In Springboard Research’s latest Asia Pacific (AP) IT Market Predictions 2011 Report, we noted that rapid growth in the use of smart mobile devices, combined with an explosion in social computing, are already impacting the way end-users view and consume IT.

Over the next 12 months, Springboard Research believes the increased usage of and reliance on mobile devices will dramatically impact how end-users access enterprise applications and data. This will drive growing complexity for IT departments to manage as they face increased pressure to allow more consumer/personal devices into corporate networks.

While CIOs continue to grapple with the demand for greater access to information on personal devices, not all organizations are embracing the mobile device revolution. Many AP organizations will continue to operate in a traditional, internally focused IT environment, leaving employees with little or no choice about how they access enterprise information from outside as well as inside the workplace. Springboard Research believes, however, it will be a growing challenge for organizations to resist the tide of change by relying on traditional IT systems and policies. We believe that IT teams will be forced to address mobile security issues, which will gradually become a primary consideration, whether access from personal devices or mobility in general are seen as the underlying drivers or not.

Springboard Research recently examined mobile security solutions available from leading security software and network security vendors. These included Symantec and Juniper Networks. Both vendors have similar visions but slightly different approaches for assisting enterprises in addressing mobile security issues. Below is a comparison and assessment of both vendors’ mobile security:

 Symantec  Juniper Networks
Product Name

Symantec Mobile Security and Management Product Series

JUNOS Pulse – Mobile Security Suite

 Product Features • Device management
• Device security (Antivirus &  Anti-spam)
• Device encryption
• Strong authentication
• Antivirus
• Personal firewall
• Device monitoring & control
• Anti-spam
• Loss/theft protection
Mobile Devices Supported  
• Windows Mobile
• Symbian
• iPhone (no antivirus or anti-spam)
• Android (no SSL-VPN)
• BlackBerry (no SSL-VPN, personal firewall, or anti-spam)
• Windows Mobile
• Symbian
• iPhone (no antivirus or anti-spam)
• Android (no SSL-VPN)
• BlackBerry (no SSL-VPN, personal firewall, or anti-spam)
 Availability Available in selected AP countries from October 2010 (China not included)  
All smartphones are supported by December 2010 except for iPhone (by 1H 2011)

 Pricing   

Dependent on scale and scope of products and services.


Mobile security suite is sold starting from US$20 per device onwards.

List price:

25,000 devices: US$19 per device per year


50 devices: approx. US$70 per devices per year

 GTM Strategy

Symantec to leverage its traditional channel partner networks to approach enterprise customers.

First to cover multinational customers with clearer mobile security strategy and extending to Asia Pacific region, and also targeting large finance and government customers in the region who are moving to the direction to support more corporate and personal mobile devices usage in the corporate environment.

Juniper is first approaching mobile operators in Asia Pacific and trying to convince them to provide mobile security as a value-added service.

It has less emphasis on the enterprise market as of now, as they think the enterprise market has limited opportunities in the next 12 to 24 months. However, it also leverages its channel ecosystem to approach large enterprises with existing installed base for Juniper security products.

Bottom Line

Both vendors are targeting IT departments with a solution to manage the complexity of different models of smartphones and different types of applications used on the devices, but clear differences do exist. Symantec views mobile security as a part of its overall strategy to provide information and identity protection anywhere, anytime and on any device, which encompasses protection from external threats and internal data loss. By comparison, Juniper believes mobile security is a network issue and its solution has therefore been developed to resolve security issues from the network layer. Client software installed on mobile devices is monitored remotely by the network operation center, which is either managed by enterprises themselves or by managed services providers.

Springboard Research believes that, for many mid-size customers who are mostly managing their security from a software perspective, the Symantec solution is a good entry point. It provides comprehensive features for most enterprise and also mid-sized environments. For large enterprises with sophisticated network security policies and who have already deployed the Juniper/NetScreen security solution, Juniper’s network based JUNOS Pulse mobile security suite will work well and is easy to manage based on the JUNOS common operating system. Ultimately, CIOs should carefully evaluate the different approaches and select the most appropriate solution based on their existing security infrastructure and policies.

By Brian Wang, Analyst, Springboard Research