Three tiers for BYOD - what you get for what you pay

Love it or hate it, bring-your-own-device (BYOD) was affecting security and network performance long before it became the industry’s newest buzzword. Proponents suggest that BYOD will make more room in the budget, and on the surface it seems like a cost-cutter.

But this is not true. A typical BYOD model costs 33% more than the traditional corporate-wireless model, according to Aberdeen.

When considering BYOD, organisations need to tackle three issues: security, impact on the network and budget.  Here are three approaches that address these challenges.

The Frugal Approach

Some IT departments are ‘securing’ their network by isolating all tablets and smart hone devices to a separate VLAN outside the corporate network, where the only way to access internal resources is via VPN. There are no specific mobile management capabilities, so IT utilise their existing network management solutions to monitor network traffic inside and outside the VLAN to detect suspicious activity and ensure that new demands on network bandwidth are being met. Does this work? Yes, for some organisations.

Is it optimal?  No - the IT team still lack visibility to discover who are the top bandwidth consumers and track these trends in the long term. Will it fit an existing IT budget? Yes, since the organisation is probably repurposing the tools it already has in place.

The Big Brother Approach

Other IT departments are willing to spend on dedicated mobile management capabilities. Costs add up quickly as more devices are introduced to the network. There are several approaches here as well - at various costs - but this approach is best for larger organisations or public companies that must meet compliance regulations. For example, an organisation can focus on the mobile endpoints and enforce end users for a password. Another area to explore is encryption of any sensitive data, such as corporate email. Consider selecting a SaaS solution that creates a so-called ‘dual-persona’ environment where some apps and data are cordoned off for enterprise use and others for personal use.

Some will choose to spend more and purchase highly advanced functionality. For example, they can register and remotely manage all corporate mobile devices deployed on a network, from initial configuration and set-up to automatically applying and tracking corporate policies. With some of these solutions, it is possible to do very cool things such as enforce pass-code locking, or even wipe out all enterprise content when a device is lost or stolen, while maintaining personal files such as music, pictures or videos.  Of course, this advanced functionality comes at a high cost.

The Wireless Pane of Glass Approach

Many IT organisations are focusing on managing their underlying wireless infrastructure - like Cisco and Aruba wireless LANs - while at the same time understanding who is using their wireless networks and for what purposes. Capabilities offered in this space range from live maps of controllers, LWAPs and user devices, to detection of rogue access points or reports on the encryption level and configuration of access points.

Some solutions can track user activity on wireless networks to the point of spookiness: they can track individual employees or visitors as they move around the building - how many meetings, where they took place, for how long - even where they had lunch.  This is huge for security and legal issues, but also allows IT to have a complete picture of what departments and specific users are eating up bandwidth for work (and non-work-related) tasks.

As the world spins towards 2013, it will be intriguing to see how IT plans are shifting because of BYOD - and who is still ignoring it.