Cloud Communications

Cloud Communications Feature

March 15, 2011

Proofpoint Unveil Cloud-based Mobile Applications

By Carrie Schmelkin, TMCnet Web Editor

For the past few years, Proofpoint executives have been keeping tabs on two emerging trends – people wanting to use their mobile devices for both personal and professional use and the consumerization of IT.

The two trends overlap “tremendously,” according to Proofpoint (News - Alert) employees, and Proofpoint’s latest solution, Proofpoint Mobile, addresses both trends.

“If you map out what Proofpoint tries to do as a whole, it is to provide our customers with the tools that provide them with the greatest level of security at the lowest cost of ownership,” Andres Kohn, vice president of technology and product management, told TMCnet in a recent interview. “With Proofpoint Mobile, we are providing more tools in the hands of the end users to allow them to be productive and gain more benefit from the solution at a lower cost. We are trying to allow our customers to have more tools to allow the users to be productive in a secure way.”

Today, Proofpoint, a leading provider of enterprise cloud-based e-mail security, archiving and data loss prevention solutions, introduced Proofpoint Mobile, a family of applications that has been in development for the past year. The mobile solution, which is aimed at information workers who are using their personal phones as part of their daily job, runs on the Proofpoint Security and Compliance Cloud Platform and is delivered either through light-weight, native applications, or mobile-optimized Web-based applications, according to a company press release.

The new solution contains several applications including Proofpoint Mobile Encryption, Proofpoint Mobile Archive and Proofpoint Mobile Dashboard.

“Cloud and mobility are here to stay and forward looking, it’s a core part of our strategy to continue to deliver mobile solutions that help with security and compliance for enterprises,” Kohn told TMCnet.

Proofpoint Mobile Encryption allows one-click decryption for users on mobile devices, while still reducing the risks associated with regulatory and corporate policy violations. Proofpoint Mobile Archive “places the power of an infinite inbox into the mobile users’ hands and provides on-demand access to multiple years’ worth of email information at the touch of a button,” according to the company.

The final feature, the Proofpoint Mobile Dashboard, provides instant access to Proofpoint’s security and Call Tracking System (CTS (News - Alert)) information, which provides critical security information including global spam effectiveness, deployment stats and customer tracking tickets.  

“Employees and executives are demanding the ability to use their personal consumer devices for work and they are using them whether their company allows it or not,” said Peter Galvin, chief marketing officer of Proofpoint, in a statement. “Our Security and Compliance Cloud Platform is enabling mobile email security and compliance, ensuring corporate IT can meet their requirements while allowing employees to utilize a new generation of consumer devices.”

“We recognize that security and compliance must be interwoven into any mobile initiative,” he added. “Without it, costly data breaches and compliance violations will occur. Our cloud-based mobile applications will allow any enterprise to welcome consumer-based technology into their communications fold.”

Through its cloud based services, Proofpoint can address security, litigation and privacy –the three concerns it tries to address with each solution.

“From a security point of view, all of these applications leverage our secure cloud infrastructure and secure connection to ensure that users are able to do what they need to do in a secure way,” Kohn said. “One of the key things with the mobile archive application is by allowing users to access all of their email through mobile client, organizations can ensure that all that data that they are accessing remains in one place, the archive, so that for future litigation discovery is very easy.”

Rami Habal, director of product marketing for Proofpoint told TMCnet, that everything around these three risk carriers leverages the power of the cloud “as seen through the eyes of a mobile device.”

“A lot of the heavy lifting is going on in the cloud,” he said.


Carrie Schmelkin is a Web Editor for TMCnet. Previously, she worked as Assistant Editor at the New Canaan Advertiser, a 102-year-old weekly newspaper, covering news and enhancing the publication's social media initiatives. Carrie holds a bachelor's degree in journalism and a bachelor's degree in English from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.
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