commonIT

A recent report from IDG Connect, iPad for Business Survey 2012 (needs registration to download) offers a fascinating insight into iPad take-up in the enterprise environment. The iPad for Business Survey focuses on professionals and their relationship with the iPad. Is it primarily a business tool, or an extension to personal usage? Who pays – user or employer?

Survey results show some interesting variations form continent to continent. If 2011 was the year BYOD took off, 2012 is shaping up to be the year corporate IT starts getting the tools to manage and discriminate professional and personal usage on unmanaged personal devices.

Google started it. When Google launched the Chrome browser some three years ago, one of the key security features was automatic updating. New code releases are downloaded in the background while the browser is running, and applied the next time the user re-starts the browser.

Google argues that this boosts security, compared with the splash screens and user dialogs of other browsers. Faced with the choice of (1) waiting for update code to download, waiting for the update to install, and waiting for the browser to restart, or (2) clicking “Cancel” and continuing to the page they wanted to reach when they launched the browser, many (too many) users choose option 2. The result? Out-of-date browser versions with unpatched security vulnerabilities.

Microsoft has now announced the introduction of silent updating for Internet Explorer, and Mozilla expects to bring out silent updates for Firefox in an as-yet unspecified future release.

Not everybody’s happy. Enterprise IT operations, particularly end-user support teams, will be in the front line when users find themselves unable to access a business-critical application which turns out not to be compatible with the latest version of the user’s favorite browser.

As long as users were primarily sat in front of corporate-issue MS Windows desktops, updates were under the control of the IT department. New browser releases could be tested against business applications for compatibility before being deployed to the desktop. In the age of BYOD, however, support and maintenance of the end-point environment is in the hands of the user; you can’t impose a locked-down corporate configuration on a device owned by the employee.

AirShip, the enterprise browser, has been designed to give control back to the IT department. The AirShip browser can be installed on a range of end-point technologies. It supports concurrent execution of multiple browser configurations, centrally managed and deployed to end user devices. With AirShip, the user connects to enterprise applications using the optimum browser release and configuration as defined by the system administrator. And AirShip can happily coexist with industry-standard browsers, so end-users can enjoy the latest release of their favorite browser for personal use while AirShip delivers a managed environment for professional use.

In a rare show of Anglo-French synchronization, the IPExpo event in London last month was mirrored by IPConvergence running at the same time in Paris. Both shows pitched themselves to visitors as the meeting place for cloud, communications, and mobility.

In Paris, cloud infrastructure services – IaaS – and unified communications dominated the show, with large stands showcasing the Cloud offerings of a number of (ex-) ISPs, hosters, and telcos. The London event was stronger on solutions vendors with sponsor “villages” highlighting this or that vendor’s solutions and partner ecosystem.

But while vendors, operators, integrators and just about anybody trying to sell IT solutions is pushing the Cloud, where are the customers?

Faced with a plethora of offerings, the customer is anxiously trying to work out what the best solutions are for their business- and how to fit those solutions together. Cloud computing may one day boost agility, but right now it’s doing a good job of boosting confusion.

This is where Cloud Services Brokerage fits in. The Cloud Services Broker is a specialized third party who can identify, select, and integrate multiple cloud services according to individual customer needs.

What does this have to do with CommonIT? With a new solution, AirShip, CommonIT complements the Cloud Services Brokerage with a focus on the end user. Multiple services from different clouds are likely to be even more confusing for the end user than for the CIO. With AirShip, browser configurations and connectivity are managed from the datacenter or in the cloud, with no end-user intervention. As cloud-based services evolve and migrate between private or public clouds, AirShip allows the enterprise or the service provider to deliver reliable, transparent connectivity for the end user.

Bob Cannan, CEO, Eagle Productivity: "The Apple iPad doesn’t support Adobe Flash. Our users are crying out for a solution.”

Eagle Productivity, based in upstate New York, has built a successful business around the development of ongoing professional training with a particular focus on the needs of the pharmaceutical sector. Eagle relies heavily on Adobe Flash technology to deliver rich, compelling web-based content meeting the needs of highly mobile professionals with little time for classic classroom-style training programs.

In early 2011 Eagle Productivity found itself faced with a new challenge. Those highly mobile professionals were among the most enthusiastic adopters of a new highly mobile consumer device — the Apple iPad. A device which doesn’t support Adobe Flash. The Eagle Productivity development team started looking into solutions that would allow them to meet the needs of their end users. When Brett de Tingo, Creative Director at Eagle Productivity, came across the Virtual Browser technology he wasted little time in contacting CommonIT to request an evaluation and proof of concept.

Working through summer 2011 engineers at CommonIT and Eagle Productivity collaborated to develop EverTrain, a customized, Eagle-branded iPad app based on Virtual Browser. After installing EverTrain the user enters a code which launches their connection to the corporate Learning Management Server (LMS). The LMS delivers content and manages progress through the training program according to the user profile. No re-engineering is needed on the LMS; Virtual Browser executes Flash content in the Cloud and displays the results in the app on the user’s iPad.

“Support for increasingly diverse end-point devices is a key differentiator in delivering continuing education to professional users. With the Virtual Browser technology, Eagle Productivity has taken a leadership position in the market” says Bob Cannan, CEO, Eagle Productivity.

The Eagle Productivity EverTrain app for the Apple iPad is available immediately for Eagle Productivity customers.

Version 2.1 of the Virtual Browser solution is now available. Among the many enhancements, we’re particularly proud of the work we’ve done to improve the way video streaming is handled (already discussed here), with automatic detection of embedded video and data compression optimized in real time. The problem with video is that when page rendering is taking place remotely rather than on the user’s system, the fluidity and continuity of real-time elements such as video can suffer. It’s important to us that the end-user experience of increasingly dynamic web sites and applications is identical whether they are using Virtual Browser or a classic locally-installed and executing web browser, so we chose to invest significant R&D efforts in the development of new techniques to deliver a superior video delivery mechanism for the Virtual Browser client. Not only have we achieved our objective with release 2.1, we’ve also dramatically reduced bandwidth requirements, by up to a factor of 10 for certain types of streaming. This is a key breakthrough in its own right as with the rapid uptake of the Apple iPad - a Virtual Browser iPad client has also been released - the number of users on 3G networks is set to accelerate. With Virtual Browser, any web application, including Flash-based applications and those supported only in IE, is accessible from any end-point device - including Apple’s.

Other new features in version 2.1 include support for VNC, complementing the already supported Citrix and TSE remote desktop environments. With this technology Virtual Browser can be deployed as a universal telecommute/mobile office environment, delivering remote access to the corporate intranet, web services, virtual desktop environments and even physical desktop systems.

Version 2.1 also offers new levels of flexibility in user interface management. A key feature of the Virtual Browser architecture is that the rendering engine and user interface are separate entities. This means the system administrator can decide what look-and-feel is presented to the user independently of the underlying browser technology and plugins.  For example, with version 2.1 the user can be presented with an Internet Explorer-like user interface while the Virtual Browser appliance is in fact executing Firefox. In the enterprise environment where the slightest change to an application UI can impact productivity as ingrained users habits are challenged, this feature can greatly facilitate application updates and migration while limiting the impact on the end-user population.

gPartner positions itself as a new generation of consultant, distributor and integrator for the SaaS market. Based in Paris and Lyon (France), gPartner is one of Google’s leading partners in the French market for the Google Enterprise family of products and services, with the expertise to integrate Google technologies in the core of the enterprise IT environment.

Seeking new ways to accelerate customer migration to online services, gPartner has turned to commonIT. With our Virtual Browser solution, the enterprise retains full control over end-user access to Cloud services through full management of the browser. Whether the need is for access and content filtering for security reasons, support for diverse end-point platforms and application environments, or to deliver transparent connectivity for end-users, Virtual Browser delivers performance and affordability.

The partnership with gPartner reinforces our positioning in the Cloud Services Brokerage market segment, where Virtual Browser facilitates and accelerates enterprise migration to Cloud Computing.

On September 30th CommonIT’s Swiss partner Navixia brought together 90 IT managers and consultants for the third Navixia Forum, a half-day conference dedicated to information security solutions.

This year the program included five customer case studies, including a prestigious Geneva-based client of commonIT who shared their experience of a Virtual Browser deployment with the audience. Participants responded enthusiastically to the presentation, covering how Virtual Browser is used to deliver a secure Internet access service. We’ll be bringing you more details shortly.

The Virtual Browser solution offers an excellent alternative to traditional VPN-based technologies for remote access to web-based applications or remote desktop (Citrix/TSE) environments, or even for connection to the office PC. Virtual Browser delivers higher performance and security, and it’s simpler and less costly.

To accelerate the uptake of Virtual Browser as a solution for mobile and remote access, we’ve developed an OEM partnership program for security and mobility solutions vendors. OEM partners will be able to offer Virtual Browser technology under their own brand, with pricing adapted to their business model.

The solution is delivered using the SaaS model, hosted on our own servers or on the OEM partner’s infrastructure, with technical support from commonIT. Our objective is to make Virtual Browser available to the largest possible user population through partnering with software and hardware developers for whom the solution represents an opportunity to add value and generate new revenue streams in a market where demand is strong.

In addition to the recently announced partnership with Hermitage Solutions, we are currently in discussion with three other potential partners in Europe; we hope to see the results early in the new year. For more about the OEM program contact us at oem@commonit.com.

It’s nearly two years since we started commonIT, and with the Cloud Brokerage market fast becoming the new challenge we’ve decided we need to reorganise. The first phase in our development is coming to an end. We’ve successfully validated that our concept of virtualizing industry-standard web browsers to deliver more secure, less costly access to Cloud-based applications answers a genuine need in the market. This required a significant investment in R&D to develop and deliver a customer-ready product in line with our ideas. We’re now entering a new phase in which the key challenge will be to position our Virtual Browser solution as one of the pillars of what Gartner describes as “Cloud Brokerage”.

CommonIT needs to evolve to continue to develop successfully. We’re working on a new round of funding with the target of supporting a three-year development plan. In this context we’re sorry to have to announce the departure of Daniel, our CEO. Daniel leaves us for purely personal reasons which he felt he could not reconcile with the demands of the leadership role in this new phase of development for commonIT. The role of CEO falls to me, David, with Albino and Mathieu contining in their respective roles on the management team. Alongside this change we’ve decided to put in place a strategy committee composed of experts with significant strategy, legal and managerial skills. This “advisory board” will have a non-official role, guiding our strategy as we move forward.

The Cyberdefense security solution developed and introduced a few months ago by commonIT partner Hermitage Solutions is an outsourced SaaS-style “Security as a Service” offering. Targeting small and medium businesses, Cyberdefense offers a full range of security functions, resolving the increasingly complex technical challenges faced by SMBs with an end-to-end security solution delivering legal and regulatory compliance and even an insurance policy.

Hermitage Solutions has chosen our Virtual Browser technology as part of the Cyberdefense offering. Under an OEM agreement Hermitage and commonIT have integrated Virtual Browser as a component of the SaaS platform. The result for Hermitage is a simple, secure, and cost-effective response to customer needs for mobile and remote access. Cyberdefense users get remote Intranet and Windows desktop access (physical or virtual), using any available machine, easily and securely.

With the Cyberdefense offering Hermitage Solutions positions itself as a Managed Security Services Distributor (or MSSD), with Cyberdefense being offered through Hermitage’s reseller network.