Survey results show some interesting variations form continent to continent. If 2011 was the year BYOD took off, 2012 is shaping up to be the year corporate IT starts getting the tools to manage and discriminate professional and personal usage on unmanaged personal devices.

Google argues that this boosts security, compared with the splash screens and user dialogs of other browsers. Faced with the choice of (1) waiting for update code to download, waiting for the update to install, and waiting for the browser to restart, or (2) clicking “Cancel” and continuing to the page they wanted to reach when they launched the browser, many (too many) users choose option 2. The result? Out-of-date browser versions with unpatched security vulnerabilities.

Microsoft has now announced the introduction of silent updating for Internet Explorer, and Mozilla expects to bring out silent updates for Firefox in an as-yet unspecified future release.

Not everybody’s happy. Enterprise IT operations, particularly end-user support teams, will be in the front line when users find themselves unable to access a business-critical application which turns out not to be compatible with the latest version of the user’s favorite browser.

As long as users were primarily sat in front of corporate-issue MS Windows desktops, updates were under the control of the IT department. New browser releases could be tested against business applications for compatibility before being deployed to the desktop. In the age of BYOD, however, support and maintenance of the end-point environment is in the hands of the user; you can’t impose a locked-down corporate configuration on a device owned by the employee.

AirShip, the enterprise browser, has been designed to give control back to the IT department. The AirShip browser can be installed on a range of end-point technologies. It supports concurrent execution of multiple browser configurations, centrally managed and deployed to end user devices. With AirShip, the user connects to enterprise applications using the optimum browser release and configuration as defined by the system administrator. And AirShip can happily coexist with industry-standard browsers, so end-users can enjoy the latest release of their favorite browser for personal use while AirShip delivers a managed environment for professional use.

What’s got us interested in a device that clearly targets the consumer market (why else launch it just in time for Christmas?) is Silk, the native web browser. To quote from Amazon’s web site:

“Amazon Silk is a revolutionary, cloud-accelerated browser that uses a “split browser” architecture to leverage the computing speed and power of the Amazon Web Services cloud. Supports Adobe® Flash® Player.”

That last sentence is clearly targeted at the iPad; if you’ve been following us you know how to solve that problem. So what about this “revolutionary, cloud-accelerated browser”, then?

On closer inspection, it turns out that Amazon has adopted very much the same approach to browser architecture that we’ve been offering for nearly three years. Silk, like CommonIT’s AirShip product, selectively executes browser components in the cloud, streaming the result to the device. When we originally developed this approach for the Virtual Browser product, the objective was to deliver a highly secure web browser by isolating browser execution from the end point device. We quickly saw that this also offered the opportunity to boost browser performance compared with a natively executed browser, especially on older or less powerful devices such as battery-powered mobiles and tablets.

Amazon has taken the same approach for performance reasons. Amazon, of course, has a cloud ready to use for this. So the cloud-based browser, an approach originally developed by CommonIT, is now going mainstream. It’s nice to have company! But if what you need is a browser for enterprise deployment, offering centralized management, multi-platform support (user and server side), directory integration, multiple concurrent browser configurations… there’s still only one solution.

In Paris, cloud infrastructure services – IaaS – and unified communications dominated the show, with large stands showcasing the Cloud offerings of a number of (ex-) ISPs, hosters, and telcos. The London event was stronger on solutions vendors with sponsor “villages” highlighting this or that vendor’s solutions and partner ecosystem.

But while vendors, operators, integrators and just about anybody trying to sell IT solutions is pushing the Cloud, where are the customers?

Faced with a plethora of offerings, the customer is anxiously trying to work out what the best solutions are for their business- and how to fit those solutions together. Cloud computing may one day boost agility, but right now it’s doing a good job of boosting confusion.

This is where Cloud Services Brokerage fits in. The Cloud Services Broker is a specialized third party who can identify, select, and integrate multiple cloud services according to individual customer needs.

What does this have to do with CommonIT? With a new solution, AirShip, CommonIT complements the Cloud Services Brokerage with a focus on the end user. Multiple services from different clouds are likely to be even more confusing for the end user than for the CIO. With AirShip, browser configurations and connectivity are managed from the datacenter or in the cloud, with no end-user intervention. As cloud-based services evolve and migrate between private or public clouds, AirShip allows the enterprise or the service provider to deliver reliable, transparent connectivity for the end user.

Bob Cannan, CEO, Eagle Productivity: "The Apple iPad doesn’t support Adobe Flash. Our users are crying out for a solution.”

Eagle Productivity, based in upstate New York, has built a successful business around the development of ongoing professional training with a particular focus on the needs of the pharmaceutical sector. Eagle relies heavily on Adobe Flash technology to deliver rich, compelling web-based content meeting the needs of highly mobile professionals with little time for classic classroom-style training programs.

In early 2011 Eagle Productivity found itself faced with a new challenge. Those highly mobile professionals were among the most enthusiastic adopters of a new highly mobile consumer device — the Apple iPad. A device which doesn’t support Adobe Flash. The Eagle Productivity development team started looking into solutions that would allow them to meet the needs of their end users. When Brett de Tingo, Creative Director at Eagle Productivity, came across the Virtual Browser technology he wasted little time in contacting CommonIT to request an evaluation and proof of concept.

Working through summer 2011 engineers at CommonIT and Eagle Productivity collaborated to develop EverTrain, a customized, Eagle-branded iPad app based on Virtual Browser. After installing EverTrain the user enters a code which launches their connection to the corporate Learning Management Server (LMS). The LMS delivers content and manages progress through the training program according to the user profile. No re-engineering is needed on the LMS; Virtual Browser executes Flash content in the Cloud and displays the results in the app on the user’s iPad.

“Support for increasingly diverse end-point devices is a key differentiator in delivering continuing education to professional users. With the Virtual Browser technology, Eagle Productivity has taken a leadership position in the market” says Bob Cannan, CEO, Eagle Productivity.

The Eagle Productivity EverTrain app for the Apple iPad is available immediately for Eagle Productivity customers.

But the problem isn’t limited to the browser itself. The browser hosts mutliple add-ons and helper applications in an extremely complex runtime environment to offer the user seamless access to rich media content (PDF, webex, video streaming and so on). These add-on programs have (naturally) their own vulnerabilities. Adobe and Oracle issue frequent updates for their leading browser add-ons, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Adobe Flash Player, and Java. Recently, Microsoft announced that MMPC (Microsoft Malware Protection Center) had blocked over 6 million Java attacks in a single quarter. The problem for the enterprise is that any one of these updates may render the browser environment incompatible with business-critical applications – and it may be practically impossible to back out of the update. To avoid this situation many enterprises now freeze end-user deployments with a specific, tested Java release or service pack level of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer despite the security risks of not running the latest updates.

The winners, in this situation, are the security software vendors, continuously developing new solutions to install on the end-point platform (antivirus, antispyware, anti-malware…), each one slowing the PC down a little more, and mostly incapable of preventing an attack launched against the latest 0-day vulnerability. One way of resolving the problem would be to deploy a separate machine for each application, on every user’s desktop; isolated and correctly configured, security and performance could be optimized — for a certain cost. Fortunately for the bottom line, there’s the Virtual Browser solution.

Other new features in version 2.1 include support for VNC, complementing the already supported Citrix and TSE remote desktop environments. With this technology Virtual Browser can be deployed as a universal telecommute/mobile office environment, delivering remote access to the corporate intranet, web services, virtual desktop environments and even physical desktop systems.

Version 2.1 also offers new levels of flexibility in user interface management. A key feature of the Virtual Browser architecture is that the rendering engine and user interface are separate entities. This means the system administrator can decide what look-and-feel is presented to the user independently of the underlying browser technology and plugins.  For example, with version 2.1 the user can be presented with an Internet Explorer-like user interface while the Virtual Browser appliance is in fact executing Firefox. In the enterprise environment where the slightest change to an application UI can impact productivity as ingrained users habits are challenged, this feature can greatly facilitate application updates and migration while limiting the impact on the end-user population.

Seeking new ways to accelerate customer migration to online services, gPartner has turned to commonIT. With our Virtual Browser solution, the enterprise retains full control over end-user access to Cloud services through full management of the browser. Whether the need is for access and content filtering for security reasons, support for diverse end-point platforms and application environments, or to deliver transparent connectivity for end-users, Virtual Browser delivers performance and affordability.

The partnership with gPartner reinforces our positioning in the Cloud Services Brokerage market segment, where Virtual Browser facilitates and accelerates enterprise migration to Cloud Computing.

This year the program included five customer case studies, including a prestigious Geneva-based client of commonIT who shared their experience of a Virtual Browser deployment with the audience. Participants responded enthusiastically to the presentation, covering how Virtual Browser is used to deliver a secure Internet access service. We’ll be bringing you more details shortly.

To accelerate the uptake of Virtual Browser as a solution for mobile and remote access, we’ve developed an OEM partnership program for security and mobility solutions vendors. OEM partners will be able to offer Virtual Browser technology under their own brand, with pricing adapted to their business model.

The solution is delivered using the SaaS model, hosted on our own servers or on the OEM partner’s infrastructure, with technical support from commonIT. Our objective is to make Virtual Browser available to the largest possible user population through partnering with software and hardware developers for whom the solution represents an opportunity to add value and generate new revenue streams in a market where demand is strong.

In addition to the recently announced partnership with Hermitage Solutions, we are currently in discussion with three other potential partners in Europe; we hope to see the results early in the new year. For more about the OEM program contact us at oem@commonit.com.

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