MobileIron UEM R64

MobileIron UEM secures modern device platforms with zero sign-on, multi-factor authentication (MFA) and mobile threat detection. The product aggregates device and application information in a single pane of glass for easy provisioning, configuration and management across the entire deployment lifecycle.

MobileIron UEM always verifies devices, applications, users and networks. This “never trust, always verify” approach presumes the presence of bad actors on a network and only grants access based on the full context of the user, device, application in question and operating system. It also containerizes and eliminates threats on devices to protect data at rest and in motion and to enforce security policies.

MobileIron now features a new look view in addition to its classic dashboard. The new dashboard is cleanly designed and provides a high-level overview. Both dashboard options have fully configurable widgets, a useful feature that many products do not offer. However, even with these customizations we generally found navigating the product difficult and the included documentation was insufficient to help us.

Enrolling devices was also more challenging than we anticipated because an emailed link initiates the enrollment process. Many of the other solutions we tested included a QR-code to scan, a much easier and more efficient means of registering devices. MobileIron UEM did not seem to offer this option. We did, though, greatly appreciate the bulk-enrollment feature for Android devices. Bulk enrollments drastically reduce the overhead time otherwise required to enroll multiple devices.

Despite the hurdles we encountered, we liked many aspects of MobileIron UEM. 

Azure Active Directory, LDAP, Roster, Salesforce and Local Directories are leveraged to import users and any existing parameters and constructs. The ability to import existing users and user groups saves a lot of time and headache upfront when integrating this solution into existing infrastructures and enrolling new devices.

MobileIron has integrated the App Catalog with Apple Business Manager and the Volume Purchase Program. With UEM, organizations can purchase and allocate applications for users at volume. The volume functionality expedites application distribution, maintains compliance and reduces the time spent on management.

MobileIron Tunnel is a per app VPN application that sets policies and VPN configurations to trigger when an insecure or non-compliant device attempts to access secured resources. VPN tunnel functionality is very useful for organizations that include many employee personal devices on their networks.

MobileIron Threat Defense is integrated into the client and guarantees 100 percent adoption and activation. Threat Defense protects devices on the device, network and application levels. It even has built-in phishing protection.

Overall, this product is a worthy contender. MobileIron UEM is not a perfect solution, but the company promises many upgrades and enhancements on the horizon. We look forward to seeing the additions and improvements.

No base price was provided. 24/7 basic, no-cost support (Phone, Email, Knowledgebase and FAQs) is included for the duration of the subscription. A fee-based support option is available for an additional 20 percent of the license fee.

Tested by: Tom Weil