Sybase iAnywhere announced the next generation of its handheld security technology, introducing a new architecture that offers major advancements in user performance and battery life consumption. Designed specifically to take advantage of the latest capabilities in Windows Mobile, the Information Anywhere Suite updated Afaria security component enables virtually instantaneous encryption and decryption of data.
This provides a solution to a major dilemma IT organizations face when choosing to encrypt only selected data in order to maintain device usability, while leaving other data, often email, unencrypted and vulnerable.
“Using Information Anywhere Suite’s Afaria technology, organizations can encrypt all mobile data with little decrease in performance and minimal impact on battery life,” said Joe Owen, vice president of engineering, Sybase iAnywhere, “In fact, several of our beta testers have told us that the user experience is so good that they see virtually no difference when accessing encrypted data versus unencrypted data.“
"Security of mobile data is more important than ever, as the number of mobile applications containing highly sensitive data continues to increase,” said Stacy Sudan, research analyst with IDC's Mobile Enterprise Software program. “Mobile security presents a classic battle within an organization: IT needs to ensure compliance, but users don't want security to interfere with their mobile experience. Sybase iAnywhere's new security architecture seeks to mitigate this conflict by ensuring that data is protected and that users remain productive."
“This new release from Sybase iAnywhere is a huge step forward in mobile device security. We no longer feel like we need to trade off between security and usability," said Peter Mohr, CIO at HandStep. ”For the first time ever, we are able to encrypt everything we need on a mobile device, without negatively impacting the end user experience.”
Key features of the latest release of the Information Anywhere Suite Afaria security component includes:
- Advanced data decryption – Using a breakthrough architecture, all encrypted data is decrypted on-demand only when requested by the application or operating system. This allows the mobile user to have quick entry when logging into the device, since data is no longer being decrypted at login. In addition, as the architecture only re-encrypts changed data, rather than all data, application performance is further maximized along with dramatic improvements in battery life.
- Seamless application integration – Encryption and decryption processes can be applied to data used by any application stored on a mobile device, without affecting the usability or execution of the application. This means that an enterprise can confidently secure all confidential, proprietary and/or sensitive data without having to worry about application compatibility.
- GPS system interoperability – New functionality prevents locking of a mobile device while a GPS application is operational, so that users can have full use of GPS navigation programs without interruption.
- User interface enhancements – An improved file selection user interface on Windows Mobile Pocket PC/Professional devices now includes folder selection and improved sub-directory support so that end users can select additional data for encryption. In addition, alarms and notifications, such as calendar alerts, are now displayed in front of the device lock screen. This allows the end user to view and dismiss notifications without logging into the device.
- Temporary password recovery improvements – To handle the varying device form factors, the device lock interface was enhanced to allow easy access to the password recovery system, and to allow end users to place phone calls to the help desk from a locked phone.
Availability
This new Information Anywhere Suite security functionality is expected to be available in March 2008 for Windows Mobile 5 &6, Pocket PC/Professional and Smartphone/standard, with additional platforms to follow. For more information about this product, please visit: http://www.sybase.com/products/mobileenterprise/afaria.
|
