Google introduces mobile-device-management software for Google Apps, and opens up its BigQuery "big data" service to more developers.
Google (NASDAQ:GOOG)
has upgraded its mobile-device-management services for smartphones and tablets
based on its own Android operating system, as well as Apple's iOS and Microsoft
(NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Mobile platforms.
The company
made MDM software available for free to customers of its paid Google Apps for
Business, Government and Education suites of cloud collaboration software,
which Google hosts on its own servers.
Google Apps
customers can now manage Android, iOS and Windows Mobile devices from the
Google Apps control panel without requiring additional MDM software from the
likes of Good Technology, MobileIron or other purveyors in the space.
Through the Apps control panel, IT administrators can get a glimpse
of all mobile devices that are syncing with Google Apps, and revoke
access to individual devices in the event that employees leave the company.
Administrators may also define password requirements and roaming sync
preferences by user group, and view analytics information, such as how much
data devices are impacting the corporate network.
Google also updated
its Google Apps Device Policy application for Android with support for Android
4.0, the "Ice Cream Sandwich" build rolling out with Samsung's Galaxy
Nexus smartphone.
For Google,
providing MDM is crucial to boosting Google Apps' viability for enterprises at a
time when more and more employees are using their own Android smartphones and
iPhones in the workplace.
It's the type
of provision that can make or break contracts for Google, which is vying for
mobile market share versus Apple, Research in Motion and Microsoft.
Google
Enterprise Vice President of Product Management Dave Girouard made the
announcement Nov. 14 at
Google Atmosphere, the company's cloud-computing
pow-wow for CIOs.
The focus of
this year's event revolved around the confluence of mobile, social and "big
data," which are all contributing to the growing need for business
intelligence and other software that can crunch, compile and make sense of
massive amounts of information.
Speaking of big
data, Girouard at the event also
announced that
Google BigQuery Service, which is designed to
process for massive amounts of data analytics, has emerged from limited
developer preview. It now has a graphical user interface for analysts and
developers to churn through loads of data via a Web application.
Moreover, the
new REST API lets intrepid data scientists run multiple jobs in the background
and better manage tables and permissions. BigQuery is available free of charge
for now.
Atmosphere was
also the stage for a little competitive posturing by Google.
Responding to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's claim
that his company's Office 365 alternative to Google Apps is "winning"
against Google, Google Vice President of Enterprise Sales and Operations Amit
Singh said Google is taking business from its rival.
"Thousands
of customers every day are turning off their Microsoft servers and moving to
Google Apps," Singh said during the event. "I think we're doing a bit
of winning ourselves."
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