Managing Android devices with Google Apps
At this year's Google Enterprise Day event in Tokyo, Google announced plans to improve the usability of Android devices in companies. To provide mobile access to corporate networks, many Android devices already offer tight integration with Google Apps, including Gmail, Google Talk and Google Calendar, as well as mobile access to Google Docs. Now, a new application is to improve the secure administration and synchronisation of devices, at least for the currently supported mobile platforms. Devices running Android 2.2, code named "Froyo", will reportedly allow employees to access corporate information via their personal or company-issued Android devices while allowing administrators to enforce data security policies. Admins are to be able to configure most devices directly in the browser without having to add a dedicated server.
Google's announced administrative features include: remotely wiping all data from lost or stolen mobile devices, locking idle devices after a period of inactivity and requiring a device password on each phone. Admins can set a minimum password length and require passwords to contain letters as well as numbers. Google said, when employees leave the company, the admin can withdraw their access to corporate information without requiring physical access to the mobile device. Users of Google Apps Premier and the Google Education Edition should be able to obtain the required Google Apps Device Policy Application free of charge from the Android Market in the next few days.
See also:
- Google completes Android 3.0?, a report from The H.
- Google: Android Market has 100,000 apps, a report from The H.
- Google reports >30% of Android devices now running 2.2, a report from The H.
(crve)