General4.04.2012

Sophos acquires DIALOGS

Sophos has announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire DIALOGS, a privately-held provider of mobile management solutions, headquartered in Germany. This acquisition further solidifies Sophos’s position within enterprise mobile protection.

“The increased prevalence of smartphones and tablets represents a major shift in the way people and businesses work and collaborate. IT staff at enterprises of all sizes are faced with new challenges and risks in handling and securing an array of corporate and personal devices. That, coupled with the ever-expanding usage of apps and the threat of device loss or theft, reinforces the importance of mobile data protection solutions,” says Brett Myroff, CEO of Sophos distributor, NetXactics.

As a key concern for mobile device users is secure access to corporate data, the combination of Sophos’s encryption and data protection capabilities and DIALOGS’ SaaS-based and on-premises mobile management technology provides a unique value proposition to the market – secure collaboration from everywhere.

“IT continues to see large numbers of mobile devices coming into the enterprise – both corporate and employee-liable – and is under intense pressure to bring these devices under control,” says Chris Hazelton, research director, Mobile & Wireless, 451 Research. “Email was the initial pain point, but management of mobile apps is taking center stage. Now more than ever, IT needs to focus on app data traveling across these devices. The ability to provide a flexible SaaS MDM offering paired with mobile application management will go a long way toward solving the mobility challenges faced by IT today.”

Together with DIALOGS, Sophos strengthens its mobile footprint. DIALOGS’ MDM solution, smartMan, is already at the core of Sophos Mobile Control and will form the basis for MDM and mobile management solutions that will be integrated into the Sophos UTM-based (unified threat management) suite. Additionally, DIALOGS offers mobile communication services for fast and reliable mobile messaging and location-based services, which Sophos will continue to support.

“CISOs and CIOs have major concerns about upholding security policies and ensuring compliance for mobile devices without hindering employee productivity. And in this evolving market, with Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) presenting further challenges to IT, our customers need the peace of mind that they can manage and secure all of their devices, irrespective of their users’ device preferences,” Myroff says.

Sophos’ security offering for mobile devices will be complemented by solutions for mobile security and mobile data encryption in the coming months. Joining forces with DIALOGS will allow Sophos to offer fully integrated solutions.

“We’re excited to be joining a complete security leader with deep background in mobile security,” says Frank Zimmermann, co-founder and managing director of DIALOGS. “Our complementary expertise will further strengthen the Sophos mobile development team, resulting in quicker time-to-market to deliver enterprises the industry’s most comprehensive mobile security offerings.”

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