Verizon Exec Discusses the Evolution of Mobile Security, Part 1

2007 was only six years ago, but our world was a very different place. We had a different president in the White House, the sports world had never heard of Biogenesis, and the word “smartphone” had not become mainstream. But companies with vision knew that the mobile technology market was poised to explode, and they knew that this would usher in an era of opportunity and challenge. These companies also had the foresight to partner up with other visionaries to get a foothold in the brave new world of mobility.

One company that got into the security space ads removal early was Verizon (News – Alert). I recently spoke with Cliff Cibelli, group manager of mobility solutions at Verizon, about the evolution of the mobile space, Verizon’s partnership withSAP (News – Alert), and more.

Back in 2007, Verizon had the vision to start looking at how to manage devices, and provide security for devices and applications. After looking at the mobile device management space, and decided that Sybase (News – Alert) was the best provider out there. According to Cibelli, most of the MDM players on the market were focused on trying to manage every device that was out there, covering the breadth of devices but not providing much depth. Sybase, on the other hand, was enterprise focused, drilling deep into the devices, allowing companies to control everything.

This was a time, Cibelli pointed out, when the iPhone (News – Alert) was just getting started and Android was not yet available. The primary focus of many companies was the range of Windows Mobile devices. Verizon quickly linked up with Sybase, including its product in a platform that was resold to customers using Afaria. Verizon also worked on a development platform that would allow users to create applications that would fit in the Verizon cloud. It launched its MDM product in 2009 and its Mobile Services Enablement Platform in 2010.

In part 2 of this series, Cibelli talks more about the evolution of mobile security and the concept of “employee-owned devices.”