Acronis Launches Two Mobile Solutions for BYOD Work Habits

Acknowledging that the explosion of
consumer mobility, media tablets and bring your own device programmes
are creating security and compliance threats for IT organisations,
Acronis International GmbH.
launched two enterprise mobility solutions in Europe.

Designed to resolve secure mobile file
management and enterprise file synchronisation and sharing, mobilEcho
and activEcho
enable productivity and collaboration for mobile employees.

According to Gartner’s paper
MarketScope for
Enterprise File Synchronization and Sharing (23 pages, $1,995), which was published
in February 2013, organisations must deploy EFSS services to secure
enterprise information assets. Failure to provide these capabilities
will subject organisations to information leakage threats caused by
users who move data through uncontrolled personal cloud services.

Monica Basso, Gartner Research VP and
Jeffrey Mann, Gartner Research VP, the co-authors of the report,
said: "File synchronisation and sharing is a critical
capability for mobile workforces whose organisations have ongoing
mobility initiatives with media tablets and BYOD programs. We expect
IT organisations will face increasing demand for these capabilities,
with deeper focus on security and compliance by regulated or
security-conscious enterprises."

Without a mobile file management and
EFSS strategy in place employees can share corporate documents with
third parties, or store documents on home PCs and other personal
devices, out of an IT organisation’s control. With this in mind IT
organisations are looking for mobile file management and EFSS
capabilities that enhance mobile workers’ productivity and
collaboration to limit security risks.

Alan Laing, VP EMEA at Acronis,
commented: "Companies are being increasingly challenged by the
management of their data outside the boundaries of the corporate
infrastructure. With more and more people using tablets and
smartphones in the enterprise there is a rapid rise in unsecure file
and data sharing practices, leaving many enterprises exposed, it’s a
time bomb waiting to explode."

With confidential corporate content
leaving companies secure networks, IT directors must be able to offer
secure file access and file sharing among multiple devices while
maintaining administrative control to enable a productive workforce.
These two solution are designed to address demands for data
availability, accessibility and protection against the rise in
enterprise mobility, the volume and velocity of content creation,
user driven collaboration tools and rising storage costs.

• mobilEcho is a secure enterprise
  mobile file management solution for mobile workers. It enables
  enterprise IT departments to provide secure and managed corporate
  file access for enterprise tablet users, based on security and
  access control policies.

• activEcho is a secure enterprise
  file sharing and syncing solution. It provides an alternative to
  consumer file sharing services by giving enterprise IT control over
  internal and external file sharing.

Jon Woodley, head of systems at the
University of East Anglia, discovered the simplicity of mobilEcho in
his search for a single solution to provide enterprise security.

He
said: "We installed our first trial on 15 iPads in under a day.
mobilEcho just worked, with no complex deployment or lengthy learning
curve. The user can start the app and go straight to their files,
just as they would with a desktop or laptop joined to our Active
Directory. Nothing else in the market allows you to do that in such a
transparent and easy manner."

"When we
installed mobilEcho, it enabled us to get secure file access, even in
the middle of a meeting," said
Iain Reeman, ICT systems director for the university’s Information
Services Directorate. "I
can pull up a document to reinforce or
support an argument, which is absolutely fantastic. Previously, if
someone asked a question that required finding a reference document
on the server, you’d have to get back to them later. Now I can look
up the answer and give it straight away,"
he said.

Laing concluded: "Security,
compliance and management are top priorities for IT organisations in
mobile file management and EFSS, as well as in mobile device
management (MDM). Organisations planning BYOD initiatives should
include mobile file management and file synchronization and sharing
requirements in conjunction with MDM. Last year we acquired
GroupLogic, so that we could help organisations of all sizes get to
grips with enterprise mobility and secure collaboration whilst
keeping corporate content and systems available and accessible at all
times. These product launches mark the first step towards this
vision."