Mobile Handset Leader in the consumer segment, Samsung has turned its attention to the enterprise market with the release of a new security system, KNOX. Samsung ‘s strategy is to integrate this system into its SAFE (Samsung for Enterprise) brand. Samsung has been aggressively promoting its Samsung Approved for Enterprise (SAFE) extensions to Android to bolster its reach into an enterprise market that has been wary of security breaches and the rampant malware on Android devices. KNOX allows IT admins to create separate environments for employees’ personal and work data by applying the application layer that will help to help to counter the risk of data leakage, viruses and malware attacks.
What are the Capabilities of Samsung KNOX ?
KNOX implements separate VPNs to individual applications rather than relying on one VPN for the entire device; and a security-enhanced version of Android that will help IT departments enforce more than 300 IT policies and have access to more than 700 mobile device management APIs. KNOX has attempted to deliver a simple implementation for the user to switch between personal and KNOX environments that are completely separate, with different storage, apps and credentials.
With KNOX, Samsung is trying to have enterprises consider its Galaxy S and Galaxy Note devices as real business solutions. Samsung’s decision to focus on the enterprise will likely pressure the entire market segment to become more pro-active in software development and potentially pricing as well. Enterprises can take advantage the trend of BYOD if they can devise a suitable strategy to balance the trade-off between increasing productivity and employee satisfaction against the security, financial and management risks posed.
Apple and Microsoft along with Nokia are ready for the Enterprise segment and Samsung’s efforts to break into the enterprise market are strategically critical, as the majority of Samsung’s rival Android vendors have not focused resources towards creating a secure environment. Samsung is pitted against Blackberry, with the latter’s positioning of security capabilities an attempt to regain corporate respect with BlackBerry 10. Blackberry is currently supporting basic Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) policies out of the box (a first for BlackBerry), as well as a rich set of security features in its retooled BES 10 management server.
With blurring distinction between work life and private life there is increasing inherent risk to the security of mobile devices. Mobile Device Management (MDM) can be used to provide a secure environment for enterprises, enabling real-time visibility on device usage and identifying and blocking unfamiliar devices from connecting to an enterprise network.