Below are the slides from his presentation:

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The Boston bombing shook us all up. It was a wakeup call for many reasons. Part of my wakeup call was that it is time to create a bullet proof system where shutting down a city, and in turn, immobilizing citizens does not have to mean that work must stop.

A few years ago an event like the Boston bombing and the city-wide lockdown that followed would have meant a major loss of productivity. Many information workers drive to work simply to access data and interact with co-workers, clients and customers. With video phone calls, unlimited data plans and enterprise mobility solutions, we have been able to address the concerns about data security and data control; and in turn, have created a workspace where employees no longer need to be in the office to work. It changes the paradigm!

Today, we have the technology in place for enabling employees to securely access corporate documents, intranet and apps from their mobile devices, no matter where they are. Devices are smarter, faster, smaller and improving each day. App developers are creating innovative apps for worker productivity at a feverish pace. New enterprise solutions are emerging to address security concerns of IT teams. Therefore, the ecosystem to prevent the workplace productivity disruption stemming from incidents such as the Boston lockdown, Hurricane Sandy, the bridge collapse in Minnesota, wildfires in Southern California or even labor strikes has been created. It’s there for all types or organizations to use if they choose to.

Not all employees or even employers have gotten used to this idea and people are still in the early stages of deploying the needed solutions. But a wakeup call like the Boston Marathon bombing and the citywide shutdown justifies why investments in the right mobile technologies and BYOD can pay off a handsome return and keep the ship moving forward, no matter what adversity faces us.

In parting, while we join Boston as it grieves its immense loss, we know Boston will stay strong!

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As I watch the college basketball tourney come to an end it makes me think about the different mobile device platforms vying for top spot in the enterprise. Much like the NCAA, the enterprise market is a 2nd tier title to the NBA, but still pretty darn exciting space. A couple of weeks ago I talked about Microsoft’s opportunity to become an enterprise player, and I still think they have a great chance. My premise was that as soon as enterprises incorporate Windows 8 desktops it would be a no-brainer for them to bring in Windows 8 tablets. The only question in my mind was when will companies move to Windows 8?

We hosted an Oil & Gas Summit in Houston recently and I asked a few of the big players there about their plan for moving to Windows 8. The overwhelming response I got was: “We’re skipping this one. We just finished migrating to Windows 7″. Many of the large organizations may skip moving to the first release of a new, significantly different OS and wait for the second one, or at least a major service pack. This means it will be a few more years till Microsoft tablets will have a distinct advantage in the enterprise. However, at that point, watch out.

I believe that Microsoft is spot-on about melding touch and desktop interfaces. It is a change and will take some getting comfortable with (have you tried using Metro on a laptop? It takes some getting used to) but it is the right thing to do and Microsoft will be better positioned for doing it.

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While scouring the web for upcoming SharePoint meetups / user group meetings, I landed on a question on one of the boards, “How can I access SharePoint on iPad?” The poster further elaborated that employees at his company are requesting access to SharePoint from mobile devices, which the company does not support officially.

SharePoint is one of the flagship technologies that enable companies to build portals, collaboration sites, content management sites and business workflows. Microsoft claims that, “two out of three enterprise workers have SharePoint” and brings close to $2 billion annually in revenues.

SharePoint provides access to Intranet from laptops and desktops. It is installed as on-premise software accessible to employees when they are inside the firewall or connected via a VPN. However, things are rapidly becoming mobile with the mass adoption of tablets. Schools, Air Force, airlines, hospitals are moving to tablets (iPads, Android and Windows) in large numbers. As a result, the mobile workforce is demanding uncontrolled access to internal destination sites including collaboration tools to access or upload content and complete business workflows irrespective of where they are and what device they use.

Bitzer Mobile makes the answer to the poster’s question ‘yes’, because our platform enables access to SharePoint sites from iPad without compromising security.

Bitzer’s BMAX gateway and secure container for iPad offer:

1. Sandboxed access to SharePoint. Bitzer’s secure container, which is a specialized iOS app, isolates data and traffic to the corporate environment.
2. Integrated Windows Authentication. The secure container along with BMAX Gateway server performs mutual authentication of the domain user using Kerberos protocol. This is the most secure way of extending the domain trust to iPad.
3. All SSO-enabled SharePoint destination sites are automatically personalized and singled-signed-on.
4. No VPN required. Bitzer’s uses its own gateway to enable authentication and access control.

Whenever, you come across a similar question do not take “No!” for an answer, if you continue to look, you’ll find solutions which provide secure remote access via iPad and other tablets to data, apps and beyond.

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Dropbox has become the metaphor for online storage. Every new, business-focused, cloud storage product tries to position itself as the “Dropbox for the enterprise.” Mobility is the true driver behind this market trend.

Mobile users want to access their content whenever, wherever, on whatever device. With over 50 million users, Dropbox is the leader in online, synchronized file storage across multiple computers and devices, in the consumer space.

Over the last few years, the volume of information that is shared and/or stored in the public cloud has increased due to the built-in operational efficiencies and financial incentives of cloud computing. However, businesses may be at a greater risk of exposing proprietary and confidential information by their employees through the use of public cloud storage platforms such as Dropbox.

Storing data in the public cloud is inexpensive and very efficient, but there are risks that need to be mitigated and addressed. A business could potentially lose its claims to protecting trade secrets and other proprietary information due to security issues that arise from storing data in storage technologies such as Dropbox.

Dropbox lacks the critical features and functionality required by enterprises. Dropbox uses Amazon’s Simple Storage Service (S3) for storage and therefore does not have direct control over the security of the files that are stored. This prompts the need for enterprise-class secure file sharing solutions for today’s mobile and cloud-based organizations. Enterprises require encryption measures that exceed what Dropbox currently provides.

Attempts to establish an enterprise-friendly Dropbox are not intended to replace Dropbox but marry the service’s simplicity and ease-of-use with common enterprise IT needs such as encryption, access controls, and better mobile management. Some of the biggest arguments for a true Dropbox enterprise alternative include the following:

1. Mobile Management
   Device security has been a major issue where mobile devices are concerned. Data stored on a mobile phone or laptop used to be out of reach from IT professionals in the event that the device was lost or stolen. Cloud connectivity and remote access, however, have introduced the ability to remotely wipe these devices from far. However, IT needs an easier way to manage the mobile extension of their cloud storage infrastructure beyond Dropbox’s ability to simply de-link an errant or a rogue machine.

   There are products in the market today that offer IT the ability to remotely wipe the container. This is very useful in bring-your-own-device (BYOD) scenarios where a phone or tablet may not be set up for a device-level wipe. There is an increasing market demand for products that offer secure, remotely controlled and managed cloud access to mobile devices.

2. Monitoring and Provisioning
   IT professionals want to know when, where, and by whom files are being accessed on their corporate networks. This has long been possible on internal infrastructure, but becomes more difficult when mobile consumer devices that are often outside the control of IT staff are thrown into the mix. Enterprise customers need the ability to provision users using Active Directory (AD) or Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) with client devices that can be treated as extensions of preexisting networking infrastructure. The goal is to allow administrators to get granular with file and user access controls.
3. Storage and Security
   Dropbox relies on Amazon’s Simple Storage Service (S3) for data storage, which spreads files across multiple data centers throughout the United States. While Dropbox encrypts these files, the encryption process occurs only after they have been uploaded. For enterprises this approach is not optimal and this prompts the need for an enterprise grade Dropbox with client-side encryption.

While there are many things Dropbox does well in the consumer space, enterprise and business needs will obviously differ. For instance enterprise storage and synchronization needs differ from consumer needs such as the following:

• Version Control
• Backup / Replication
• Intrusion detection
• Search / Query mechanisms
• Organization and delegation
• Data Expiry
• Standards Compliance

The market for mobile management and mobile security is growing at a rapid pace. Analyst Kathleen Reidy, of 451 Research suggests that we need a better name than “Dropbox for the Enterprise”- one that focuses more closely on the mobile aspect of cloud file access and security instead. (Source: http://451research.com)

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I was reading an ZDNet article about the adoption of Windows 8 and amazingly, the pickup is actually slower than Vista, one of Microsoft’s colossal failures. For sure Microsoft is heading in the right direction melding touch and desktop experience as this will be the future, but the question may be “when” are users ready for this fusion. I’m not here to debate about the merits or not of Windows 8, but closer to home, what is the impact on Windows 8 adoption on Microsoft’s mobile products?

Windows 8 usage can’t even keep up with Vista/s poor numbers. (Data from Net Applications)

Microsoft has an excellent chance to take over as the #3 mobile OS and possibly really replace Blackberry as the dominant device for enterprises. The reason Microsoft has this chance is that it owns the systems and desktop management space for companies and it would be logical to just extend this management to mobile devices. It is this dependence on Microsoft infrastructure that makes me think it will be a few more years before Microsoft’s mobile devices will take over the enterprise.

How long will it be before enterprises migrate to Windows 8? Will they skip Windows 8 like they did Vista and wait for the next OS? Once companies move to Windows 8 – based management systems and start to manage Windows 8 desktops then it will for sure make sense that they would add Window 8 tablets and phones to the mix too. It is certainly not this St. Patrick’s Day, but will it be 2014? 2015? Bitzer and Microsoft are hosting an Oil & Gas Summit in Houston next week and I’ll get to put my hands on a bunch of their devices. I’ll check back with you if that changes my opinion.

Microsoft has a great chance to have mobile be a big success in the enterprise, but their mobile success hinges on desktop success and corporations migrating their entire infrastructure. Many companies are just rolling out Windows 7 now so it may be a few more St Patty’s Days before Microsoft finds their mobile 4-leaf clover.

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Another year past and another RSA show in the books! This year’s RSA show was a good one, most of all I believe it was a good sign for our economy and also a good sign for the security market in general. The exhibit hall was full, both with exhibitors as well as attendees. I remember the lean years where they had to pull the curtains in to make it appear full. This year the South Hall was packed and it is my understanding that next year it will again expand back to two halls for the expo. This is a good sign for all in the market.

Of course some of the over-riding themes at the conference was the emergence of SOCOMO (Social, Cloud, Mobile) and it’s impact on security. With cloud and mobile, what we are finding is that the network perimeter is expanding and not a fixed firewall edge anymore. With social and consumerization the endpoint is being re-defined to a consumer device be that a mobile device or in the future the “Internet of Things” like a refrigerator or a clock. This expanding network perimeter and consumer endpoints presents new challenges for corporate security.

One item to follow that will be interesting for all is how authentication solutions will expand. The challenge being the tradeoff between security and usability. Which new authentication options will gain traction, will anything every take over the trusty old password? I have been involved in network security and strong authentication space for years and the trusty old password seems hard to replace. I saw lots of interesting options on the show floor at RSA, all which could be interesting alternatives. In my mind, unless Apple or Google (or next up and coming OS) support some new standard out of the box then passwords will still remain the king.

For me the RSA show has always been about partnerships and industry trends and it was good to begin to form some new relationships. Lots of discussions with folks like Oracle, Palo Alto Networks, F5, Cisco, Quest and others as all our worlds start to merge and collaborate. A great show overall and we look forward to seeing you there in 2014.

Watch footage from RSA Expo 2013:

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We are gearing up for RSA Conference in San Francisco, February 25 to March 1.
Stop by our booth, #839 and learn how Bitzer Mobile addresses enterprise mobility concerns or watch our latest features. If you would like to try our interactive demo, please drop us a line at info@bitzermobile.com and we’ll get back to you right away!

Don’t miss out
On Friday, March 1st at 10.20am watch our CEO, Naeem Zafar, Simon Crosby (Bromium) and Sumit Dhawan (Citrix) talking about “BYOD: Productivity vs. Privacy – and at What Cost?”
More details

If you need another reason to stop by our booth, come over and pick up a card with iTunes Store code.

 

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Why ‘shadow IT’? Because the speed of doing business is faster than the speed at which IT departments can automate the various technical pieces of the business workflow. Lines of business can now get their own software products to automate business processes easily and in turn, eliminate their dependence on IT.

I ran a shadow IT organization for 4 years while working at one of the largest software companies. During those days, shadow IT meant hiding real hardware in the coat closet unlike today where it’s much easier to sign up for online services in minutes. I had the servers taken away, re-provisioned by IT and controlled. There were many tiffs with the IT department, but it was fun driving the future of IT infrastructure while the IT team took its sweet time in approving critical projects.

Ten years ago, running a shadow IT organization required a certain level of tech wisdom to deal with webservers, databases, programming languages and such. Now all you need is a credit-card to sign up with an online service doing one of many file-syncs, contact/lead management, content workflow, etc. This simple access to software solutions is the bane for a CIO. For less than $10 an enterprise business user can circumvent the hard perimeters IT has put in place for data leakage. In the same breath, that data can be made available on the user’s smartphone or tablet .

In reality, the boundaries have shifted while the IT department is protecting the same perimeter as it had been a decade ago. The data is no longer sitting in the boundaries of a corporate fire-wall, instead it has moved closer to the user who consumes the data. IT department continues to use the tools of yesterday to tackle today’s data movement challenges brought up by the rapid growth in mobility. Unless new tools are adopted and the IT department is ahead of the business users, corporate data will be at risk and shadow IT will continue to exist.

Thanks to the ease of use and reduced friction of online software and apps and tools being used on mobile devices and laptops, it has become easier to run an on-demand IT organization. At the same time, the risk has increased manifold. It has also become next to impossible to impose restrictions without locking horns with the business user. A business user doesn’t mind giving up his/her shadow IT as long as the business does not get impacted. A user will not let the server hardware be taken away without the guarantee that IT will only decommission the application and the hardware until they build the same for the user.

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