Sybase's public product release during this week's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona has been the announcement of its expanded partnership with Samsung to deliver its Sybase Afaria Advanced Enterprise Security (AES) for Android. Focused on security and application management for Samsung's Galaxy S and Galaxy S II devices, Sybase Afaria 's core proposition is the provision of enterprise mobility solutions that bring high levels of productivity and security without complexity, allowing enterprises to extend best practices and policies to Android devices.

Sybase's concept with this technology roll out hinges on using the Samsung Galaxy S and Galaxy S II to set a new security standard within the Android ecosystem. With the widespread adoption of both personally-owned and corporate-owned Android devices, enterprise customers are naturally started to look for robust security solutions.

Technology analyst Jack Gold has suggested that enterprises are diversifying their installed base of smart phones as users demand the latest devices to complement existing company supported platforms — and that this means that we are witnessing a surge in the popularity of Android. "Products with extensive device support like Sybase Afaria significantly advance the off-the-shelf device capabilities of Android, iPhone, iPad, etc., making them enterprise-class through protection and manageability enhancements that safeguard corporate assets and minimize total cost of ownership," he said.

"As more employees are empowered with mobile access to enterprise systems, applications and data through their device of choice, the requirement for IT to support the widening array of device types can be extremely complex and unwieldy," said Willie Jow, VP of enterprise mobility at Sybase. "The combination of Samsung's devices and Sybase's mobile device management and security solution now bring Android to the level enterprises require for full-scale deployments."

Sybase Afaria Advanced Enterprise Security empowers enterprise IT with device management capabilities on Samsung Android devices (Android version 2.3 or later), including

• Security management: to enforce device encryption, remote lock/wipe, strong password security and corporate sandbox management.
• Application management: to deliver and control the applications that run on Samsung Android devices.
• Configuration management: to provide control over various ports (Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, camera, microphone), roaming, etc.
• Exchange Client Configuration: to configure native email clients.
• Over-the-air (OTA) deployments – to reduce the complexity of managing devices by automating OTA deployments, configuration and application management without the need for user intervention.