MobileIron [NASDAQ:MOBL]: Fostering Mobility in the Public Sector

With mobility transforming the modern enterprise, CIOs are reexamining their approach towards modern computing to connect, collaborate, innovate, and increase business productivity. However, public sector enterprises are the laggards when it comes to mobility race and the consumerization of IT. “The Public sector workforce is evolving with younger technophile people coming in and less tech savvy folks retiring. Being mired with legacy policies and architecture, the public sector finds it challenging to readily adopt technologies like mobility to support its young workforce,” reveals Sean Frazier, Chief Technology Evangelist, MobileIron. In addition to this, management of the overwhelming size of the mobile fleet within public agencies is different from managing traditional PCs. “Usability is key with mobility, so security should be made seamless for end users,” adds Frazier. Enterprise mobility management (EMM) platforms can help homeland security agencies secure and manage mobility, deliver apps, and safeguard sensitive data as it flows between the device, apps, and backend systems. This is where Mountain View-based MobileIron steps in to assist federal agencies harness the transformative power of EMM as a part of their homeland security program to manage and protect data and devices.

The genesis of MobileIron traces back to 2007 when the first iPhone was launched and mobility picked up sharply. “We anticipated that the app data on mobile devices would become more important than the voice data. We believed that mobility would transform work the same way the Internet did in the nineties,” discloses Frazier. The company manages mobility both in the cloud and on-premise by offering a security platform for EMM, which also includes the functionalities of Mobile Device Management (MDM), Mobile Application Management (MAM), and Mobile Content Management (MCM). “Security is part of our DNA.

Usability is key with mobility, so security should be made seamless for end users

From an agency’s perspective, we focus on three identity aspects of the security— the user, the device and the application identity, to determine access to content,” explains the Technology Evangelist.

In a hyper-connected world where IoT connects billions of mobile devices, the security panorama cannot be an afterthought. MobileIron is the security and applications backbone for modern end-user computing. With MobileIron, companies can protect corporate data, securely deliver apps and content, and let employees choose the devices they want to use.

In the public sector, MobileIron has worked closely with many customers in the Department of Defense (DoD) and has deployments in multiple civil agencies. “For most agencies, mobility is still a black box. They don’t know what’s happening. This is where they can leverage us,” says Frazier. The company’s robust ecosystem employs network technologies like HPO and FireEye that perform network threat detection and offer the agencies a collective view of what’s going on in their mobile environment assisting them to take an action based upon the information. “We manage the endpoints to provide security, discriminate identity and provide access control to content with the use of new generation platforms,” explains Frazier.

“As for long term goals, we will continue to work towards becoming a secure platform for mobile applications and provide endpoint security at payment platforms,” concludes Frazier.