Google has added remote management controls to the Google Apps platform to give IT administrators greater control over their smartphone fleets. With the changes introduced Thursday, Google Apps Premier and Education Edition clients will be able to enforce corporate policies across a range of mobile devices from Apple, Nokia, Research In Motion, and Windows Mobile handset vendors.

“These policies will let employees access their data from their phones while helping IT administrators easily control access to corporate data on mobile devices,” Google software engineer Bryan Mawhinney wrote in a blog.

Remote Lock and Wipe

Among other things, the new controls will let IT administrators require a password on each phone and set minimum lengths for secure passwords, Mawhinney wrote. Moreover, administrators will be able to automatically lock down idle devices following a specified period of inactivity.

And once a user starts syncing devices with Google Apps, the domain administrator “will be able to remotely wipe device data — right from the user-settings page,” Mawhinney explained. All these features “will be accessible from the ‘Mobile’ tab under ‘Service Settings’ in the Google Apps control panel,” he wrote.

Thursday’s rollout to IT administrators represents the latest step in making Google Apps readily accessible from mobile devices, the company said. In the past 12 months, Google has launched the Google Apps Connector for BlackBerry Enterprise Server and announced new web versions of Gmail and Google Calendar for Android-powered phones.

What’s more, Google Apps Premier Edition and Education Edition clients have more options now offered by Google Sync — a new utility for Apple’s iPhone, BlackBerrys, Nokia E-series devices, and Windows Mobile handsets.

“Sync is a two-way service, which means you can add, delete or change calendar events or contact information on your desktop or on your phone,” Google said. “Whenever you do this, your other device…

Via NewsFactor

One Response

1. Reply   More from author

   yfilali

   February 4, 2010 at 3:00 pm

   Yacine.org: Google Apps Now Enforces Policies on Mobile Devices http://bit.ly/a0RvdS

   This comment was originally posted on Twitter

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