Mobile Security: Four Key Opportunities for the Channel - Vendor Landscape Is Maturing
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One of the last and most important factors that will help channel partners'
success in the mobile-security market is the fact that partnering vendors are
starting to move past the vaporware stage of product development and are making
acquisitions that allow them to offer the right mix of solutions and support
necessary to help the channel grow in this area.
For example, Symantec last month announced its Norton Everywhere program, a
multi-faceted effort to move security beyond the PC. Included in that
announcement was the following:
- a new mobile-device security
program for Google Android that includes functionalities such as remote
wipe and remote data lockout, malicious application blocking and even call
screening.
- a cloud-based secure storage
option for accessing data via Android or iPhone
- a new secure DNS
functionality that filters dangerous content for a range of devices, most
notably smartphones and the iPad.
Meanwhile, McAfee announced in June the
acquisition of Trust Digital, an enterprise mobility-management and mobile-security
software developer. McAfee execs say the Trust Digital portfolio will be fully
integrated into ePolicy Orchestrator, giving partners a way to extend ePO
across smartphones, thus simplifying the enforcement of mobile-security
policies.
And even as the big security players make strides, a spate of smaller
software developers, such as Lookout, are cropping up to bring a new generation
of free utilities to the market that some channel partners--particularly those
that cater to SMB and mid-market customers--can start leveraging to deliver
value-added, comprehensive mobile services. Lookout, for example, offers a free
mobile-security solution with remote wipe and lockout, antivirus, data backup
and, most important, over-the-air device management.
