ITEXPO East: Smith Micro Reveals How IT Can Manage Mobile, Multimedia Challenges

By Paula Bernier, Executive Editor, IP Communications Magazines

The rise of mobile communications and bandwidth-loving applications like video are creating new challenges for IT departments. That was the message from Skip Taylor, senior director of enterprise product management at Smith Micro (News - Alert) Software, during this morning’s “Managing the Mobile Workforce” session at ITEXPO East in Miami.

IT folks typically have had a lot of control over what devices and applications employees use to access corporate networks. With the rise of smartphones, wirelessly-enabled laptops and tablets, WiFi (News - Alert), MiFi and the like, IT departments are now grappling to regain control of corporate networks to make sure they are secure; comply with regulations; and offer a view into who’s connecting, when and with what endpoints, he said. The consumerization of wireless devices means that employees are bringing into corporate environments the endpoints and applications and operating systems of their choice, without first getting the green light from IT.

“Before IT had all of the control,” he said. “They’ve lost all that.”

Meanwhile, the amount of traffic on networks is going through the roof given the number of connected devices and the popularization of video and other data. Taylor said that given over 1 trillion devices are expected to be connected within 15 years -- and we’re already seeing what he calls ubiquitous media consumption and a shift toward content creation -- traffic loads are only going to get heavier over time.

The growth and more widespread use of multimedia applications are creating a pain point around large file transfer, said Taylor. He adds that because some corporate networks block the delivery via e-mail of files larger than a certain size, it’s sometimes difficult to know whether large e-mails have been received. To address all that, Taylor suggested that companies might consider a cloud-based approach to large file delivery that can reduce support costs associated with e-mail and ftp; make large file transfer easy to use and manage; track file deliveries companywide; and help a company meet compliance requirements.

To address the initial point above about giving IT departments a better handle on wireless devices and applications being used on corporate networks, Taylor said companies can use technology to locate lost wireless devices (which might hold proprietary corporate information or the ability to access such information), or lock or delete information on lost or stolen devices.

Taylor said Smith Micro also offers a platform management portal that allows IT folks visibility into what wireless devices are connected to the corporate network, when and what their security posture is, including whether a device is not current with its anti-virus software, for example.

He also talked about the concept of offering an app store within a corporate environment and enabling employees to use the apps available from the store while on the corporate network, but blocking all or some other apps that are now. He said Smith Micro offers a Symbian (News - Alert)-based platform to enable this today and will introduce the platform for other operating systems in the future. For now it’s in alpha tests with select enterprises, he said, but the company is still just working with businesses to better understand their needs on this front.

(source: http://policy-management.tmcnet.com/topics/policy-management/articles/140843-itexpo-east-smith-micro-reveals-how-it-manage.htm)