BlackBerry earlier today officially launched their latest Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution for enterprise customers here in Malaysia. Called the BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, it is a new module that easily integrates itself into the company’s industry-leading BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES). What’s interesting to note is that Mobile Fusion extends BES’ IT management and security features onto not only BlackBerry devices (current BlackBerry smartphones, Playbook, as well as future BB10 devices), but also those running on Android and iOS.
This is in keeping with the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend where employees are increasingly using their own smart devices for work purposes. Obviously, this trend results in a greater security risk for companies, as classified company resources are not being dealt with securely enough.
“Organizations face pressure to allow employees to bring their own devices into the workplace, and they are looking to RIM as the global leader in the enterprise mobility space to solve that problem,” said Annamalai Muthu, Director for Malaysia at Research In Motion.
“BlackBerry Mobile Fusion allows organizations to manage a mixed environment of devices in the most secure, simple, and cost efficient manner possible. It also means that businesses and government do not have to move to the lowest common denominator on security for all the devices they need to manage.”
BlackBerry Mobile Fusion bridges this security gap, and allows administrators to manage the devices, users, groups and policies from a single location with its clean and intuitive user interface. Centralised management of devices from multiple OSes also provide a consistent admin user experience. Also, there are trained Local System Integrators ready to install and support customers.
Impressively, this new module also includes a technology called BlackBerry Balance, which allows BlackBerry devices to be used for both work and personal use. Sensitive work data is handled in an encrypted file system that creates a barrier between work and personal data, ensuring unrestricted personal use that does not affect corporate security. For example, when BlackBerry Balance is activated in a BlackBerry device, it imposes restrictions on copying and pasting between the secure work channel and personal applications. In addition, administrators can also handle over-the-air installation, upgrading and auditing of applications for BlackBerry devices.
Unfortunately, due to certain restrictions in the API for both Android and iOS, device security, manageability and controls for devices running these OSes will vary according to the inherent capabilities of both OSes.
Currently, BlackBerry Mobile Fusion is available as a free download and is priced per managed device on a perpetual or subscription basis. RIM is also offering a 60-day free trial for the module, available here.
For more information about BlackBerry Mobile Fusion, head on to the following link.
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