Robby Gulri, Echoworx
It’s been said time and again that companies seeking the most secure and manageable mobile system should just stay away from the Android operating system, because it simply isn’t enterprise ready. But here’s a pair of companies working to do away with the Android stigma.
Echoworx, a Toronto-based provider of credential management and managed encryption services, is partnering with Bellevue, Wash.-based NitroDesk, creator of the TouchDown email client, to deliver enterprise-grade credential management and encryption for Android devices.
TouchDown lets users synchronize their Android devices with Microsoft Exchange servers.
NitroDesk is adding the Echoworx Security Cloud to its offering to enable public key infrastructure functionality. Echoworx’s Security Cloud enables companies to access credential management and managed encryption on a hosted basis.
In an interview, Ronald Goins, chief operating officer, NitroDesk, said Android does have a bad security reputation – but it isn’t completely justified.
“That’s kind of a misconception back from the early days of Android,” He said, referencing the notion that Android doesn’t support enterprise-grade security. But he’s heard it all before: that Apple’s IOS operating system has an encrypted file system, while Android does not; that Android has a user-invokable encryption system, which isn’t as foolproof.
But that’s not the real issue, he said. Instead, the main concern about Android – an issue that IOS has as well – has to do with the user’s ability to access apps that may well compromise the device’s security.
“There was a period of time last year when almost every week there was some rogue app that was being pulled from the IOS app store or the Android Market,” Goins said.
