people to be productive from anywhere on whatever device they choose. This includes the wide range of devices that connect to Exchange ActiveSync, including Windows Phone, Symbian, iOS, and Android-based devices. Through the new application model, the best application experience can be delivered to the user based on their identity, their device, and their connection"

the old mobile device manager version used to have pretty granular controls over windows mobile 5.x and 6.x devices

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insane

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Reply # 485637 24-Jun-2011 23:20

I'm not sure if this is the right way to go about it but I know that Check Points new R75 firewalls have a fair number of features designed specifically to limit the use of certain applications based on user roles etc.

http://www.checkpoint.com/campaigns/r75/index.html

bkanaas

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Reply # 485671 25-Jun-2011 09:15

Depends on what devices you want to manage I guess.
Notifymdm seems to have the broadest support and is suited to manage Blackberries without a BES too (with a client on the device). As far as I have seen, they are the only to have that choice. For me that's a big plus. After all why would one pay for and a BES AND another MDM middle-ware to manage?
Afaria seems to have more market share, but they seem to be less easy to install and to use.
Mobileiron might also be a good choice if you want to or must hold on Blackberry by BES.
We looked also at Zenprise but that one is much to complicated in our case.
We didn't look at McAfee be maybe we should?
All solutions we have seen can use Touchdown for Android (and from what we've seen, that is the best option).
Still not decided but we have planned a test with Notify.

billgates

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Reply # 485794 25-Jun-2011 15:41

@Regs - did not realise that beta 2 is out with support for mobile devices. First BETA had no support for mobile devices. Will give this a try in the next week.

@insane - the products looks like it's designed for securing coroporate data on a mobile phone which is one of the functionalities we want but it looks like it does not go beyond that feature as we want things like GPS tracking, app blocking, blocking the app marketplace etc.

@bkanaas - We have had a look at NotifyMDM and McAfee EMM so far and by a mile EMM is much cheaper compared to MDM's offering but MDM's web interface is very nice :-) but we have not ruled out MDM yet.

We are not going to phase out BB's straight away as not every division in the company would need a touch device and not every one would like a touch device because some people still swear by physical keys. We will keep the BES server running on the side as we just bought the upgrade for it last year for a considerable sum. I see that MDM has support for BB's as well for extra $$$ but we'd rather not mix our existing and working happily BB infrastructure with another product.

I will have a look at mobile iron. Looks good as well.

Thanks for the replies. I am sure sooner or later, every admin would have to deploy such a solution since the future is heading towards mobile :-)

Do whatever you want to do man.

billgates

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Reply # 486394 27-Jun-2011 13:02

We have narrowed it down to 4 products now.

NotifyMDM
Airwatch
McAfee EMM
MobileIron

So far it's between NotifyMDM and Airwatch. Below is a very thoroughly written review on airwatch.

http://www.esecurityplanet.com/features/article.php/51671_3919161_1/Review-AirWatch-Enterprise-MDM-f...

Do whatever you want to do man.

bkanaas

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Reply # 486634 27-Jun-2011 22:41

unfortunately the writer only looked at iOS4 while we're facing a mixed environment (most berries, droid an iOS, but some Palm and Wdws as well). We pre-checked them too, but they were dropped for some issues in support for the berry. Just curious: why did you drop mcafee?

lyonrouge

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Reply # 493956 16-Jul-2011 11:14

Regs: what about microsoft system center configuration manager 2012?

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/ff657840.aspx

"Empower people to be productive from anywhere on whatever device they choose. This includes the wide range of devices that connect to Exchange ActiveSync, including Windows Phone, Symbian, iOS, and Android-based devices. Through the new application model, the best application experience can be delivered to the user based on their identity, their device, and their connection"

the old mobile device manager version used to have pretty granular controls over windows mobile 5.x and 6.x devices

I have System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R3 and System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008, are these products being brought together under a single product in 2012? I can run some Mobile Device Manager 2008 against Android, iOS, WP7, WP6.1 and Symbian ^3 if your interested (I don't have a Berry account to test this)?

billgates

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Reply # 495742 20-Jul-2011 13:58

bkanaas: unfortunately the writer only looked at iOS4 while we're facing a mixed environment (most berries, droid an iOS, but some Palm and Wdws as well). We pre-checked them too, but they were dropped for some issues in support for the berry. Just curious: why did you drop mcafee?

McAfee only offers perpetual licensing with their MDM product. As I write this, I am trialling Airwatch SaaS (cloud) offering. I am liking it.

Do whatever you want to do man.

wjw

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Reply # 495765 20-Jul-2011 15:02

We have MobileIron installed and it seems to be working well, its in the process of being rolled out.