As more and more non-BlackBerry devices, including tablets, Androids and iPhones, are brought into the enterprise, the task of managing them securely has become a chore for IT departments everywhere. With today's announcement of Notify Technology's Notify MDM On-Demand platform, the list of device management providers has grown.
Paul DePond, president and founder of Notify, says the company hopes the new platform can make companies more comfortable with supporting all the new devices.
"The BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) has done a great job of locking the BlackBerries down and making companies feel comfortable... and I think that's our job. That's what we're trying to do for all these other devices."
NotifyMDM On Demand will allow companies a centralized management solution for control of an array of wireless device platforms, such as iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile. The company is offering a 90-day free trial to anyone who wants to give it a shot, a decision the company made after finding a variety of different attitudes towards device management.
"We're seeing three different scenarios. One, there are companies out there that needed this solution yesterday. Two, there are companies out there that maybe are just starting to look for a solution. Three, some know they aren't going to need it just yet, but they know they're going to in the future," DePond says, adding that the 90-day free trial will allow potential customers to give it a shot and see if it's something they can use.
DePond says that it wasn't that long ago that nearly 90 percent of devices used for business were bought by the company. That's changing as everyone from the worker in the field to the executive has a favorite device they want their company to support.
Notify hopes to offer support for both large and small companies by bringing two solutions to market to fit different needs. The company will offer a cloud-based on-demand platform and an on-site server-based solution.
"We wanted one solution for the company that says, 'Hey, I don't want this information past my firewall,' and then there's this whole other camp out there that I think is growing everyday, that is comfortable with cloud-based services... or they're small and they don't have the resources to manage another server."
The free 90-day trial will be available Feb. 11, 2011, and will support up to 50 devices. Both offerings will come with an as-yet-to-be-released annual price tag that can be paid out in monthly installments. DePond says pricing details will be released closer to launch of the trial.