Mobile Device Management has historically been a solution that has been installed on premise. Companies installed solutions on premise as devices were typically connected to a LAN connection via corporate WiFi or through cradles and USB connections. Over the years devices went from Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) to Mobile Devices and Smartphones. PDAs were considered mobile only in the sense that data was stored on the device and could be taken with you, but connecting to the enterprise often required some time and tethering of some sort. The devices weren't actually considered to be connecting through the Cloud, so managing the devices through the Cloud wasn't typically considered. It figured devices connecting on premise, then also manage devices through on premise.
Devices soon started to truly become mobile. Devices are now able to connect to the enterprise through data plans and through secure connections via WiFi, Mobile VPNs, Proxies in the DMZ, etc. At the same time devices were becoming mobile, companies were starting to build Cloud Computing that could handle just about any kind of server architecture and application hosting. Devices have started to connect to the cloud for all sorts of access, including applications, data, music, videos and much more. As Mobile devices start to access their information from the Cloud, companies are starting to consider moving other processes to the Cloud.
SAP, with its acquisition of SuccessFactors, started it's initiative to be a leader in the Cloud last year. With devies moving to accessing data in the Cloud, companies looking to move processes to the Cloud, and SAP owning Afaria, one of the leaders in Enterprise Mobile Device Management, it makes sense for SAP to provide a solution for MDM in the cloud.
Amazon is a leader in Cloud Computing with it's Amazon Web Services (http://aws.amazon.com). SAP has partnered with Amazon to provide Afaria In the Cloud (http://aws.amazon.com/sap/), along with it's other offering on AWS. Companies can now chose to put Afaria On Premise, but they can also use AWS to host and manage their mobile devices with Afaria from the Cloud. By providing Afaria on AWS a company is now able to reduce IT costs from an infrastructure standpoint, and existing customers of Afaria can reduce their costs by bringing their existing licenses of Afaria and moving to the cloud.
SAP also has multiple partners that will offer their services to help manage the infrastructure, further reducing the cost of infrastructure for MDM.
Companies wanting to test Afaria In The Cloud can enable a 14-day free trial The evaluation includes help from SAP mobile experts, who will guide companies through the test-drive process.
