14 DAY TRIAL // Google's mobile operating system, Android, is enjoying increasing popularity among mobile phone users around the world, with a number of more than 200,000 devices being activated each and every day, the the Internet giant decided it was high time to deliver some more features to users. The company came up with new administrative controls that offer secure management of these devices via the Google Apps environment.
“With this launch, Google Apps provides a comprehensive mobility solution for all major mobile platforms. You can manage most mobile devices right from the browser, without having to deploy dedicated servers,” the company notes in a recent post on Google Mobile Blog.
While most Android-based devices already come with integration with Google Apps, such as Gmail, Google Talk, and Google Calendar, and with mobile access to Google Docs, now even more features are available for them, Google says.
The new features are mainly aimed at employees that use Android devices running OS version 2.2, which are offered the possibility to access their corporate information, while enabling administrators to enforce various data security policies.
Among these policies, we can count:
Remotely wipe all data from lost or stolen mobile devices Lock idle devices after a period of inactivity Require a device password on each phone Set minimum lengths for more secure passwords Require passwords to include letters and numbers
As soon as the employee leaves the company, the administrator can easily withdraw access to corporate info, so that the employee can continue using the device as it it’s their own.
The blog post continues: “These policies can be enforced on devices that have installed the Google Apps Device Policy application, which will be available from Android Market in the next few days.”
“They will be available free to all Google Apps Premier and Education Edition customers in the next few days, and can be accessed from the 'Mobile' tab under 'Service Settings' in the Google Apps control panel.”