Absolute Manage secures iPhone and iPad for enterprise use

Data management and security firm Absolute Software has launched mobile management tools designed to allow IT departments to integrate and deploy Apple iPad and iPhone devices in corporate environments.

Absolute Manage Mobile Device Management is an extension of the firm's desktop software that provides management and security features for PCs and Macs, and is fully compatible with iOS 4.2 devices.

The software allows administrators to provide enterprise security by enforcing complex passwords as well as being able to track, lock and restore devices to factory settings.

Email accounts and virtual private networks can be remotely configured with restrictions put in place, and the camera can be disabled, the firm said, while in-house enterprise apps can be securely hosted and remotely deployed to employee devices.

The Absolute Manage console is built like "a single pane of glass", and users can view and manage all devices, helping to shift the emphasis from managing devices to managing users, explained Absolute chief executive John Livingston.

"BlackBerry has been integral to the business environment historically, but the iPhone is coming into the enterprise with great strength and taking a big piece of that business away from RIM," he said.

"Many business people are using iPhones today, so enterprises have to support them, but there are limited options out there."

Absolute provides full support for BlackBerry, Symbian and Windows Mobile devices, and an application for Android is scheduled for the first quarter of 2011.

Livingston claimed that organisations which have held off deploying Apple devices because of security worries can now go ahead as the Absolute Manage platform allows users to provision and configure the devices.

The application is available now priced at £22.95 per user, for three years of service.