Good Technologies- MDM Plus Mobile UC

Good Technologies held its annual Good Exchange conference in New York this week, and I was struck by how much the message echoed what we have been saying in the UC space. Good is a perennial occupant of the Leaders Quadrant in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for MDM Software, and is particularly strong in regulated and other security sensitive industries. While the company is still key in the security space, a lot of the emphasis in now expanding into collaboration and what we would clearly identify as UC.

Good's flagship product is its MDM platform called Good For Enterprise (GFE) that supports iOS, Android and Windows Phone devices. When installed on a smartphone or tablet, the Good client creates a secure container that IT can manage remotely. That container includes an enterprise email client, calendar and contacts as well as a secure browser called Good Access and any custom apps the company chooses to distribute.

Those custom apps are secured using the Good Dynamics security libraries using either Good's software development kit or app wrapping capability. Regardless of whether the device's native encryption is activated, all of the data in the container is encrypted both on the device and in transit. The user must authenticate to access anything in the container, but it is single sign on, so once the user's credentials are accepted, they have access to all data and apps in the container. IT can also set very granular policies regarding how that secured data can be treated limiting printing, forwarding and copy & pasting.

Where Good is really stepping out is in its communication and collaboration capabilities. Good Connect offers secure instant messaging and integrates Microsoft Lync or IBM Sametime for presence status with corporate contacts. As with the smartphone's native interface, the user can initiate a secure text, voice call, or email (using the Good secure email client) right from the contact.

Good also integrates its secure communications capabilities with Microsoft's Sharepoint with its Good Share product, and allows secure access to Sharepoint documents without the need to set up a VPN connection. Good also integrates with Box's cloud storage solution with its Box for Good offering.

Samsung was a platinum sponsor of the event and is working with Good to integrate its KNOX secure container technology with GFE. Dr. InJong Rhee, SVP and Head of the KNOX Business Group for Samsung gave a short presentation on the alliance.

The major announcement for the conference was Good's tighter integration with Salesforce.com through its Good for Salesforce1 mobile app. The app effectively integrates Good's secure communications with Salesforce allowing users to initiate secure communications from within Salesforce.

While the Salesforce integration was the "big news", there were any number of applications highlighted where Good's mobile secure communications were integrated into customer business processes. One of the applications they described was developed by a nationwide rehabilitation company that developed a tablet app that allowed them to reduce the time to check in a patient by 80%. Many of these were done in conjunctions with Good's business partners who were in abundant supply. Among those was CellTrust, who's SecureLine™ product delivers secure and traceable voice and text capability with recording and archiving.

Probably the most interesting was Kansas City based biometrics firm EyeVerify. The company was showing its Eyeprint ID™ product that uses the front facing camera to capture an image of the veins in a users eyes to serve as an authentication mechanism. To log in, the user opens the app, looks at the smartphone's screen and focuses their eyes up and the left or right. The company claims that the eyeprint technology is highly effective and is the equivalent to a 50-character complex password. As Good has opened the APIs for its authentication process, users with Eyeprint ID™ can now use it to access their Good secure container.

While security is the basis for what Good does, they clearly get the idea about integrating mobile technology into business processes. What really gives Good an advantage over the mobile clients we see from the UC suppliers is that users have to use it. Organizations that deploy GFE do so because they have serious security requirements and will typically deny access to any device that does not have the client software installed. So if the user wants mobile access, the GFE client is going to be integral to the process, and secure mobile access is assured. Finally, as a mobile oriented company, Good is fully in sync with the requirements of mobile users.