Centrify Addresses MDM, BYOD Security with DirectControl

Security and compliance solutions specialist Centrify Corp. has released DirectControl for Mobile. The mobile device management platform  allows service providers and customers to secure and manage smartphones and tablets like Apple’s iPad or Google Android devices through Active Directory.

Leveraging Centrify’s Cloud Service, the service provides deployment of mobile device management (MDM) to secure company-owned or employee-owned devices, which has becoming increasingly necessary as IT departments grapple with security issues in a bring your own device (BYOD) environment. Pricing for DirectControl for Mobile, which includes technical support and access to feature updates, starts at $36 per device per year.

Centrify also released Express for Mobile, a free mobile security offering for Android and Apple devices with no limit on the number of devices supported. As integrated components of Centrify Suite 2012, both DirectControl for Mobile and Express for Mobile provide integration with an organization’s on-premise Active Directory (AD) infrastructure and Group Policy-based management tools.

The components of both the licensed and free offering include Cloud Service, a multi-tenant service that allows the on-premise Active Directory environment to manage mobile devices through an over-the-air connection, whether or not a device is connected to the corporate network, and Cloud Proxy Server, an on-premise software package that runs as a Windows service and facilitates communication from an organization’s Active Directory to the Cloud Service.

The Cloud Management Suite is a collection of Windows management tools that are downloaded and installed and include the Centrify Cloud Proxy Server, as well as Active Directory Users & Computers (ADUC) and Group Policy Object Editor (GPOE) extensions to support mobile devices.

An optional mobile application, Centrify Mobile Manager, runs on Apple and Android mobile devices that can detect rooted/jail-broken devices and facilitates an automated, enrollment process of a mobile device joining a customer’s Active Directory domain. Organizations can also opt to join their devices to their Active Directory domain via a web enrollment page.