Today, the SAP Afaria team is pleased to announce that Afaria version 7 SP4 is now available for sale. I’ve shared a few recent blog posts on a couple of the highlights from this release, and will go into more detail on the entire release in this blog.
At the highest level, SAP Afaria now offers full support for iOS 7, including managed app configuration, single sign on and per-app VPN, new support for Samsung KNOX, and enhanced support for Windows Phone 8, including application deployment and management.
Afaria and iOS7
Apple has added many new management features to iOS 7, expanding their focus on the enterprise market by adding important features that address security corporate requirements. Apple is continuing to focus on mobile device management (MDM) as the mechanism for managing and securing all iOS devices. This means that Apple is making MDM an even more important aspect of a company’s mobile strategy.
There are many new features in iOS7 that further consolidate the role of MDM in protecting enterprises against costly downtime or IP theft:
- Open in Management to control sensitive documents and email
- Per App VPN for secure communications
- Single Sign on for enterprise applications
- VPP enhancements to improve licensing of enterprise applications
- Streamlined enrollment for corporate owned devices
We believe that the features in iOS7 will significantly help our customers. The simplification of the enrollment process, app configuration, and the renewed focus on the enterprise app store and changes to the VPP program all drive to a more seamless user experience.
Please see this short 17 minute overview of SAP Afaria for iOS7 and read my detailed blog on this topic.
Android Enhancements: Afaria now manages Samsung KNOX and enhanced support for SAFE
In SP4, we’ve made some enhancements to Android support overall and also added support for Samsung KNOX. SAP Afaria can now manage the Samsung KNOX container. Samsung provides a complete set of features that include:
- Enterprise license management
- Container creation & configuration
- The ability to set container policies
- KNOX-specific inventory reporting
There are over 180 features that can be enabled and disabled. They fall into three main categories and a few of the most interesting ones are highlighted below. The KNOX functionality provides complete separation between personal and business data on a single device. Effectively, your device becomes a device with a “split-personality”. You can log in to the business side of the device (the container) and find apps that are guaranteed secured. The personal side of the device isn’t regulated by the strict guidelines, and it isn’t managed.
Watch this 20 minute video overview of Afaria for Samsung KNOX. Watch this demo video for an overview of the installation and configuration of SAP Afaria for Samsung KNOX. Read my blog for more details on Afaria for Samsung KNOX.
If you’re interested in Samsung SAFE, changes in this version include the ability to configure WiFi and APN, collection and view of the Samsung MDM extension version on the device in inventory and SAFE extension (MMEP) no longer required user to accept admin privileges
New App Management features in Windows Phone 8
We have introduced a new Afaria client that addresses the need for application deployment and management. This new client allows you to deploy enterprise and Windows Store apps. App updates are performed automatically. Apps are automatically removed when the device is out of MDM control, providing added security if the device is lost or stolen. There is a featured categories and featured apps listing as well as support for package tracking for enterprise apps. To take advantage of this new client, and unsigned Afaria app is provided in the Afaria image. It can be signed by the enterprise with their certificate and distributed to the device through Afaria.
Additionally, we have added location collection for device tracking, MPNS ad-hoc messages and remediation messages, and enrollment user prompts through the SSP portal.
Additional enhancements
While the above are the highlights of the new release, I would be remiss not to mention the smaller stuff. We have added improvements to the Afaria console, Expanded role permissions on policies, groups and device security actions, User group assignments improvements and made improvements to multi-tenancy and performance. If you’d like details on any of these additional enhancements, I encourage you to reach out to your account team for a demo.
If you’d like to start a trial of Afaria, the SP4 version will be available soon via http://www.sapmobilesecure.com.
