Johannesburg, 04 Dec 2013
Blue Turtle, the FrontRange Master Value Added Reseller for Africa, adds comprehensive enterprise mobility management (EMM) solution to its arsenal. FrontRange, a leading provider of IT service management and client system management solutions, announced the availability of a new EMM offering. By integrating EMM tightly with its existing service and client management capabilities, HEAT becomes the industry's most comprehensive platform for managing and controlling physical, virtual and mobile devices throughout their life cycles, from a single, unified console.
The growing importance of EMM has become widely publicised in the industry. At its recently concluded Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2013, market research firm Gartner cites "mobile device diversity and management" as the top strategic technology trend for 2014 [1]. And according to Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), 87% of all business professionals will employ a PC and at least one mobile device [2]. Further, Forrester reported that 905 million tablets will be in use by 2017 [3].
"The 'BYOD' [bring your own device] revolution is an irreversible market dynamic that CIOs and IT administrators are forced to deal with, since any time, anywhere computing is the new norm," said Udo Waibel, chief technology officer at FrontRange. "The big question for enterprises moving forward is 'how do you balance the personal freedoms of this next-generation mobile workforce with the compliance, data security and management control requirements of IT?' The answer lies in the intelligent deployment and enforcement of EMM policies that can be delivered easily, cost-effectively and, ideally, from a single, centralised solution, either in the cloud or on premise."
As a hybrid EMM solution, HEAT Client Management can support customers as a tenant in a FrontRange-hosted cloud environment or on premise with an easy-to-configure, pre-installed virtual appliance.
"Customers using standalone mobility management solutions that are disconnected from client management and service desk operations tell us this model is overly complicated, inefficient and expensive," said Arjen Wiersma, HEAT Client Management with Blue Turtle. "We're seeing pent up customer demand for an integrated enterprise mobility and client management solution that enables IT to administer physical, virtual and mobile devices from a centralised command and control centre. Our customers are asking us to help them with their BYOD strategies. HEAT Client Management with integrated EMM functionality shows great promise in meeting this demand and helps them to achieve fully automated enterprise mobility management."
Steve Brasen, Managing Research Director for Systems Management at Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), asserts that "the foundation for ensuring the effective long-term reliable and secure delivery of business IT services (regardless of how the endpoint changes) is laid with the adoption of automated management platforms, like the FrontRange HEAT Client Management solution, which consolidates EMM processes that enable true workforce mobility".
With its newly integrated EMM features, HEAT Client Management now offers the following additional capabilities:
* Complete visibility of mobile assets: Mobile ecosystems are supported by automatic device and application discovery that collects real-time mobile hardware and asset data, usage and device tracking.
* Device life cycle management: Complete device life cycle management is provided from a single, Web-based administration console.
* Single point of control: Smartphone management is centralised and automated to improve IT efficiency and savings.
* Secured mobile ecosystem: Corporate policies are seamlessly enforced and potential threats are automatically detected to protect organisations through remote wipe and auto-lock features and application restrictions.
* Instant workforce support: Instant remote device troubleshooting improves service desk staff efficiency and increases business productivity through reduced downtime.
* Seamless data migration: Migrate between diverse smartphones without suffering data loss, security threats or disruption to end-user devices.
* Multiple OS support: All major mobile operating systems, including BlackBerry BES and BIS users, are supported.
* Self-service: Enterprise end-users have complete access to self-help functionality to free up valuable service desk resources.
Some of the substantive advantages of the FrontRange's offering are:
* Asset management: All mobile assets are detected and stored in an information library that tracks hardware, software, SIM cards, users and processing information. This provides a real-time view into an organisation's entire mobile ecosystem to help with future policy and resource planning.
* Configuration management: The correct configuration of all mobile devices deployed within an organisation is automatically tracked and maintained at all times and is done transparently to end-users. Data tracking of version and model number, baseline performance and relationship to other assets are just some of the configuration capabilities offered.
* Application management: All applications employed by end-users for business purposes can be accessed from a centralised and secure AppStore. Authentication ensures users are authorised to initiate access and/or download the enterprise applications. Automatic discovery of and reporting on an organisation's mobile device inventory provides a real-time view of the health and usage of all applications. In addition, HEAT Client Management synchronises data stored on mobile devices over the air to provide backup and common access to shared resources while enabling remote administration. Additionally, applications that violate enterprise policies may be disallowed on user devices through blacklisting, or devices may be restricted to only install specific authorised applications via whitelisting.
* Security management: Corporate security policies that allow differing access rules for specified groups and shared data, including predefined user profiles, are fully supported. In the event of lost or stolen mobile devices, all applications and sensitive data can be removed over the air to prevent security breaches. In addition, IT administrators can selectively wipe sensitive corporate data from an end-user mobile device. Plus, if an unauthorised SIM card is detected, the offending device can be locked and wiped.
* Remote support: IT administrators can now troubleshoot mobile devices over the air and take remote control of them through a data connection (such as GPRS/EDGE/3G, WiFi) to view the device screen and use the device keyboard. This over-the-air end-user support provides rapid diagnostics and problem resolution to reduce IT costs, accelerate the adoption of new services and decrease device downtime to improve workforce efficiency.
For a consultation and additional information, please contact Blue Turtle at info@blueturtle.co.za or (011) 206 5600.
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