When Citrix Systems Inc. announced in December it was buying mobile device management software maker Zenprise Inc. its goal was to merge the MDM capabilities of products form both companies.
That came to pass Wednesday when Citrix announced XenMobile MDM, cloud and on-premise based solutions for enterprise as well as SMB-sized companies.
“We believe this is changing the game of how enterprises mobilize their businesses,” said Natalie Lambert, Citrix’s director of product marketing.
“There are no other mobile providers that offer the comprehensiveness we do.”
That’s a bold claim, considering the competition includes dozens of on-premise or cloud solutions from BlackBerry, AirWatch, Mobile Iron, Symantec and Absolute Software.
But Lambert insists that XenMobile full suite has all the tools needed included secure email client and Web browser for safely accessing applications and data from anywhere.
(XenMobile dashboard)
The solutions, which will be available for purchase starting Feb. 25, include two versions:
-- the standard XenMobile MDM (which is based on Zenprise MDM) is an on-premise or cloud service that includes role-based management, configuration and security for both corporate and employee-owned devices. Like most MDM solutions it can remotely wipe devices, but it can also provision policies and apps to devices, black- or whitelist apps, and detect and protect against jailbroken devices.
It also integrates with Citrix [Nasdaq: CTXS] applications, giving mobile users access to ShareFile, a DropBox-like cloud service for sharing and storing documents online, and GoToMeeting. It also integrates with Microsoft SharePoint document repository and with third party applications.
This edition costs $67 a year per user for an unlimited number of devices (all prices U.S.), or $52 per device.
The on-premise version costs $80 per device for a perpetual licence, or $33 for an annual licence..
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--the Mobile Solutions Bundle, combination of XenMobile MDM and Citrix CloudGatway, which gives enterprises application management features.
These include
--beefed up mobile device management;
--a secure native email client, browser and micro virtual private network client. Email or email attachments can be encrypted, as can SharePoint and Sharefile data. There’s also a personal information manager with a calendar;
--mobile application management, which can wrap an app with a set of policies governing its use. For example, an app can be prevented from running on a cellular network, and users can be prevented from cutting and pasting data from business applications to personal apps;
--the ability to create a corporate app store where staff can download applications;
--the ability to offer federated identity and single sign-on through integration with Microsoft ActiveDirectory. This means applications can be provisioned through user roles -- for example, make certain apps only available to members of the finance department.
The bundled version is sold only on premise and starts at $74 a user a year.
XenMobile manages all mobile platforms: Apple iPhone and iPad, Android, BlackBerry, Symbian, and Microsoft Windows 8.