IBM to Acquire Fiberlink Communications

— IBM Security (@IBMSecurity) November 13, 2013

We live in an increasingly mobile world, one in which we expect to be able to experience and participate in both our personal and professional lives anywhere, anytime through our computing devices.  This change has had simultaneous impacts on internally focused IT teams working to roll out BYOD programs, as well as teams in the business that are looking to optimize things like commerce and banking for mobile devices.

We continually see security cited as the number one inhibitor to mobile adoption, but the reality is that all of these programs are moving forward anyway. According to our own recently released Chief Information Security Officer Assessment, mobile was the number one technology that security organizations invested in.

Going a step further, earlier this year we predicted that mobile devices would ultimately exceed traditional laptops and desktops in their security capabilities.

But we don’t just believe it, here’s how we’re working to make it happen.

Mobile is moving forward and here are four indispensable things you need to do to secure it

Foundational to any internal program around mobile is the ability to manage the devices themselves, including capabilities like remote wipe, policy management and configuration and of course, secure containers.  In addition to our on premise capabilities, with the acquisition of Fiberlink, a mobile management and security company, IBM will be able to offer our clients the ability to manage these programs through a SaaS platform, helping you get started fast.

Devices are great, but they are only as great as the applications on them.  Whether you are developing a customer facing or internal mobile application, it is critical to approach design and build of those applications with security as a core consideration.  IBM’s suite of mobile application capabilities provides organizations with the tooling to design and build applications, scan those applications for security vulnerabilities and then, leveraging our partner community, deploy those applications in such a way that inhibits rogue versions of the app from being re-created and distributed with embedded malware.

To go a step further, mobile devices and applications also present new methods of enhanced authentication and adaptive authorization that are available because of the unique input capabilities of mobile devices, such as geo-location, cameras and sophisticated touch screens.  In an internal application, with potentially sensitive data and information, using contextual and threat intelligence can help to more accurately determine if the user is actually who they say are.

As online commerce moves increasingly to mobile platforms, the opportunities for fraud will only increase. With the recent acquisition of Trusteer, IBM is helping to place an additional layer of security in the relationship between business and consumer, ultimately preventing fraud and illegitimate transactions, even in the cases where a device has been compromised.

IBM’s MobileFirst strategy is predicated on the idea that organizations around the world will soon (or perhaps have already in some cases) start to see design around mobile not as a secondary strategy, but as primary.

Rather than seeing security as something standing in the way of achieving that end, we see this as a tremendous opportunity to leverage the unique capabilities of mobile devices, of the new, more structured ways apps are designed and deployed, and embrace this change for what it is, the opportunity to put something more secure than traditional PCs in the hands of every user around the world.

PODCAST – Unlocking the promise of mobile: IBM to Acquire Fiberlink (MaaS360)

IBM to Acquire Fiberlink Communications, Transforming the Mobile Management and Security Market

Cloud-Based Mobile Management and Security Capabilities to Expand IBM MobileFirst Solutions; Organizations to Gain the Confidence and Flexibility to Fully Embrace Mobility 

ARMONK, N.Y. – November 13, 2013: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced a definitive agreement to acquire Fiberlink Communications, a mobile management and security company. Financial terms were not disclosed.

With Fiberlink’s MaaS360 cloud-based offerings, IBM will expand its bring your own device (BYOD) capabilities to deliver a complete mobile management and security solution through IBM MobileFirst that includes trusted transactions and security intelligence capabilities for mobile apps, users, content and data.

This announcement is another milestone in IBM’s strategy to build the industry’s most comprehensive set of mobile capabilities while eliminating barriers to adoption and accelerating the productivity benefits of mobility. At the same time, IBM is expanding the vision for enterprise mobility management to also include secure transactions between businesses, partners and customers.

“In a mobile first world, clients require a comprehensive mobile management and security offering. Often times they integrate solutions on their own and take on unnecessary risk,” said Robert LeBlanc, IBM senior vice president, Middleware Software.  “To protect and enhance the complete mobile experience, it’s crucial to secure the app, user, content, data and the transaction. The acquisition of Fiberlink will enable us to offer these expanded capabilities to our clients, making it simple and quick to unlock the full potential of mobility.”

Today’s announcement builds on the IBM MobileFirst strategy of bringing all mobile resources together in one platform. For example, organizations of all sizes will be able to build secure apps by design with IBM Worklight and IBM Security AppScan, deliver trusted transactions through integrated threat intelligence with Trusteer, and improve the user experience with Tealeaf. Now organizations can break free from one-size-fits-all security strategies and create more flexible, personalized mobile experiences that balance enterprise security with user privacy.

MaaS360 will become part of IBM’s Software as a Service (SaaS) portfolio of more than 100 cloud services. IBM plans to offer MaaS360 on the IBM SoftLayer cloud infrastructure.

Maximizing the Productivity Benefits of Mobility

A new report by the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV)¹ found that using mobility to enable a more productive workforce is an important goal for many organizations. In fact, half of the respondents reported a greater than 10 percent gain in employee productivity as a result of their mobile efforts. Additionally, the majority of respondents (58 percent) claimed “faster response time to customers” as one of the most important benefits of using mobile to improve employee productivity.

MaaS360 is being used across a variety of industries worldwide including financial services, healthcare and manufacturing. Using a cloud-based delivery model, MaaS360 decreases the amount of time and cost required for IT teams to support corporate BYOD programs. MaaS360 end-users can often enroll devices in less than five minutes with self service.

“While the proliferation of mobile devices provides great flexibility and agility for organizations, it also increases the complexity to manage and protect corporate data,” said Jim Sheward, CEO, Fiberlink. “We are looking forward to becoming part of IBM’s strategy to put mobile first and deliver holistic mobile device and app management and security for today’s always-connected workforce.”

MaaS360 will enable IBM to offer either cloud-based or on-premise mobile device management (MDM), mobile content management (MCM), and mobile application management (MAM) including containerization. Organizations will gain the building blocks to separate personal from enterprise data and content on mobile devices.

Additionally, the combination of IBM Endpoint Manager and MaaS360 will allow IBM to offer Unified Device Management, supporting either SaaS or on-premise deployments for all of an organization’s endpoints – from laptop, desktop and server to mobile devices. IBM also offers a range of other security solutions and services that address common enterprise mobility challenges including IBM Security Access Manager for Cloud and Mobile.

To hear more about today’s announcement and learn how organizations can benefit from IBM and Fiberlink, click here.

The acquisition is expected to close later this year and is subject to regulatory review and the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

About IBM MobileFirst

As the first new technology platform for business to emerge since the World Wide Web, mobile computing represents one of the greatest opportunities for organizations to expand their business. Based on nearly 1,000 customer engagements, more than 10 mobile-related acquisitions in the last four years, a team of thousands of mobile experts and 270 patents in wireless innovations, IBM MobileFirst provides the key elements of an application and data platform with the management, security and analytics capabilities needed for the enterprise. To learn more about IBM MobileFirst solutions visit the press kit or http://www.ibm.com/mobilefirst. Follow @ibmmobile on Twitter, and see IBM MobileFirst on YouTube, Tumblr and Facebook.

To learn more about IBM security solutions, visit: http://www.ibm.com/security

To learn more about IBM Cloud and Smarter Infrastructure solutions, visit: http://ibm.co/cloudsi

About Fiberlink

MaaS360 by Fiberlink is the trusted enterprise mobility management solution to customers worldwide — from Fortune 500 companies to small businesses. We make working in a mobile world simple and safe by delivering comprehensive mobile security and management for applications, documents, email and devices. Instantly accessible from the web, MaaS360 is easy to use and maintain and provides the flexibility organizations need to fully embrace mobility in every aspect of their business. Backed by the most responsive support in the industry, we put our customers first by providing them with the best user experience for IT and employees. Fiberlink is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. To learn more go to http://www.maas360.com.

(1) “The ‘Upwardly Mobile’ Enterprise: Setting the Strategic Agenda,” IBM Institute for Business Value in partnership with Oxford Economics, October 2013

Contact(s) Information:

Tod Freeman
IBM Media Relations
Phone: (415) 320-5893
Email: [email protected]

Liz Campbell
IBM Media Relations
Phone: (781) 820-9840
Email: [email protected]