NitroDesk announces Cockpit, the first Mobile Productivity Management Solution for cost effective BYOD Implementations

BELLEVUE, Wash., Feb. 5, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- NitroDesk Inc., the makers of the world's #1 third-party Exchange ActiveSync™ client for Android, iOS, Mac OS X and Windows announces their Mobile Productivity Management (MPM) solution, Cockpit™ for TouchDown™.

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Many Enterprise and Small and Medium Businesses (SMB) are finding that they do not need the granular management capabilities of traditional MDM solutions, such as geo-fencing, root detection or the ability to disable a device's camera. In many cases, MDMs are much more than what is needed when the company only needs to manage the corporate data container, which includes the PIM client, as well as a document editor. Being able to ensure data security from end to end, including document editing, has become critical in a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) environment. Having the document editor and management capabilities in one integrated lightweight, controllable environment is a big win for corporate IT shops.

Cockpit allows simple, efficient management of the TouchDown corporate data container and enables an administrator to effectively manage the container and apply policies to the user's device without impacting the user's personal data. Corporate BYOD policies typically require separation of the corporate data from the user's personal information. Cockpit allows IT administrators to ensure that data security is maintained via policy management with a minimum of effort, while ensuring that the user's personal experience is not impacted.

"MDM solutions have made great strides in legitimizing the BYOD movement, and in many cases they are still the right choice when their specific features are needed.  However, when effortless and lightweight management of only the corporate data container and productivity suite is all that's needed, Cockpit for TouchDown is the right choice," according to Ron Goins, Chief Operating Officer of NitroDesk Inc.

Exchange ActiveSync policies provide security enforcement at a high level to most mobile devices that connect to the server. However, these policies are very generic and are not always tailored to match the nuances of various mobile platforms that connect to it. Examples of this include the ability on Android clients to display widgets, speak out emails, show notifications and the commonly available ability to copy and paste information between applications. While usability is improved with such additional functionality on the new emerging platforms, it comes with a risk of increased threat surface from a Data Loss Prevention (DLP) perspective.

Traditionally MDMs have provided the administrator with mechanisms to set application level policies in the corporate data container. While MDMs provide the richest and most powerful way to configure policies applied at the device level, Cockpit provides administrators a centralized mechanism to set policies at the container level. The Cockpit console allows an administrator to set platform specific policies that would be enforced at the container level on each of the devices in his organization without necessitating device enrollment or user level tracking. Since the TouchDown container is a self-enrolling application, it comes with a high degree of accuracy in identifying the end user as part of the organization and accordingly setting policies to enforce.

With the Cockpit console, the administrator can set PIN enforcement policies to override those provided by Exchange ActiveSync as well as additional controls that determine application behavior such as signatures, ability to display sensitive information in widgets and notifications, ability to speak out emails and notifications and the ability to copy data from email content. This also includes the ability for the administrator to set known good configurations for the clients that are connecting for the first time, thus ensuring a uniform end user experience that matches the corporate needs and reduces support headaches.

In addition, an Enterprise provisioned on Cockpit would also have easy means to automatically distribute end user licenses to its users and track license usage as well as be notified of user thresholds being exceeded.

Pricing and Availability

Cockpit is slated for a Q2 release. Go to cockpitcontrol.com for the latest information. For pricing, customers should contact [email protected]. Contact [email protected] for beta program participation.

About NitroDesk Inc.

Founded in May 2008, NitroDesk Inc. is the developer of TouchDown, a popular application that lets users synchronize their Android, iOS, Mac OS X and Windows 8 powered devices with corporate email, contacts and calendar on their Microsoft® Exchange Servers. NitroDesk currently operates its head office in Bellevue, Washington.

Brand Name Disclaimers: Microsoft, Exchange, ActiveSync, Android, Mac and iOS may be trademarks of respective owners. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries.

SOURCE NitroDesk Inc.