Aruba WorkSpace eliminates the high capital and resource costs of disparate BYOD systems
Aruba Networks, provider of next generation network access solutions for the mobile enterprise, has announced Aruba WorkSpace, a new component of the company's ClearPass Access Management System.
With the addition of Aruba WorkSpace, for the first time, network access control (NAC), mobile device management (MDM) and mobile application management (MAM) systems are a part of one solution and work together to secure company data and reduce BYOD helpdesk costs.
Aruba WorkSpace is built on an enterprise network policy system, making it network-fluent. This means higher network priority can be automatically assigned to work applications.
In the event an employee's device connects to an untrusted network, Aruba WorkSpace can automatically establish application-specific VPNs to encrypt traffic and provide uninterrupted access to internal resources. Aruba WorkSpace can also restrict network access if a device is jail-broken or contains unapproved applications.
As an alternative to its native device management functions, Aruba ClearPass features integration with top MDM vendors, including AirWatch, Citrix, FiberLink, JAMF Software, MobileIron and SOTI. This integration allows customers with existing MDM solution deployments or preferences to realise a combined value of integrated, context-based network policy, device onboarding and security, and a full range of mobile device management capabilities.
This integration of Aruba ClearPass and MDM solutions can orchestrate critical mobile device security actions based on who the users are, what device they are using, what applications they are running, and their location. For example, mobile device cameras can be disabled if the device is in a secure, restricted location.
In addition to providing comprehensive BYOD controls for IT, Aruba WorkSpace offers end user controls to personalise the BYOD experience and reduce the demands on helpdesk resources. An Aruba WorkSpace mobile application is pushed to employee devices, allowing employees to access and manage work applications, share AirPrint and AirPlay devices with other users or groups, manage other onboarded devices, and configure guest accounts. All aspects of BYOD are accessible to end users in one location.
To manage the use of personal, mobile devices, the Aruba WorkSpace mobile application provisions a separate, encrypted area on the devices for work applications and content. This gives IT full control over the corporate information in this encrypted space, but no visibility into personal areas of the device, thereby protecting employee privacy.
Underscoring the critical need for user privacy, a recent Mobile Device Security Survey commissioned by Aruba revealed that 48% of UK users who bring personal devices to work would feel 'violated' if they found out that their IT department had accessed personal data stored on their device.
Of these respondents, 54% say they would not immediately report the loss of these devices to their IT department; this presents a significant security concern for enterprise IT.
With Aruba WorkSpace, the combination of MDM, MAM and NAC capabilities integrated into one platform allows IT to secure sensitive corporate data on these personal mobile devices without the high cost, significant resource investment, and potential loss of user privacy and productivity that can result from existing BYOD solutions.
'With mobile device and application proliferation accelerating at an unprecedented pace, IT departments simply need a solution that eliminates the extra work and expense associated with bridging the silos across the network, the device and the application,' said Keerti Melkote, founder and CTO, Aruba Networks. 'By integrating our core strength for network access control and security we can streamline the BYOD process and take the burden and risk away from the IT department.'
