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Tuesday, December 18, 2012

SAP Launches Latest Version of Industry-Leading SAP® Afaria® Mobile Device Management Solution

SAP Press Release:


SAP Launches Latest Version of Industry-Leading SAP® Afaria® Mobile Device Management Solution

Customers Anticipate Enhanced iOS and Android Device Management and Security, New App Portal Design for Familiar App Storefront Experience, New Self-Service Portal for Simplified Device Onboarding and Management
WALLDORF, Germany - SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) today introduced the latest version of SAP® Afaria®, the industry-leading mobile device management solution.¹ Enhancements to the industry's most widely deployed enterprise mobility management (EMM) solution will include deepening enterprise integration and distribution capabilities to effectively manage and secure the large number of disparate users bringing their own devices into the workplace. To address the growing use of enterprise mobile apps, SAP will include new app and self-service portal designs to provide a familiar, consumer-like app portal experience in the enterprise.
According to Forrester Research, Inc., more than two-thirds of North American and European information workers personally choose the smartphones and tablets they use for work.² To address this trend, enterprises are developing bring your own device (BYOD) programs that require a highly scalable, mature EMM solution — either on-premise or in the cloud — to effectively manage and secure all the various mobile devices and apps entering the workplace.
As recognized by IDC,¹ SAP Afaria meets the EMM needs of enterprises. These needs include traditional mobile device management (MDM) as well as managing and securing the entire mobile device, app and data life cycle across the enterprise. The latest release of SAP Afaria aims to remove complexity and support the growing mobile workforce by helping ensure that all data stored and transmitted via mobile device is protected and secure. It will allow customers to gain greater control and insight into a wide range of devices and apps, remotely back up and delete data if a device is lost or stolen and easily deliver fixes, upgrades and refreshes to mobile users.
"In our recent report on the mobile enterprise management (MEM) market, IDC recommends that enterprises evaluate mobile solutions that both manage and secure devices and mobile applications," said Stacy Crook, program manager, Mobile Enterprise Research at IDC. "SAP's MEM offering, [SAP] Afaria, looks to address the broad requirements of enterprises — for both corporate- and employee-owned mobile devices — and users. Some of the key solution differentiators for companies to look for include complete app and device life-cycle support, analytics on all data collected/managed, high scalability, product maturity/flexibility and on-premise and on-demand/cloud delivery."
Customers Demonstrate Successful Mobile Enterprise Management Strategies
SAP has more than 197,000 customers globally and many count on the customer and partner ecosystem around SAP Afaria for cutting-edge mobile deployments. Customers and partners are demonstrating premier customer success, extremely high scalability to support large numbers of mobile users and robust mobile services and solutions built on top of SAP® Mobile Platform and SAP Afaria.
"As the leading UK window covering provider for the country's 63 million residents, we strive to offer premier customer service, which is the key to our success," said Julian Bond, head of Information, Communications and Technology, Hillarys Blinds Ltd. "With 1,000 advisors spread across the UK, our ability to remotely manage their devices and connect them to our core processes at any time and from anywhere is key. Mobile applications built on SAP Mobile Platform and SAP Afaria help us maintain our market-leading position and more important, they allow us to keep our promise to the customer in terms of installing the right product on the day promised. We expect the latest release of SAP Afaria to extend its industry leadership and eagerly anticipate taking early advantage of its new business functionality."
"As the biggest operator and systems integrator in Switzerland serving 8.2 million customers, we partnered with SAP to meet growing customer demand for innovative mobile services," said Adrian Bisaz, head of Mobility, Swisscom. "Our goal is to address the full life cycle of mobile through our program, including mobile device management, distribution of mobile apps via an app store and the development of apps using SAP Mobile Platform. We are confident that the latest release of SAP Afaria in combination with SAP Mobile Platform will significantly improve all areas of our mobile services offerings."
"As one of SAP's first managed mobility partners, VeliQ helped pioneer the space almost a decade ago," said Alex Bausch, founder and CEO, VeliQ. "SAP Afaria supports a simple, self-service model that serves as the unpinning of our mobile platform-as-a-service (mPaaS), which includes mobile security and mobile app management. Moving forward we are excited to work closely with SAP to further evolve our mPaaS offering, which will include creating new, innovative services spawned from the integration of mobile, cloud and big data."
The latest version of SAP Afaria is planned to provide key features for enterprises:
  • Enterprise Integration
    • Deeper directory integration is intended to provide connection to multiple disparate directories for authentication and assignments which aim to provide trusted policy set up and simplify user on boarding for distributed systems. The distribution of data stored in directory values is planned for use with policy configuration to streamline the onboarding of BYOD devices.
    • Enhanced email access control and device remediation aim to provide greater scalability and security for large organizations that have multiple enterprise access control components in a distributed landscape.
    • Expanded PKI certificate management is planned to provide granular and secure control over the management and delivery of certificates.
  • Application Management
    • App portal enhancements aim to simplify the user experience by providing a familiar landscape that can be branded to a company while increasing mobile worker efficiency by guiding and instructing users how to leverage the most beneficial mobile applications that apply to their role.
    • New API for SAP Afaria and app policy features are planned for "zero-touch" setup so administrators can create and securely deploy apps without users needing to enter most app setup information, for example, server address, domain or, user name. This is planned to help significantly reduce help desk calls and create a more pleasant onboarding experience.
  • IT Services for BYOD and Enterprise Devices
    • Self-service portal updates are planned to simplify the interface used by mobile users to onboard and manage their devices as well as enable organizations to build their own custom interface.
    • Broad Samsung SAFE support for Android devices with planned additional email and security capabilities.
    • iOS enhancements are intended to provide increased jailbreak detection and support for regions of the world where jail-broken devices are prevalent; increased iOS configuration and application management capabilities are planned.
"SAP is the undisputed leader in MDM and now EMM. We win customers because SAP Afaria scales to meet the expanding requirements of large enterprises," said Sanjay Poonen, president and head of Mobile Division, SAP. "As the industry moves beyond MDM to EMM, customers resonate with our vision to connect over 1 billion devices, which puts us in the best position to future-proof their investment with the most expansive mobile platform in the industry."
The SAP Afaria rapid-deployment solution is available to help fast track implementation with pre-configured software and predefined services.
Test drive SAP Afaria with a 14-day free trial here. For a closer look, see: "Screenshots: SAP to Launch Latest Version of SAP Afaria." To hear how customers are successfully using SAP Afaria, see: "Video: SAPPHIRE NOW from Madrid in 2012 — Mobile Solutions in the Cloud Panel."
¹IDC, "Worldwide Mobile Enterprise Management Software 2012 – 2016 Forecast and Analysis and 2011 Vendor Shares" report, Stacy Crook, September 2012 2Forrester Research, "Building A Business Case For A Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) Program," Michele Pelino, October 23, 2012
For more information, visit the SAP Newsroom.

About SAP
As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device – SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable more than 197,000 customers (includes customers from the acquisition of SuccessFactors) to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

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