AppSense MobileNow Released

AppSense just released the first version of their new enterprise mobility management product, MobileNow. Here's everything you need to know by Jack Madden.

AppSense just released the first version of their new enterprise mobility management product, MobileNow. You’ll remember that AppSense first started started getting into mobile when they announced DataNow (at the time known as Project Orca) on our podcast in March 2012. They then acquired app wrapping startup RapSphere in May, and MobileNow was taking shape by BriForum. I recently caught up with Ajay Arora, AppSense CTO for mobile and co-founder of RapSphere, to see what the final product looks like.

About the MDM/MAM part

MobileNow combines mobile app management and device management into a single web-based SaaS product. The present release is just for iOS, with Android support expected 45 to 60 days from now. MDM-wise, everything is exactly as you would expect, which is no surprise considering that all the vendors are working with the exact same iOS configuration profiles.

For app management, AppSense provides the client app for their file syncing product (DataNow), while other apps are incorporated via app wrapping. (App wrapping is the process of taking an app that’s already been compiled and adding all the hooks and management features to make it work with a MAM solution. To see it in action, watch this video we recorded at Citrix Synergy last year.) The available MAM features include not only all the typical authentication, encryption, app-level remote wipe, file sharing, and jailbreak testing policies, but also lots of options for app usage reporting and analysis.

MobileNow’s approach to email security is to intercept and encrypt attachments before they get to the device so that only corporate-managed apps can open them. This means that users get to stick with the built-in native email client, which is in turn protected by whatever device-level security policies are in place with MDM or Exchange ActiveSync. For situations where you also need to isolate contacts, calendars, and the messages themselves from other app, or if you don’t want any device-level policies in place, you can use a third-party sandboxed email app.

Source: http://www.brianmadden.com/blogs/jackmadden/archive/2013/02/07/appsense-just-released-mobilenow-their-enterprise-mobility-management-suite-here-s-everything-you-need-to-know.aspx