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Symantec MDM Review: Familiarity A Selling Point
Symantec's MDM system builds on its PC Management Console interface, adding device support for Android, iOS and Windows Mobile devices. Because many companies use Symantec's security products, we wanted to test if IT benefits from using its existing enterprise security vendor instead of an MDM pure play.
The big selling point for the Symantec product is that familiar management console, but at first we found it to be unintuitive, difficult to navigate and generally horrible. But when we asked an administrator steeped in Symantec to take a look, he knew exactly where items were and was navigating the system in seconds.
Symantec's MDM requires an app to be installed on each device. Unlike other MDM systems, its agent provides only policy enforcement. Capabilities such as email, calendar and contacts are handled by NitroDesk's TouchDown for Android and iOS apps.
Enrolling devices wasn't very automated, so the product's not ideal for BYOD. Its asset inventory is solid, reporting is basic and features are similar to those of other MDM products. Symantec boasts about integration with its Data Leak Protection suite, but since DLP forces all traffic across the VPN, we don't think it's practical for mobile, especially using 3G.
Symantec's MDM product doesn't have a lot of unique features, but existing Symantec customers that don't require the most advanced MDM features should consider it.
For a longer review, see our MDM Report
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Michael A. Davis is president of External IT, a national managed IT services, cloud services, and IT security provider that focuses on unifying the business IT experience.
