The rise of bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies and the adoption of Apple iOS and Google Android devices in the enterprise have continued to please forward-thinking, productivity-first organizations. When employees are given the keys to work on their own terms and from their own devices, they will deliver better business results.

Clearly, the battle for total enterprise mobility adoption has been won. Loaded with productivity apps, enterprise applications and corporate email, smartphones and tablets are the gold standard for out-of-pocket productivity.

Still, workers face hurdles in gaining the same type of mobile enterprise app access and connectivity on the go as they’re accustomed to receiving within their cubicles. Far too many organizations have struggled to identify a safe and reliable way to provide this access, and thus, they are reluctant to open the gates.

Lowering the Data Center Drawbridge

By way of their established technology alliance, IBM MaaS360 and F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager have integrated their enterprise mobility management (EMM) and access policy management (APM) technologies to provide IT with the tools and capabilities needed to grant their mobile enterprise user base with secure, on-the-go access to behind-the-firewall resources.

The combined solution assesses a mobile user’s device posture information to determine whether the smartphone or tablet should be allowed to receive secure access to enterprise resources. Access is granted based on mobile device management (MDM) enrollment status, compliance with corporate-mandated policies and proper authentication.

Organizations seeking a quick and seamless mechanism for granting full Secure Sockets Layer virtual private network (SSL VPN) access to corporate resources such as Exchange ActiveSync, Office 365, SharePoint and Active Directory need look no further. For ease of use, this integrated solution allows users the ability to access resources on demand, with access prompts configured and delivered directly from the EMM console.

Users can also establish VPN connections on a per-app basis via any of their MaaS360 managed apps. Avoiding the inconvenient need to re-enter credentials, the Kerberos network authentication protocol offers users single-sign on (SSO) capabilities, as well.

To learn more about the newly announced integration, the informational webinar, titled Empower Mobile Users With Secure Corporate Access Using APM and EMM, provides an excellent starting point. The official solution brief dives into a more thorough breakdown of the integration, and in-depth insights of the deployment use cases are also available via F5.