Afaria- PDF
The Power to Manage and Secure Data, Devices and Applications
on the Front Lines of Business
KEY FEATURES:
Security
- Centrally enforce corporate security policies
- Full disc encryption for laptops
- Email and PIM encryption on handhelds
- Over-the-air encryption
- Temporary password recovery
- Central management and control
- Management and security from a single console
- Update application and data as needed
- Manage groups or individuals
- Over-the-air software distribution
- Minimal user interaction necessary
- Push email interoperability
- OneBridge push email, Microsoft push email (SP2)
- Any mobile device
- Windows Mobile (Pocket PC, Windows Mobile 5.0, smartphone),Windows
Notebooks, RIM BlackBerry, Palm OS, Symbian
- Any wireless connection
- GPRS/EDGE/3G,W-LAN e.g. 802.11b/g, Infrared, Bluetooth
Mobile workers are imperative to an organization's success. Laptops,
PDAs and smart phones that support workers at the front lines are
proliferating throughout corporations.With a mobile workforce comes
the widespread distribution of sensitive and proprietary data outside
the secure walls of headquarters. Therefore, it is critical for
the success of a mobile deployment to put measures in place to control
and protect mobile assets. By implementing a solution that proactively
manages and secures mobile data, devices and applications, mobile
projects can provide an organization with the intended results of
improving efficiency, customer service and ultimately profitability.
- Security: Mobile devices face an extremely vulnerable computing
environment where security gaps can exist, the risk of intrusion
is high, and security controls are inconsistent at best and often
unenforceable. Additionally, government regulations regarding
data privacy and encryption are becoming stricter, and can even
result in fines for noncompliance. It is imperative that IT and
security experts manage and protect sensitive information, and
enforce compliance centrally, rather than leaving the burden of
security to the mobile device end user.
- Management: Maintaining the reliability and security of data
and devices at the front lines can be very challenging. These
environments are diverse, complex and often beyond direct, onsite
IT control. IT must be able to proactively manage all the devices,
applications, data and communications critical to the success
of mobile workers. Organizations must take a centralized approach
to management and security, providing IT with the control and
visibility they need, while empowering mobile workers to be successful
with the information and applications needed to do their jobs.
AFARIA CAPABILITIES
Afaria has been built from the ground up to address the unique challenges
of frontline environments. It provides comprehensive management
capabilities to proactively manage and secure all the devices, applications,
data and communications critical to frontline success, regardless
of the bandwidth available. This improves the reliability and usability
of mobile devices, thereby increasing user adoption.
Afaria is an enterprise-grade, highly scalable solution with a central
web-based console that allows IT the ability to control a host of
key functions from a standard browser.With Afaria's ability to tie
into enterprise directories, these functions provide everything
necessary to extend an organization's management and security capabilities
to any device, in any location.
Afaria also provides enterprise-ready security features to protect
mobile data and devices. When these security capabilities are coupled
with Afaria's robust management capabilities, IT is able to increase
the efficiency of managing any mobile deployment while ensuring
security policies are enforced and devices remain updated. This
combined management and security solution provides the best protection
against the mobile security threats and compliance issues that are
so prevalent today.
Afaria is a key component of the Information Anywhere Suite, which
addresses converging IT requirements by offering a secure and scalable
mobile software platform.
SECURITY
Afaria uniquely combines security and systems management functionality
from a single console. It enables IT to manage security requirements
centrally, such as enforcing power-on password, updating signature
files and antivirus engines, and managing the configuration of the
device. Afaria also increases the efficiency of updating and enforcing
management and security policies by enabling all necessary tasks
to occur during a single connection.
Over-The-Air Data Encryption
- Over-the-air data exchange is fully encrypted using SSL encryption
scheme
Patch Management
- Administrators determine which Microsoft security patches need
to be
deployed to individual laptops
- Patches are automatically downloaded and then deployed
appropriately on an individual or group basis
- Detailed logs and reports show the current patch levels, and
the
protection levels employed
Security Management
- Fully integrated into the Afaria console
- Full disk encryption for Windows PCs
- 128-bit data encryption protects data both on the device and
over-the-air
during transfer
- Centrally defined security policies enforce power-on password
and data
on-device control
- Detects abnormal device usage which may indicate a lost or stolen
device and will lock down device
- Password recovery accessible from the Afaria client view
Data Backup
- FIPS 140-2 compliant modules on handhelds
Secure Wireless Email
- Full interoperability with iAnywhere OneBridge and Microsoft
Exchange wireless email solutions
- Protects sensitive corporate email and company contact information
- Allows devices to receive email even when in a locked state
- Enforces mandatory encryption of sensitive information
MANAGEMENT
Specifically designed to address frontline management needs, Afaria
provides IT a set of capabilities that allow applications to be
centrally distributed, installed and maintained. Afaria can also
automatically manage routine system management tasks, while supporting
all devices an enterprise is likely to need, including laptops,
handheld devices such as Windows Mobile devices, Palm, smart phones
and many other mobile devices.
Data and Content Management
Afaria updates file-based information from any source and format,
including HTML, database files, documents and other electronic content.
Application Services
- Afaria adds significant management capabilities to third party
or custom applications by enabling updates to be delivered using
wireless networks
- Both Afaria server and client functionality can be fully extended
and integrated into applications via published APIs
Document and Content Distribution
- Document files are securely delivered to frontline users using
a forced or subscription model, and out of date documents are
automatically replaced
- Document owners have control over content, enabling easy addition,
deletion and updating
Process Automation
With Afaria, important tasks can be personalized and automated
to make them faster and easier for the IT administrator.
- Wizard-driven point-and-click scripting allows infinitely customizable
activities on server or client systems
- File transfer or process sessions can be scheduled or initiated
manually (by server or client)
- Scripting delivers numerous possibilities: file transfers, hard
disk checks and changes, configuration changes, and even logic
processes for complex tasking (e.g., 'if-then' clauses)
Connection Management
Afaria uses an intelligent architecture design which optimizes the
ability to make the appropriate decisions about which tools to utilize
when managing a frontline deployment. Additionally, connection management
functions are fully deployable over-the-air, eliminating the need
for remote devices to be manually configured by IT.
Scheduling and Prioritization
- System administrators control the content, timing, parameters
and method of communication
- Comprehensive scheduling enables completion of work at the most
efficient times
- Prioritization of different tasks ensures quick completion of
the most important activities
- Tuning of the communications protocol and optimization of package
profiles maximizes efficiency from different network types
Device Monitoring
- Afaria reacts to changes in the state of a device and can trigger
connections, logging or local processes when key characteristics
change
- Backup for a device when the battery level drops below a critical
level
- Monitor and/or enforce application installation and usage policies
through logging and reporting capabilities
- Log when confidential files on mobile devices are written to
external cards or sent to other devices
Bandwidth Optimization
- Comprehensive bandwidth management supports applications across
all network types
- On-the-fly data compression, checkpoint restart, file segmentation,
file-level and byte-level differencing minimize data volume for
both large and small transfers
- Dynamic bandwidth throttling releases bandwidth to other applications
when activity levels increase and then reclaims bandwidth when
other applications grow idle
System Management Extensions
Within the confines of headquarters, systems management is a routine
task. However this task becomes complicated with remote devices,
as these devices are not always connected to the network. Afaria
simplifies these routine management tasks by allowing automatically
scheduled polling of devices to ensure devices are compliant with
corporate policies.
Configuration Management
- Central control of the majority of frontline device configurations
- Administrators maintain desired software and hardware settings
across groups of systems including device identification, network
settings, connection profiles, regional settings and alerts
- Settings are checked against centrally defined configurations
and reset when appropriate
Support for Microsoft SMS
Afaria is Microsoft .Net-based and can be integrated with SMS 2003
to expand the range of devices that can be managed from the SMS
console. Afaria can be used to manage all the latest Windows platforms,
as well as extend management of other existing mobile operating
systems:
- RIM BlackBerry devices
- Palm handhelds
- Symbian smart phones
- Windows Mobile-based smart phones
Software and Inventory Management
Afaria provides visibility into frontline devices so it is known
exactly what devices are deployed, where they are located and what
software is installed. This provides IT the ability to manage and
control remote device inventory and software distribution.
Inventory and Asset Control
- Administrators can perform comprehensive inventory scans of
hardware and software
- Changes to hardware and software are automatically detected,
generating alerts for review and action
- Help desk personnel have access to asset information for rapid
issue resolution
Remote Control
- Systems are remotely controlled for fault diagnosis and correction
License Control
- Administrators track the installation and usage of software
licenses against those purchased
- Detailed reports include information about the last time an
application was accessed
Software Distribution
- Afaria enables the electronic distribution, installation and
maintenance of applications
- Central administration controls software installations, including
version management, rollback and criteria checking
- Afaria enables automatic software maintenance and 'snapshot'
installation utilizing efficient byte-level differencing
FRONTLINE DEVICE SUPPORT
Afaria supports a wide variety of client types that can be managed
from a single web based console.
- Support for Win32 laptops, Windows Pocket PC and smart phones
devices, Palm handhelds, Symbian smart phones, RIM BlackBerry
devices and many point-of-sale systems
ARCHITECTURE
The Afaria server delivers enterprise performance with minimal maintenance
and cost, while seamlessly integrating into the IT infrastructure.
- Seamless integration with SQL Anywhere database from iAnywhere,
providing the convenience of a singlevendor solution
- Provides integration with key directory technologies, such as
NT and LDAP-compatible directories
- Will run on Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle
- A web based console supports Microsoft .NET technologies, allowing
system administration and control of business and IT information
- A broad range of connectivity options are supported, such as
TCP/IP over wireless or wired connections, dial-up remote access
connections (RAS),WAN, and high-speed LAN connections
- Also supported are HTTP and HTTPS to allow users to connect
over the Internet and have a secure access point through corporate
firewalls
- The Afaria server runs on Windows Server 2003 Standard or Enterprise
with service pack, or Windows 2000 Server or Advanced Server with
Service Pack 4
Afaria and OneBridge are key components of the Information Anywhere
Suite, a secure, scalable mobile software platform that addresses
the converging IT requirements of enterprises today. By combining
email/messaging, mobile device management, enterprise-to-edge security
and back-office application extension capabilities, Information
Anywhere enables organizations to empower employees to do the work
they need to do anywhere, at anytime, on any device.
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