Has Anyone used an MDM solution?

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Mohanz

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Wannabe Geek

#98913 8-Mar-2012 15:45

Hi All,

Currently Im working with customers and finding a lot of people are keen to address the BYOD (bring your own device) trend influencing the workplace; one of the MDM vendors i am starting to work with is Mobile Iron; having never actually seen it in action, i am interested to know if anyone here has installed this or if there are any end users who have policies on their phones from this product? can anyone let me know their thoughts?
I know its a new area emerging in the market, so keen to know of other MDM solutions that some people have been dealing with as well

I have read up alot about Mobile Iron and it looks really good, however another vendor (zenprise) which is the market leader is also working with us, but their solution is cloud based. One argument i am hearing in favor of Zenprise over Mobile iron is that the solution is not installed in the DMZ, so its more secure, whereas Mobile Iron sits in the DMZ - however as im not a huge technical guy i am unsure of if this is really a big security issue?

Anyway any feedback on MDM products etc would be greatly appreciated as I think its a facinating field.

Cheers

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Geek @ Coastguard NZ
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#592426 8-Mar-2012 15:53

I'll be keen to see responses to this also, as we have just pushed out a bunch of iDevices and keeping an eye on them is... well, a nightmare :)

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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Kiwipixter

246 posts

Master Geek

#592461 8-Mar-2012 16:42

My recommendation when it comes to MDM is understanding your requirements thoroughly first, not just creating a laundry list but put a weighing of importance against each requirement. Don't leave out things like ease of use, ease of rollout etc...

Then, be prepared to be disappointed because there is a chance not a single MDM solution will meet all your immediate and future requirements. This is where your weighing of importance will help.

Lastly, trial the solution extensively with your users. Things like battery drain when using MDM, across different devices, is not know until its installed with your MDM policies implemented.

CHeers

xpd

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#592466 8-Mar-2012 16:56

Ive just signed up for a trial with Airwatch, will keep this thread updated with how it goes...

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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Mohanz

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#592662 9-Mar-2012 09:34

Kiwipixter: My recommendation when it comes to MDM is understanding your requirements thoroughly first, not just creating a laundry list but put a weighing of importance against each requirement. Don't leave out things like ease of use, ease of rollout etc...

Then, be prepared to be disappointed because there is a chance not a single MDM solution will meet all your immediate and future requirements. This is where your weighing of importance will help.

Lastly, trial the solution extensively with your users. Things like battery drain when using MDM, across different devices, is not know until its installed with your MDM policies implemented.

CHeers

Yeah i completely agree, im working with customers and a lot of them just hear MDM and want to grab on to anything that seems to work, but i often point out you've got to consider the agreement you have with employees if they do bring their own device to work; ie if it breaks who pays for it? (it may be a personal device, but its used for work). Are they OK knowing that the IT admin has the ability to track that device if the need to? there will be certain apps and other restrictions which may pose a problem to employees when outside of work..

Its all very interesting, and i guess thats why im keen to learn more. From a purely software perspective, i have done a POC with Zenprise, and it was really powerful, great granular control, easy to use, good reporting capability etc, plus there was no App you had to work through which sandboxed a device so you still got the native useablity of the Apple/Android OS's; but as some customers arent too keen on a SaaS platform, im looking for the best alternative to provide an MDM solution that can be installed into the environement.

Keen to learn more about airwatch, havent heard much about them

billgates

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#592664 9-Mar-2012 09:38

We use Airwatch at work. I manage it. Feel free to ask any questions. Works great for us. We do not have their solution installed on any of our servers. We use their servers (cloud) to manage devices.

Do whatever you want to do man.

Mohanz

8 posts

Wannabe Geek

#592757 9-Mar-2012 12:59

billgates: We use Airwatch at work. I manage it. Feel free to ask any questions. Works great for us. We do not have their solution installed on any of our servers. We use their servers (cloud) to manage devices.

Cool thanks!
How is Airwatch managed on the end user front, ie is there an app that is used to seperate corporate data, or are they just policies/profiles that are pushed onto the device once registered?
Also interested to know what kind of integration it has with Android devices? can it block apps etc? or is it only email access which is secured?

myopinion

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Ultimate Geek

#592759 9-Mar-2012 13:08

I'm just about to trial Airwatch as well.

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billgates

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#592778 9-Mar-2012 14:00

Mohanz:
billgates: We use Airwatch at work. I manage it. Feel free to ask any questions. Works great for us. We do not have their solution installed on any of our servers. We use their servers (cloud) to manage devices.

Cool thanks!
How is Airwatch managed on the end user front, ie is there an app that is used to seperate corporate data, or are they just policies/profiles that are pushed onto the device once registered?
Also interested to know what kind of integration it has with Android devices? can it block apps etc? or is it only email access which is secured?

They have apps for almost all major platforms now. We have mix of Blackberry, iOS and Windows Phone devices in our company. We have our own BES server for blackberry since this is what we supply to end users. We only use Airwatch for iOS and Windows Phone devices that users have purchased out of their own pocket. There is an app available for iPhone, iPad and Windows Phone in each platform's marketplace for free. They also have an app for Android devices but they are not allowed in our network so never had to use the android version.

There are 2 sides of Airwatch. Console and Deployment. Console is where you as an administrator manage devices, users and profiles. Deployment URL is needed to enter into the app which you download onto the device along with an activation code which you generate on the console server while create a new user.

I have created couple of profiles on the console server for every user that is enrolled onto the server which will automatically push the Exchange settings and will also mandate a passcode on the device. All the user needs to do is enter in their password and their mail will be setup. Their username is automatically pulled from the server and the device knows that because you would need to either enter the username/activation password yourself or you can tell the user to do it over the phone or email.

The deployment URL and activation code will always stay the same for your company. If you give that out to the user over the phone/email, it's not a security concern. You have full control over users, devices and profile from the console server which you can use to wipe devices clean, clear passcodes, locate them and more functions. You can also setup your personal app store on the devices with recommendations for users to download apps on to their devices.

You will also need to apply for an Enterprise account from apple which costs $400 odd/year. Without this Airwatch will not work with iOS devices. Apple will then let you create a signed security certificate which you will then need to upload to your console server in order to enroll iOS devices.

Airwatch will provide you with a trial and will provide you with full instructions if you ask them.

Do whatever you want to do man.

Mohanz

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Wannabe Geek

#592782 9-Mar-2012 14:12

Thanks! great to hear

xpd

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#592790 9-Mar-2012 14:55

Still waiting to hear back from them regarding my trial...

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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Kiwipixter

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Master Geek

#592796 9-Mar-2012 15:32

I submitted an Airwatch trial as well and was asked to sign a contract. #fail. So didn't go ahead with it.

xpd

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#592815 9-Mar-2012 16:01

A contract for a trial ?
Maybe its just to cover them if anything goes wrong during the trial and data is lost on the devices...

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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xpd

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#592829 9-Mar-2012 16:41

Airwatch just called me...let it goto voicemail... Im not about to start getting into it at 4.40pm on a Friday afternoon :)

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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Mohanz

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Wannabe Geek

#592830 9-Mar-2012 16:44

xpd: Airwatch just called me...let it goto voicemail... Im not about to start getting into it at 4.40pm on a Friday afternoon :)

haha good man

billgates

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#592870 9-Mar-2012 18:40

Have fun sorting out an developer enterprise account with Apple. You will need a DUNS number. I was very lucky. Was running around in the finance department hoping someone would know something about it. No one knew anything so thought well we don't have one. Printed out a form to create a new DUNS number for our company. It was complicated for us as it needed to be filled by this particular person in the finance department and then it had to be signed by every single company director which meant a lot of appointments and explanation with these directors explaining them that why we need you to sign it and why we think it's important that you give us time to meet us so that we can create an apple developer account.

I then binged DUNS number. Read up on it. Found in wiki that there is a company that stores company's DUNS number in their database. Went to it, found our company name and DUNS number. Filled out the apple enterprise form and few days later got a call from apple rep asking questions etc and finally got the account!

Here is the website where you can search for your company DUNS number providing they created one at some stage.

http://www.dnb.com/

Do whatever you want to do man.

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