Avast Eyes Enterprise Mobility Market with Remotium Buy

Avast, the popular provider of antimalware software, is making a play for the enterprise.

The company announced this week that it had acquired Remotium, a San Mateo-based mobile virtualization startup. Financial terms were not disclosed. All of Remotium’s employees have joined Avast.

The move is part of Avast’s strategy to provide mobile security applications and help large organizations ensure that their mobile workers comply with rules regarding the access and use of corporate data. “Remotium’s mobile solutions address the needs of modern enterprises,” said Vince Steckler, CEO at Avast, in a July 8 announcement.

Remotium’s Virtual Mobile Platform (VMP) provides secure access to enterprise applications on any PC or mobile device. “All data stays within the corporate data center. Sessions on the user device are non-persistent, and advanced features such as geo-fencing give IT control over where corporate tools and data are used,” explained Stephanie Fohn, CEO of Remotium, in a blog post celebrating the official launch of the company’s pay-as-you-grow ConneXion licensing program.

VMP also prevents the intermingling of corporate and personal data, setting both users’ and IT administrators’ privacy concerns at ease. The technology provides total “separation of user and corporate data eliminates the need to wipe phones after theft or employee status changes. Employees’ contacts, apps and activities stay private, encouraging adoption,” Fohn added.

Now, the mobile virtualization platform will help Avast, better known for its PC-focused antivirus products, make inroads into the white-hot market for enterprise mobility products.

“With Remotium’s technology, companies have visibility and security needed to ensure data integrity and corporate compliance,” Steckler said. “At the same time, users enjoy increased privacy, as well as apps that look and feel consistent across mobile and desktop platforms.”

Avast isn’t the first PC antivirus company to set its sights on enterprise mobile devices.

In recent years, as bring your own device (BYOD) initiatives proliferated in corporate circles, traditional PC security companies like Kaspersky and Sophos have extended their platforms to provide mobile device management (MDM) and security capabilities.

Trend Micro went as far as bundling MDM with its Enterprise Security and Data Protection, providing businesses with a one-stop solution for managing and protecting their PC and mobile endpoints. Earlier this year, Kaspersky added support for Samsung’s MDM platform, KNOX, to its blended security-MDM product, Endpoint Security for Business.

Pedro Hernandez is a contributing editor at Datamation. Follow him on Twitter @ecoINSITE.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

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