iBus InTouch Mobile Device Management

iBus InTouch Overview

Organizations, more than ever are recognizing and adopting mobility as an indespnsible strategic business tool by enabling a growing number of employees to use mobile devices to get their work done whilst on the move. Managing this ever-expanding fleet of mobile devices and ensuring end-to-end data integrity at the same time is a complex task for any organization.

Softwired iBus InTouch [IT] Mobile Device Management [MDM] is a flexible and extensible end-to-end enterprise solution for single-point access of applications and corporate data running on mobile devices. Softwired iBus InTouch MDM is designed for effective and efficient management of mobile devices offering reliable, low-cost, and consistent manageability that works well within existing corporate IT infrastructure. Softwired iBus InTouch MDM provides secure access to sensitive corporate data on mobile devices in a seamless manner, resulting in a positive end-user experience. By using Softwired iBus InTouch MDM, organizations are able to address evolving needs around device management and security while providing end users with real time access to corporate data through mobile devices. Softwired iBus InTouch MDM addresses the needs of a mobile workforce in an organization through device and security management over WiFi, GPRS and other mobile networks.

iBus InTouch Architecture

Built on top of Softwired's enterprise grade iBus Mobile Middleware Platform, iBus InTouch offers a unique Mobile Device Management solution tailored specifically for enterprise mobile deployments.

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iBus InTouch Product Components

• InTouch Administrator Console
• Database Systems
• InTouch Executor Service
• InTouch Message Broker
• JMS Provider and iBus Mobile Gateway
• Mobile Handset - iBus clients
• System Requirements

InTouch Administrator Console

The InTouch Administrator Console is an Eclipse RCP-based desktop application offering state-of-the-art user experience. Central to its operation, the iBus In Touch Administrator Console provides an intuitive user-interface allowing operations personnel to remotely monitor, configure and manage mobile devices and applications. The InTouch Administrator Console also enables you to build a comprehensive inventory of currently deployed devices. In addition to core mobile device management services, the administrator console includes a set of extended services to meet the exacting needs that are unique to large enterprise mobile deployments:

• Incident Management is a core area in today's IT Service Management [ITSM] processes and mobile device management is no exception. The InTouch Incident Management service assists operations personnel in restoring agreed services to the business as quickly as possible, thus ensuring the best possible level of service quality and availability to the enterprise. The Incident Management extension helps with steps of recording, classifying, investigating, analyzing, and resolving incidents related to your mobile deployment, so that normal operation can be restored in a timely fashion.
• Frequently more information is required than a single mobile device can provide. The Data Mining service presents an overview of monitored data gathered from your whole mobile device fleet. The powerful analyzer enables you to uncover important information about your mobile deployment as a whole, e.g. correlating signal strength with geo-spatial data to help identify i f your mobile service provider delivers the network coverage that has been agreed and contracted. Battery useage for a single mobile device can be compared to its operational peer group.
• iBus InTouch integrates Crystal Reports and the Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools (BIRT) to address the burgeoning reporting needs of today's operational departments. The Business Reports service allows your operating staff to quickly and easily generate reports of your mobile deployments based on key performance indicators [KPI's].

Database Systems

iBus InTouch is compatible with all major commercial (Oracle, IBM, Microsoft etc.) and open-source (MySQL, PostgreSQL, Firebird etc.) relational database management systems allowing for a seamless integration in your existing IT infrastructure.

InTouch Executor Service

The Executor Service allows seamless 24/7/365 management of your mobile device fleet. At its core, the Executor Service implements a configurable state machine engine, which is capable of executing complex, multi-stage mobile device management operations without user interaction. An example of such an operation is a multi-stage software deployment, following ITIL best practices:

1. Mobile devices are assigned to tiers. Tier 1 is a beta-testing group, that receives software updates first. If after a week no major flaws are reported, the software update is installed on tier 2 as well.
2. Mobile devices in tier 1 are notified of an available software update.
3. Tier 1 mobile devices receive the software update.
4. Once 90% [configurable] of the clients report that they have received the update package, an installation request is sent to the devices in tier 1.
5. After a week of testing, no issues were found with the new release, so devices in tier 2 are notified of the available update etc.

The Executor service is capable of handling scenarios as described above autonomously without user interaction. iBus InTouch ships with a set of predefined management processes gathered from best practices described in widely accepted best prctaices IT management frameworks, such as ITIL, PRINCE2, eTOM and others, and can be extended or customized to the individual enterprise policies and requirements.

InTouch Message Broker

The InTouch Message Broker [ITMB] forms the bridge between the InTouch management components (Administrator Console and Executor Service) and the rest of the enterprise network. Its role is to forward device management requests and replies between the backend and the mobile device. It encapsulates Open Mobile Alliance Device Management [OMA DM] and OMA Client Provisioning [OMA CP] XML commands into JMS messages and forward them to the mobile client. ITMB integrates with any commercial JMS provider that complies to the JMS specification 1.0.2b or higher. On the back end it connects directly to the database, from where it retrieves configuration information.

JMS Provider and iBus Mobile Gateway

The iBus Mobile Platform enables seamless extension of an existing JEE infrastructure to the mobile world with the same robust performance you expect in the wired world. The iBus Mobile Gateway supports JMS providers from all major vendors, including Oracle [BEA], SAP, Sun, JBoss and others, and all major mobile operating systems platforms, including Windows Mobile from version 5.0 onwards, Android, Symbian etc. Because iBus InTouch is built utilising iBus Mobile it provides for guaranteed message delivery, scalability to 100'000s of devices and easy integration into existing JEE infrastructures. In addition iBus Mobile enables end-to-end data communication encryption 'on the fly' and efficient binary data transmission and compression, minimizing bandwidth use and the amount of data transmitted resulting in greater efficiency and lower operating costs.

Mobile Handset - iBus clients

The iBus Mobile client library, which is an integral component of the iBus Mobile Platform is used to establish the communication layer to the backend. Connection management is handled transparently by the iBus Mobile Middleware Platfrom. The InTouch client application supports OMA DM as well as the OMA CP protocols to configure a mobile handset. Handsets that do not support OMA device management processes are supported by proprietary device management extensions.

System Requirements

Click to see the system requirements