Sophos acquires mobile management provider Dialogs

Sophos today announced it is acquiring Dialogs, a provider of mobile management solutions and mobile device management (MDM). Headquartered in Germany, Dialogs' customers include European companies such as BMW, Daimler, Siemens, and ThyssenKrupp, among others. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.

The move represents just another page in the story of how IT is trying to keep up with the increasing number of employees who want to use their own mobile devices, be that smartphones, tablets, or something in between, to collaborate with their coworkers. Enterprises of all sizes are faced with new challenges and risks in securing an array of corporate and personal devices, which are only running an ever-expanding of apps. Add to this the constant threat of device loss or theft, and Sophos completes its arguments for buying Dialogs.

Sophos currently ensures IT can offer complete protection everywhere and on any device. Dialogs' technology will likely be merged into Sophos Mobile Control, which currently lets enterprises secure, monitor, and control mobile devices. Dialogs meanwhile offers an MDM solution, smartMan, which is already at the core of Sophos Mobile Control and will form the basis for MDM and mobile management solutions that will be integrated into the Sophos UTM-based (Unified Threat Management) suite.

Sophos says it wants to place Dialogs' SaaS-based and on-premises mobile management technology right beside its encryption and data protection capabilities. The security company will thus be pitching "secure collaboration from everywhere" for all companies interested in having secure access to corporate data on all their mobile devices. Dialogs supports all major devices and operating systems, including Android phones, iPhones, iPads, Android tablets, Symbian devices, Windows Mobile devices, and BlackBerry devices.

Last but not least, Sophos will also continue to support Dialogs' mobile communication services and location-based services. Dialogs can locate mobile devices via GSM and GPS and also offers SMS communication worldwide.

"We're excited to be joining a complete security leader with deep background in mobile security," Dialogs co-founder and managing director Frank Zimmermann said in a statement. "Our complementary expertise will further strengthen the Sophos mobile development team, resulting in quicker time-to-market to deliver enterprises the industry's most comprehensive mobile security offerings."

"CISOs and CIOs have major concerns about upholding security policies and ensuring compliance for mobile devices without hindering employee productivity," Sophos CMO Rainer Gawlick said in a statement. "And in this evolving market, with Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) presenting further challenges to IT, our customers need the peace of mind that they can manage and secure all of their devices, irrespective of their users' device preferences. This is only the beginning of Sophos' complete security offering for mobile devices and will be complemented by solutions for mobile security and mobile data encryption in the coming months. Joining forces with Dialogs will allow Sophos to offer fully integrated solutions."

See also:

• McAfee rolling out new security, privacy options for mobile devices
• Protecting user data in the post-PC era
• IBM acquires Worklight, eyes mobile device management
• BYOD busted? It’s OK we know you’re doing it.
• Apple's iOS cited as the most popular mobile OS for enterprise
• In 2012, consumers drive enterprise communications