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Open Kernel Labs (OK Labs), a provider of embedded virtualisation software for smartphones, tablets, and other connected devices, has introduced the SecureIT Mobile Enterprise, a software and services solution based on the company’s OKL4 Microvisor. It enables device manufacturers (OEMs), mobile network operators (MNOs), integrators and enterprise IT to build, acquire, and deploy wireless communications devices based on Android and other open operating systems (OSes) to support enterprise mobility.
The growing consumerisation of enterprise software can be seen as a natural consequence of using smartphone and mobile applications, and it is putting pressure on corporations to accommodate and secure employee-owned mobile devices. Currently, enterprise IT looks to Mobile Device Management (MDM) and endpoint security technologies such as encryption and anti-virus (AV) software, to bolster enterprise mobility. While necessary and powerful, these technologies can leave critical requirements unmet. In particular, MDM and security rely on the integrity of the underlying smartphone OS and software stack, which can be vulnerable.
“Effective enterprise mobility rests on three pillars: security, privacy, and freedom to fully use the capabilities of the device,” said Steve Subar, Founder and CEO, OK Labs. “By building on OKL4 virtualization, SecureIT Mobile Enterprise enables enterprise IT to deliver on all three – securing access to enterprise assets and services, ensuring user privacy and preserving intact smartphone user experience. All on a single off-the-shelf smartphone or tablet." Today’s smartphones and tablets run open OSes and software stacks that rival desktop PCs. Enterprise IT uses virtualization to secure desktops – OK Labs SecureIT Mobile Enterprise deploys OKL4, the industry-leading mobile virtualization platform, for secure enterprise mobility.
A software and services solution, SecureIT Mobile Enterprise helps companies deploy and manage enterprise applications and services alongside personal ones. Using OKL4 secure cells (virtual machines), SecureIT Mobile Enterprise isolates personal applications, services, and data from business-critical ones.
Logging user activity and auditing user content impinges upon personal privacy, while implementing enterprise security policy usually entails restrictions on freedom to fully use the capabilities of the device (e.g., blacklisting online destinations, curtailing application download and use). The unfortunate result is that employees continue to carry a second, personal device, leaving many benefits of enterprise mobility unrealised.
Deploying the SecureIT Mobile Enterprise in a smartphone or tablet, however, creates a software architecture with separate, isolated personal and enterprise domains on a single device. It meets employer requirements for security and employee needs for privacy and device functionality without the compromises that today limit enterprise mobility ROI.
Supporting both open personal and trusted enterprise domains on a single physical device, the SecureIT Mobile Enterprise “Protects the Protectors,” keeping malware from degrading AV and MDM software, while valuable device and software capabilities remain available to boost productivity and provides a security policy framework with OKL4 “capabilities,” offering fine-grained control over resource sharing and APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) that cross between domains.
