Westcon Group, a value-added distributor of category-leading unified communications, network infrastructure, data center and security solutions with a global network of specialty resellers, today announced the company is teaming with BlueCat and Fiberlink to demystify complexities associated with the flood of personal devices in the workplace. A subscription-based package, BYODShield™ marries channel and technology innovation in an easy-to-deploy solution that shields the network, device, and IT enterprise.
The Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) technology combines the strength of formerly separate network security and enterprise mobility offerings, and packages them with Westcon’s GOLDShield™ support model, including: Pre-sales support, implementation services, post-sales technical support, and assistance with security policies. By combining automation and Westcon services, BYODShield eliminates current and future headaches enterprises face when provisioning, servicing and managing thousands of personal devices.
Industry analysts report BYOD is becoming the top challenge facing corporate IT. Gartner Group predicts nearly 65 percent of enterprises will adopt mobile management solutions by 2017. Led by the accelerated mobile workforce and demand for constant connectivity, BYOD leaves many organizations struggling to secure the network while embracing new personal devices in the enterprise.
“Westcon is delivering an industry-first — combining our unsurpassed technology expertise and deep vendor portfolio to tackle the challenges of integrating personal devices into the corporate network. Few distributors can claim to unify their vendors to create a platform that permits separate technologies to collaborate – driving enhanced security and quickly resolving mobile device management issues,” said Lynn Smurthwaite-Murphy, Senior Vice President North America, Westcon Group.
BYODShield handles Network Access Management and Security, Mobile Application Management (MAM), Mobile Device Management (MDM), and the GOLDShield support structure to deploy a complete solution. Engineered to secure the network and all its devices and data, the solution excels at network protection, secure application access, and self-service device on-boarding.
Via BlueCat, customers gain enhanced network security and on-premise virtual appliance delivery. Fiberlink’s MaaS360 adds complete enterprise mobility management with a cloud-based delivery model. Westcon adds the product expertise and GOLDShield services to provide customers with industry-leading support to help install and maintain the solution.
Automatically solving problems once requiring manual intervention, BYODShield includes visibility and auditing of links between users/devices/network addresses and locations. The solution also promotes advanced authorization and delivers enhanced network/device management. Self-service registration eliminates IT involvement for on-boarding and permits auditing/tracking of users, technology, and activity on the network. Each BYOD self-service registration is tightly integrated with DNS, DHCP, and IP Address Management (IPAM) – preparing infrastructures for the exponential increase in equipment, IP addresses, and inbound requests resulting from BYOD.
“BYOD is here to stay – and it’s changing the way companies do business,” said Brad Micklea, Vice President of Product Management, BlueCat. “Our trusted IPAM technology significantly minimizes effort and risk associated with personal technology in the workplace. We eliminate the need to manually register, on-board and track personal devices. It also supports mobile control by connecting device security status to access to the network, closing the security gap around BYOD. We’re excited to combine our expertise with Fiberlink and Westcon to bring to market a comprehensive BYOD offering.”
MaaS360 from Fiberlink allows businesses to provide their employees with secure access to corporate information from personal devices, without compromising the user experience, data security or privacy. MaaS360 delivers maximum BYOD flexibility with support for multiple device types, self-service enrollment, customized over-the-air configuration, automated policy enforcement, and secure distribution of apps and documents. With MaaS360, enterprise data and apps can be isolated and selectively wiped from employee-owned devices without impacting personal information.
“As a fully integrated platform, MaaS360 simplifies enterprise mobility management with rapid deployment and comprehensive control that spans mobile devices, applications, and documents,” said Jim Sheward, CEO of Fiberlink. “Combined with BlueCat’s robust network security solution and Westcon’s extensive distribution capabilities, BYODShield is an extremely powerful offering for partners and their customers to securely embrace BYOD.”
