BYOD Insecurity Frustrating Your Customers? Avaya Has New Options

End-users are at a crossroads: Either figure out a solid bring-your-own-device (BYOD) strategy or give up control of network security. Think about the health-care industry, a popular vertical market among resellers. Hospitals, for example, are dealing with physicians and staff accessing patient records from personal smartphones, tablets and notebooks. That’s not a recipe for success if those devices are not provisioned onto the network and integrated into proper workflows.

Of course, hospitals aren’t the only end users facing this conundrum. Everyone, from SMBs and enterprises to nonprofits and utilities, must get a handle on their networks’ security when it comes to mobile devices. And many are trying to address the problem. In April, Infonetics Research reported that sales of desktop and mobile security client software grew 20 percent in 2011 to $4.97 billion; the mobile segment alone leaped 76 percent last year and is expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 35 percent through 2016. The market, then, for partners and vendors, is sky-high. And, on Tuesday, at Interop in Las Vegas, Avaya Inc. jumped even further into the fray with additions to its mobile collaboration portfolio.

The company introduced Identity Engines 8.0, a platform that lets organizations tailor who can access what information, based on user and device. In a hospital, for instance, a physician can be given unrestricted network access using a hospital-owned PC, and given restricted access when using a personal iPad. Other ripe targets include:

Identity Engines 8.0 features two new components: Ignition Access Portal and Ignition CASE Client. The first simplifies BYOD administration with auto-registration and device fingerprinting capabilities. For IT staff that means detailed visibility into the type and profile of devices on the network. IT staff further can customize Access Portal based on branch offices’ geographical locations.

Meanwhile, Ignition CASE Client automates device configuration for secure network access. It’s a dissolvable client that ensures devices meet specific security requirements before being allowed onto the network; then, it configures them without revealing certificates or shared keys to users.

Avaya Identity Engines is part of Avaya Mobile Collaboration for Enterprise, which is sold through channel partners.