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10 Questions about Bitzer Enterprise Application Mobility 2.2

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Bitzermobile — No Comments ↓

10 Qs about Bitzer Enterprise Application Mobility

  1. What is a Secure Enterprise Workspace?
    The term “Secure Enterprise Workspace” describes the benefits that companies can extract from enterprise mobility. The power of a Secure Enterprise Workspace lies in apps that allow workers to increase business velocity while in the field. Such a setup provides employees with actionable information, where and when it matters. A Secure Enterprise Workspace is about worker productivity, real-time information, and security. Yesterday’s mobility was all about accessing email on mobile devices; today, a Secure Enterprise Workspace allows users to access corporate resources that are inside the firewall, whether they be intranet sites, files, or applications. A Secure Enterprise Workspace is cross-platform and supports user choice, whether devices are corporate owned or BYOD.

  2. What is new in BEAM 2.2?
    BEAM 2.2 delivers many new container services on top of the remote access and authentication infrastructure introduced in 2.0 and 2.1. Added to the existing secure browser is a personal information management (PIM) app (email, calendar, and contacts), as well as a Mobile File Manager (MFM) that allows users to access files from network file shares like Windows File System and SharePoint, and save them locally (if company policy allows it). Most importantly, BEAM 2.2 gives customers the ability to provide enterprise security for native apps, creating a trusted app workspace that isolates enterprise access and data from personal data without compromising the user experience.

  3. What email systems does the Bitzer mail app support?
    The Bitzer mail app supports any email system that uses Exchange ActiveSync protocol to deliver mail. Popular mail servers that support ActiveSync are Microsoft Exchange, Novell Groupwise, Lotus Domino, and Zimbra.

  4. How is containerization different from wrapping?
    Bitzer’s containerization apps create a Secure Enterprise Workspace in which containerized apps share authentication, SSO, an AppTunnel, encryption keys, and file sharing. Containerized apps trust each other and act logically as part of the same container. Wrapped apps are individual entities that do not act together or share information. Wrapped apps are injected with specific policies, whereas containerized apps are injected with Bitzer’s policy engine, allowing customers to dynamically modify policies for different users possessing the same app distribution.

  5. How is containerization different from the SDK approach?
    With Bitzer’s containerization, the app developer (whether internal or third-party) does not have to change any lines of code to integrate the app. Instead, the customer uses Bitzer’s containerization tool, which automatically injects Bitzer’s libraries. The SDK approach requires the app developer to change its app and write to custom APIs. Once these customizations have been made, they need to be maintained going forward, which is not scalable for most ISVs.

  6. Is containerization available for iOS and Android?
    Yes. We are trying to keep both platforms feature equivalent for now, going forward we are leveraging the flexibility of Android to add capabilities that are not possible on iOS.

  7. How is Mobile File Management (MFM) different from document collaboration?
    With the Bitzer MFM app, users can move or copy files between network file stores and make files available locally for editing, as well as offline use. Document-collaboration solutions such as Box, Colligo, and Accellion sync files and are intended for sharing and collaboration. Bitzer supports document collaboration by containerizing native apps rather than trying to create yet another solution.

  8. Is there any other way to achieve this kind of secure mobility?
    Another approach to achieving secure mobility is to try and secure apps by securing the device. This is the approach used by MDM providers. The first problem is that mobile devices are fundamentally consumer-oriented; therefore, users can download any software they want without IT approval. Protection from rogue apps can only be achieved through blacklists, which are, by their nature, after the fact. The second problem with device-level security is that accessing resources behind the firewall requires a device-level VPN, which offers a nice, secure, encrypted tunnel for any rogue apps to travel directly to the corporate network.

    The other alternative, which most companies have agreed does not work, is to deliver desktop applications to mobile devices with VDI. This approach is unacceptable because these applications are not optimized for mobile devices. They’re not touch enabled, do not fit the screen size, and are far too complex for mobile devices. The fact that both Citrix and VMWare have announced app-container solutions is evidence that the VDI approach is dead.

  9. How does BEAM 2.2 compare to the newly announced Citrix Cloud Gateway and VMWare Horizon?
    Bitzer’s approach is similar to that of both Citrix and VMWare: our technology adds a layer of security to apps. However, both Citrix and VMWare are wrapping individual apps that act in isolation. Bitzer’s solution enables apps to become part of a Trusted Workspace, in which a group of corporate apps becomes logically part of a single secure container. All trusted apps share security features (authentication and SSO, AppTunnel, encryption keys, and policy enforcement) and can restrict data so that it is shared ONLY within the Trusted Workspace.

    The biggest difference between the solutions offered by Bitzer and VMWare is that the latter’s solution does not yet have a release date; currently, it is still vaporware.

  10. If we already have MDM, how can BEAM 2.2 work with it?
    Bitzer’s BEAM solution is highly compatible with MDM deployments; many of our customers have both solutions in place. MDM is about securing the device, while Bitzer’s BEAM is about securing data and apps. MDM is very helpful for provisioning wifi profiles, inventory tracking, and locking out certain device functions (e.g., the camera) if that is needed. If you need access behind the firewall and also need to secure corporate apps and data, a secure-container approach can do this while giving users unfettered usage of personal apps.