Enterasys Debuts BYOD Management System

It seems as though every vendor worth its salt is coming out with technology to harness the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend (or headache, for some). The latest: Enterasys, with its Mobile Identity and Access Manager (IAM).

Mobile IAM is an appliance — either physical or virtual — that sits on the network and enables IT administrators and service providers to protect their network investment while allowing myriad mobile devices on their network, said Ram Appalaraju, vice president of Marketing at Enterasys.

“When we set out to develop something for BYOD, we had three objectives: make it pervasive, to work on any device and with any vendor’s technology; make it simple to operate and manage; and make it cost-effective,” he said.

The appliance supports 3,000 devices and costs $23,995 list, making the cost per device managed about $8, Appalaraju said. Plus, the appliances can be stacked to manage up to 100,000 devices.

Mobile IAM offers a number of security features including:

Along with Mobile AIM, Enterasys is debuting a professional service around Mobile AIM, Enterasys Mobile IAM Professional Services, under which Enterasys will provision and deploy customized BYOD solutions for Apple iOS, Google Android, RIM Blackberry and other devices. Services include policy-based routing for all edge devices, customized identity and access management implementation, and setup for custom user and device policies, including guest access.

Enterasys guarantees a typical 3,000-device deployment in a 10-day time frame, which Appalaraju said is three times faster than other service providers’ deployments.

VARs can utilize Mobile IAM Professional Services in their customer deals, and Enterasys also plans to roll out a training and certification program for its channel partners who want to become proficient in Mobile AIM technology, he noted.

“This is technology that is becoming more and more pervasive,” Appalaraju said. “It’s not just enterprises who are in need of a solution such as this — [verticals such as] libraries and churches are also looking for BYOD solutions.”

Mobile AIM is slated to be available in June 2012. The Mobile IAM Professional Services is priced at $22,000 for 3,000 devices.

This is Enterasys’ latest move to flatten the network and make it easier for IT. In October 2011 the company launched its OneFabric architecture and accompanying partner program, and in January 2012 pushed the architecture to the network edge to make it easier to manage wired and wireless devices outside the data center.

And as Enterays readies for its Super Drive 2012: Enterasys Networks Americas Sales & Partner Conference May 14-16 in Las Vegas, no doubt the company will be pushing its OneFabric architecture and other next-generation network offerings to its partner base. We’ll be there to see what Enterasys’ next move will be.