Flexera Software's AdminStudio Suite 2014 Addresses Security & Reliability Concerns for Mobile Application Management



Strategic Application Readiness solution adds new compatibility and risk assessment capabilities to help ensure smooth, dependable and safe mobile app deployments

 

Maidenhead, U.K. - July 29, 2014 - Flexera Software, the leading provider of next-generation software licensing, compliance and installation solutions for application producers and enterprises, announced the release of AdminStudio Suite 2014. The new release helps enterprises eliminate much of the risk and inefficiency around preparing mobile applications for deployment via centralised Application Readiness best practice processes and automation.

"While many organisations have well-developed Application Readiness processes for testing, fixing and preparing enterprise applications for deployment - the introduction of mobile applications into the environment without similar processes can create significant risks," said Robert Young, Research Manager at IDC. "We recommend that organisations look closely at all mobile apps touching enterprise data and systems, and implement centralised processes to ensure governance and reliability of those apps prior to their deployment."

Streamlining Mobile Application Management
AdminStudio Suite 2014 ensures applications conform with IT's standards and work within an organisation's environment by following best practice processes for preparing physical, virtual, and mobile applications. In addition to managing internally-developed mobile apps with AdminStudio, organisations can now import public store links from Apple® App Store and Google® Play, and prepare and manage them in conformance to their standard Application Readiness processes.  The solution also allows IT to automatically extract metadata from property files and app stores to streamline distribution of iOS and Android mobile apps to AirWatch® Mobile Device Management and Microsoft® System Center 2012 Configuration Manager.

"It's essential that we have best practices, processes and technology that we can use to test, fix and package all of our enterprise apps," said Neil Codina, an application packager at Wood Group Mustang.  "AdminStudio Suite 2014 provides this for our current environment, Win7 64-bit, App-V, Citrix.  And it gives us great confidence knowing that it will also handle the future environments to which we will migrate, including future OS's, mobile applications and cloud computing."

Test Mobile Apps for Device Operating System (OS) Compatibility
AdminStudio Suite 2014 also enables organisations to automate compatibility testing of mobile apps for error-free deployment to mobile operating systems and devices such as iPads®, iPhones®, and Android phones, helping ensure they function properly.  These new capabilities help improve service quality and dependability to end users of both internally developed mobile apps and those from public app stores.  IT can also proactively help ensure change-readiness by leveraging new AdminStudio Suite 2014 tests that check for mobile app compatibility with the iOS8 Developer Preview, allowing organisations to discover in advance which apps are ready for the next iOS update.

Assess Mobile App Portfolio for Risky Behaviors and Compliance with Enterprise Policies
Mobile apps are capable of accessing and exposing critical and sensitive corporate data, presenting challenges to enterprise security. To address this concern, AdminStudio Suite 2014 now is able to identify organisations' mobile apps displaying behaviors that may introduce risk to corporate security and data privacy.  The solution provides automated processes that look inside the mobile app property files and APIs to understand what features the app is accessing on the device in order to identify apps that exhibit risky behavior.  Transparency to these behaviors will help enterprises establish mobile application management policies and configuration profiles designed to reduce risk.

"Security and risk are the big unknowns that enterprises assume when allowing mobile apps into their environments," said John Marcum, an enterprise architect at BABC.  "AdminStudio Suite 2014 is the only solution I'm aware of that allows us to test those applications as we're preparing them for deployment to ensure we understand their potential impact on our systems, and can plan for and manage that risk."

Getting to Know Features & Behaviors of Mobile Apps
Strategic use of mobile apps in the enterprise is on the rise, yet there is rarely any institutional knowledge regarding how mobile apps behave when deployed or how to modify that behavior to support enterprise standards.  AdminStudio Suite 2014 now provides automated processes that allow IT to look inside the mobile app property files and APIs to understand what the app is accessing on the device, (i.e. Camera, GPS) increasing understanding of the mobile app and OS settings in order to establish appropriate packaging and deployment policies.

"As organisations implement consumer-friendly policies like Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), IT teams are under the gun to deliver service to their teams without sacrificing reliability and security.  Nowhere is this more challenging than in the proliferation of mobile apps accessing enterprise data and systems," said Maureen Polte, Vice President of Product Management at Flexera Software.  "AdminStudio Suite 2014 is the only strategic Application Readiness solution capable of delivering a consistent, set of IT processes across all enterprise applications - including mobile."

Additional Enhancements
AdminStudio Suite 2014 now also provides tests to determine compatibility of Web applications with Internet Explorer 11, and support for VMware ThinApp 5.0 with new virtualisation suitability tests and conversion capabilities.  AdminStudio 2014 also makes it easier and faster than ever to upgrade Microsoft App-V 4.x virtual applications to App-V 5.0.