VMware Launches New Identity Manager in Mobility Initiative

SAN FRANCISCO—Having all but conquered the data center and desktop virtualization markets during the last decade, VMware has set its sights on some fertile new ground: enterprise mobility and security infrastructure.Even after acquiring key properties such as mobile management software provider AirWatch (for $1.56 billion) in 2014, real-time mobile app developer CloudVolumes (also in 2014), and new-gen cloud security maker TriCypher in 2010, VMware isn’t exactly pivoting to mobility, because it still has its front-line global virtualization installed base to mind. But the company is clearly putting heavy investment into the mobile space.On June 15 at a press event at the Press Club, the Palo Alto-based virtualization kingpin introduced a new cloud-based identity management service, additional support for Apple’s iOS devices, new hybrid cloud security, and a custom AirWatch workflow platform for AT&T customers.ACE Initiative GrowingVMware also said it has signed some notable new partners for its App Configuration for Enterprise (ACE) standards initiative, which was launched earlier this year by AirWatch by VMware, Box, Cisco, Salesforce, Workday and Xamarin. New members of the initiative announced June 16 include Bigtincan, Deputy, Docusign, Dropbox, Everbridge, Imprivata, Kony, Lua, Microstrategy, OnBase, ScrollMotion, ServiceMax, Showpad, Syncplicity by EMC and Webalo.ACE is creating a standard approach to configuring and securing cloud-based apps in the enterprise. By using the latest APIs available from Android and Apple iOS, ACE aims to provide a development framework requiring minimal effort for developers.”Our goal is simple: to enable business mobility on any device—PCs, Macs, as well as all the mobile devices of the future, and enabling from those environments a secure and managed experience for any app, from any cloud,” VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger told reporters.”We’ve made a lot of progress at individual productivity and some progress for team mobility, but the opportunity is in business mobility, where we fundamentally embrace mobility as the center of business processes. We will retool business processes with the mobile platform at the center.”Identity Manager Uses New IPTo that end, VMware introduced Identity Manager, using intellectual property from previous acquisitions to go with its own developmental upgrades. Identity Manager is designed to be “consumer simple, enterprise secure,” Gelsinger said, enabling secure enterprise identity management with consumer-grade expectations. VMware Identity Manager brings one-touch access to nearly any application, from any device, Gelsinger said.VMware Identity Manager also will be used by other VMware solutions and services, including VMware vCloud Air to VMware vRealize Air, to provide single sign-on for administrators to work across various management interfaces.Other highlights of the news conference:–VMware is taking its partnership with Apple, which is hurling itself headlong into the enterprise space, to a new level by developing connectors that make it more efficient for enterprises to equip employees with iPhones, iPads or Macs. The company pledged further commitment to iOS support by developing application configuration and vertical solutions for iOS.For now, iOS users can take their devices out of the box and have them automatically download and configure security and corporate policies from back-end systems running the VMware NSX platform.–AT&T Work Platform for split billing: This is now available for AirWatch customers. With the capabilities enabled by the Work Platform, AirWatch administrators can introduce split billing into their BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) programs in order to gain greater control and accountability for telecom costs.The package helps enterprises separate personal and corporate voice, messaging and data usage, making costs more predictable and providing on-demand expense reports and auditing.New Hybrid Cloud Security Option–VMware NSX with AirWatch and/or VMware Horizon hybrid cloud security for mobile users: VMware NSX, when deployed with AirWatch EMM (enterprise mobile management) or VMware Horizon, solves the enterprise security problem of over-provisioned data center access through the use of network micro-segmentation. Micro-segmentation locks down virtual machines by cordoning them off into various sectors, so that if one sector is compromised, the others aren’t impacted and the intruder is stopped cold.VMworld, the company’s annual user and partner conference, is set for Aug. 30 through Sept. 3 at the Moscone Center, San Francisco.