Partners Commend 'Maturity' Of Mobility Management In VMware's New AirWatch 8

AirWatch by VMware, the cloud and virtualization-focused software company's mobility management portfolio, on Tuesday released the newest version of its principal product for mobility enterprise clients, AirWatch 8.

Partners acclaimed the new version's widespread support for multiple devices, a feature they stress enhances options for clients and shows the maturity of enterprise mobility management in the marketplace.

"I think AirWatch 8 is the start of a new enterprise mobility management trend to bring Internet-of-Things management into a single pane of glass. This is a growing need for certain companies that are using Internet of Things to drive new business solutions," said Marco Nielson, vice president of managed services at Norcross, Ga.-based Stratix, an AirWatch partner. "AirWatch 8 provides tighter integration with several Apple features, which I think many of our Apple-focused customers will be interested in ... from a security standpoint."

[Related: VMware To Salespeople: vSphere VMs Running On Microsoft Azure Is A Pipe Dream]

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The eighth version of AirWatch's enterprise mobility management platform focuses on supporting end users on a broader collection of devices, such as Chromebook OS and Apple's Volume Purchase Program on Mac OS X.

The platform also offers the industry's first enterprise mobility management touch ID integration feature for the enterprise and Chrome operating system management, aiming to make security features more convenient and seamless for end users.

AirWatch 8 was released one year after Palo Alto, Calif.-based VMware acquired AirWatch. Kevin Keith, director of business development at AirWatch by VMware, wants the platform to display to partners and end users in the enterprise space the benefits of the acquisition.

"This product goes to show what a difference a year makes," Keith told CRN. "We have just done some groundbreaking things, and now we're picking up momentum. The acquisition last year has expanded our reach into the ecosystem ... we're expanding that partnership and it is finding its way back into our product. We have so much more coming in terms of huge opportunities for customers to enable their mobile operation efficiently."

AirWatch 8 also can be integrated with the management platform for Jasper, a platform designed for the Internet of Things. Keith said that integration will expand AirWatch's enterprise mobility management focus to include connected devices.

"When you look at the opportunities with the Internet of Things, customers are also facing management struggles with connected devices and the adoption of mobility," said Keith. "When you have disparate devices, you have to be concerned with management, security and optimizing data usage. We wanted to address those concerns."

AirWatch 8 also includes various application life-cycle management improvements to help organizations monitor apps on employee-utilized mobile devices.

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In terms of channel opportunities, Keith said that AirWatch's platform creates a credible platform for partners to sell more services and strengthen their customer base.

"At the end of the day, channel partners want to lead their customers and be a trusted adviser in terms of the right solution to work with," said Keith. "In the last year, we've outpaced our competition, and I think this is a comfort for our customers."

Stratix's Nielson agreed, stating that AirWatch 8 opens up new ways for solution providers to appeal to a larger base of enterprise clients.

"This creates benefits and opportunities for everyone in the ecosystem," said Nielson. "[It] shows the continued maturity of enterprise mobility management in the marketplace, and the needs of enterprise customers to have tools to better manage their growing number of diverse mobile device equipment and platforms, now including Internet of Things as well."

AirWatch by VMware will continue unleashing new products in the future, said Keith. The Atlanta-based security provider will be present at next week's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

PUBLISHED FEB. 24, 2015