Symantec Updates Enterprise Mobility Products, Services

Symantec Tuesday announced improvements and additions to its enterprise mobility management (EMM) and security products and services. The company has been building out a strategy in this area over the last year. The news includes new security-related opportunities for app vendors.

Symantec says its enterprise mobility strategy is built on five "pillars of management." Each is a way to manage devices, apps, or data:

• User and app access, through authentication and authorization.
• App and data protection, or mobile app management (MAM).
• Conventional mobile device management (MDM).
• Protection from malware, generally managed through reputation on mobile.
• Secure file sharing, to get data to and from users securely, generally PKI.

Brian Duckering, senior manager of Symantec's enterprise mobility group, said the company is refreshing products and services in the first three categories. The announcements include the renaming of Nukona App Center to Symantec App Center. Nukona is the company Symantec bought to acquire the technology. The App Center Ready Program allows application developers to wrap their binary apps in a shell that allows Symantec App Center to manage the capabilities of the app. The management features include enforcing encryption, authentication, data loss prevention policies, as well as providing for app distribution and revocation.

The company also announced that it will work with key mobile app vendors to offer pre-wrapped versions of their software for enterprises that use the Symantec App Center. Both iOS and Android are supported. Symantec will publicize these apps in its App Center Ready catalogue. Initial products will include Branchfire iAnnotate, Damaka Xavy, Emtrace Moxier, Good.iWare GoodReader, Ikonic Apps, Infraware Polaris Office, and Picsel SmartOffice.

Symantec also announced the availability of the Symantec Mobile Management Suite, a unified product that combines MDM, MAM, and other mobile security strategies. The company claims that the single solution, available with per-user licensing either on a subscription or perpetual, will result in lower TCO. It supports iOS 6, Android 4.1, and Windows Phone 7.5, and features integrations with Symantec Endpoint Management and Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager.

Symantec also is enhancing the controls in the bundled products to include application blacklisting, email access control, and compliance management. Also included is a new managed PKI app for Android that fills in gaps in the company's Android support.

Finally, the company is starting a program that will allow mobility channel partners to offer Symantec enterprise mobility products to their customers. This program will be available by the end of 2012. The other new programs and products are available immediately.