Corporate IT departments are finding it tough to deal with the increasing consumerisation of IT, where employees are bringing unsupported phones, tablets and other electronic gear into the workplace and expecting it to interact with company IT systems.

There are inherent security concerns that have many IT departments worried. Also, the need to support a growing plethora of devices is putting pressure on IT staff.

A range of SA IT companies have identified the space as a growth area, with Dimension Data and Gijima both active in the market.

Now JSE-listed Jasco reckons it has a solution the problem: a product from US company Aruba Networks that allows non-supported devices that can be registered over a wireless network and “contained” from a security perspective.

Users connect to a company wireless network and are offered a “captive portal page” from which they can download a security certificate. “Staff can login with their system username and password,” says Jasco senior solution architect for carrier networks, Paul Hendry. Visitors can be routed to the Internet without going via the corporate network.

“The system fingerprints the make, model and operating system of the device and then applies a profile and, if appropriate, puts the device on the corporate network,” Hendry says.

Apple products are supported, as well as BlackBerry smartphones, Windows Phone devices and some Android-based products.

Because the Aruba system identifies users, additional bandwidth can be assigned to, say, the CEO who wants to make a video call on his iPad.

It also allows IT departments to block mobile devices that do not meet company policies, control application use by whitelisting or blacklisting apps and network services and control bandwidth usage by rate-limiting network access by device type.

Paul McKibbin, Jasco’s divisional manager for carrier networks, says the SA market for these kinds of solutions is still in its infancy. However, the company is receiving interest from a range of companies, especially in the retail space. — Craig Wilson, TechCentral