I have written previously about Soti's MobiControl device management solution for the Windows Mobile Platform (http://blog.brightpointuk.co.uk/soti-mobicontrol). Now in version 8.51 Soti have added support for the Android platform, on devices running Android 2.2 or later.

With the huge success of the Android platform, and the growing trend for employees to use their personal Smartphone for company tasks, the need for a central device management solution that supports the Android platform is increasing.

Features

MobiControl makes it easy to maintain an inventory of all connected devices, to enforce required security policies, to provide access to required applications and restrict access to undesirable apps all from within a web-based administration console with support for multiple groups and usage policies.

Devices can be enrolled using unique password credentials or optionally through integration with Active Directory. Once enrolled businesses can then view and audit devices in real time including the following pieces of information:

• Device Name
• Personalized Device Name
• Device ID
• Phone ID (IMEI, MEID, ESN)
• IP Address
• MAC Address
• Wi-Fi Signal
• Battery Status
• Phone Number
• Cellular Carrier
• Available/Total Memory
• Available/Total Storage
• Platform
• Operating System Version
• Model
• Agent Version
• Last Connected
• Last Disconnected
• Security Status (Rooted detection)
• Installed Applications

As well as requiring that all connected devices have a password configured, and being able to determine the required strength of that password, devices can also be automatically wiped should the user fail to enter their password incorrectly too many times in succession.

Administrators can automatically determine whether users have "rooted" or "jailbroken" their devices and optionally decide to restrict access to sensitive corporate data on those devices, perform a factory reset on them or merely remove all corporate applications: perfect for personally-owned devices where completely wiping a device might result in that user losing important personal documents or pictures.

Device configuration parameters can be pushed to devices over the air including WiFi connection profiles.
Advanced application management is also provided as part of the solution: administrators can view and report in real time on the applications being used on connected devices, and delete those applications which are prohibited.
An Enterprise Application Catalogue can be deployed and maintained by administrators, comprising of both Android Market applications and corporate applications held on a secure web server, either of which can be mandatory or merely recommended.

Alerts can also be configured to notify administrators of specific events, such as the failure of an aspect of the server, a failure of a device to connect within a specified timeframe or a specific user event such as the jailbreaking of a device.

Detailed reports can be generated and exported on any of the inventoried information stored by the solution.

Finally devices can be located and tracked via GPS and displayed on an interactive live world map, enabling businesses to determine where field workers are operating or locate lost or stolen devices.

Architecturally, MobiControl is deployed in a server-client model requiring an Internet-facing server running a Windows server operating system to which the client application running on the Android device communicates over the air: be it a cellular or WiFi connection.
Client-server communications are handled over a single TCP port (5494 by default but this can changed), and sessions are encrypted.

A product video is available here - http://blog.brightpointuk.co.uk/soti-mobicontrol-product-video

For more information visit the Soti web site - www.soti.net

Enrolling devices

Once installed, the MobiControl solution is managed via an SSL web interface:

Device addition rules can be created for specific users or groups, with an optional password requirement which users must enter on the device before the application can be installed:

Once created, the client installation package can then be saved and deployed to a file or web server as required:

Once the rule has been created, it can be published to the "enrolment server", if the option to require a password upon installation was selected, this will be displayed:

Or optionally the Android client is also available to download free from the Android Market:

If the client is downloaded from the Market, the required server information will need to be entered into the device - the server's external IP address or DNS name:

If downloading the generated package from a private web server, this connection information will be pre-populated automatically.

If an enrolment password was specified, this will be required when connecting to the server for the first time:

And you will be prompted to confirm that the application will be granted security policy access on the device:

Once connected the device will be listed in the administration console:

Inventory Collection

Once the device has synchronised with the server, a wide range of information about it can be viewed and reported on by the administrator as detailed above:

including what applications are installed on the device:

and administrators have the ability to remotely uninstall any applications they do not want to be present on devices:

Security

Any device can be disabled (prevented from contacting the MobiControl server), can be locked and a password set, or can be completely wiped at the click of a button from within the web interface:

Passwords can be enforced on all connected devices if required, and the strength of that password can also be set:

Administrators can also determine that should the user fail to enter their password correctly within a set number of attempts then the device will either lock itself or will erase all corporate or simply all device data.

Configuration

WiFi access point profiles can be sent to connected devices over the air, providing secure access to corporate resources over WiFi once correctly provisioned:

Configuration the Application Catalogue

One key feature of the MobiControl solution for Android is the ability to deploy and maintain a repository of allowed applications which users can browse and install on their devices.

Published applications can be assigned to individual users or groups:

and applications can either be stored in the Android Market or on a private web server:

Once published, applications are then available to users within the MobiControl client:

Summary

Soti MobiControl naturally still provides all of the features for the Windows Mobile platform that I have written about previously (http://blog.brightpointuk.co.uk/soti-mobicontrol), and also provides support for the Apple iPhone. The addition of security, location and asset inventory reporting for the Android platform makes MobiControl as powerful and as flexible as you need it to be.

Visit the Soti web site for more information - www.soti.net