BYOD – the Bring Your Own Device movement that is taking hold across much of business operations - has one significant drawback: it can be difficult to implement and manage if only because the increased flexibility it provides is usually managed by greatly increased complexity in creating and managing the appropriate infrastructure to accommodate a range of different mobile devices and an increasing portfolio of applications and use cases.
To help businesses with this problem, US specialist in cloud-delivered mobility management solutions, Aerohive Networks, has introduced the Mobility Suite, which is aimed at simplifying the complexity caused by the influx of mobile devices. The Suite includes three main components: the Client Management application, the ID Manager application, and integration with mobile device management software partners AirWatch and JAMF Software.
“Today, enterprises have a tricky balancing act to achieve as the world increasingly goes mobile--they must ensure the security and integrity of their corporate resources and data, while still allowing guests and employees the flexibility they demand for using their various devices, whether corporate-issued or part of the BYOD trend”
The new Suite extends management and control over a spectrum of clients, from transient guests to company-issued devices. Administrators can allow users to access the self-service portal and easily onboard new devices, providing the appropriate balance of privacy and control across the complete spectrum of use cases - from those that simply require basic internet access, to devices that must have tightly controlled applications and content.
It also helps companies simplify the mobile device management life cycle. The cloud-enabled solution simplifies and automates onboarding, configuration, monitoring, and troubleshooting of connected devices as well as personalising the mobile experience for end users based on available user, application, device and network context.
The Mobility Suite, combined with Aerohive’s Cooperative Control access points, routers, and switches, creates a unified, mobile-centric, access layer with consistent management across mobile clients and wireless or wired networks. This comprehensive solution enables lean IT departments to centrally manage and enforce policy on thousands of devices in hundreds of distributed offices.
For enterprises that want simplified guest access enforced by the network, the Mobility Suite includes Aerohive’s ID Manager application, which provides self-service portals and kiosk-based guest registration as well as simplified delivery of access credentials via SMS, email, and even Twitter Direct Messaging. It can also be used for simplified management of BYOD with the use of the Employee Sponsorship functionality.
Client Management services are provided for control of corporate-issued BYOD in addition to network-level enforcement, The Client Management application allows administrators to onboard and provision corporate-issued and personal devices with unique client credentials, ensuring the security of corporate resources.
The Suite also includes partnerships with leading mobile device management vendors such as AirWatchand JAMF Software, to ease the burden on IT administrators dealing with the complex task of enrolling devices.
Enhancements to the Aerohive-AirWatch integration allow Aerohive devices to query AirWatch management for enrollment and compliance status. When a connected device is determined to be out of compliance, the Aerohive devices can quarantine the client device on the network as well as send a message to the user to remediate the device before they will be granted full access to the network again.
