Tag: smartphones

An import ban has now been imposed on wireless products from the manufacturer by the U.S.

Samsung Electronics, from South Korea, has just lost a massive legal battle against one of its main rivals, Apple, over a case regarding a patent violation, following the order of a ban made by the International Trade Commission (ITC) against the import of its mobile gadgets into the United States.

This is only the most recent in a huge basket of patent infringement cases among the leaders in mobile.

The largest mobile gadget makers in the world have all been tied up in dozens of patent infringement suits against one another. In this particular case, Samsung was deemed to have been infringing on two patents that belonged to Apple. These patents had to do with the headphones and the technology for the touch screens.

When the final verdict was made in Apple’s favor, it meant mobile gadgets violating the patents had to stop coming into the country.

This means that Samsung mobile gadgets that use the touch screen technology and the headphones that are involved in the patent violate can no longer be imported, distributed, or sold in the United States. This doesn’t meant that all of the devices made by the company cannot be sold, but it does involve all of those found to be in violation of the patent.

At the moment, it is not yet known exactly how many gadgets from Samsung will be affected by this ban. The orders, themselves, have been sent to the desk of President Obama in order to receive his review. If he does not choose to veto the bans, then they will be put into effect and Samsung will be out of luck.

There are a number of different patent cases that remain pending between Samsung and Apple in several countries, as both of these companies work to broaden their market share in the sector of electronics and mobile devices and gadgets. These brutal battles have been going on for years and are expected to continue, if not worsen, along with the growth in popularity and complexity of the technologies.

Whether your company has an official policy on bringing your own device or not, employees are increasingly doing work on their own tablets, smartphones, laptops and personal computers. CIOs reported 28 percent of their employees were working on their own devices at least part of the time, According to a recent global survey reported by PWC. Gartner predicts that this number will rise up to 70 percent by 2018.

Security issues, data integrity, MDM (mobile device management) logistical problems, and compliance difficulties all arise from bring your own device. BYOD policies benefit from reducing technology overhead and learning curves, as well as increasing employee satisfaction since they’re using a device they prefer personally. The education sector in particular has been heavily promoting bring your own device, for both students and faculty. According to Ed Tech Magazine, 85 percent allow some form of BYOD. This allows the schools to expand the way students learn, although it does open up major security issues. One way to mitigate a number of the issues that come with this concept is through sandboxing.

What is Sandboxing?

A sandbox, in this context, refers to creating an isolated virtual environment on the smartphone. It doesn’t interact with the operating system, apps or data on the personal device. It limits access to system files and other device resources, making it harder for viruses and other malware to gain a foothold, according to TechHive. One of the leading forms of sandboxing in the mobile environment is Blackberry’s Enterprise Service, which handles mobile device management.

Blackberry Enterprise Service

Blackberry has always had a reputation for solid, enterprise level mobile technology that puts security concerns as the top priority. Blackberry Enterprise Service 10 is a powerful tool for a system administrator who is tired of pulling his hair out over unsecured personal smartphones connecting to company network resources. It supports Blackberry 10, Android and iOS platforms, so you can integrate pretty much anyone’s device who wants to use it on the network.

How it Works

All of the devices are managed through a central control panel, making the IT administrator’s job much easier, as the application is also capable of being run on a single server. The main feature of Blackberry Enterprise Service is the Secure Work Space. This is a sandboxed environment that can be controlled by the administrator to meet any government compliance policies and regulations. It also includes a firewalled connection, so you don’t have to put out any additional funds for a virtual private network to connect your mobile devices with. The Blackberry phone already has a sandboxing feature built in called Blackberry balance. It creates two distinct work spaces, one personal and one business. The work space side of the app is completely encrypted and secured to mitigate potential security issues.

If you’re going to allow or promote bring your own device policies in your workplace, you need to have mobile device management in place ahead of time. Otherwise, you’re going to come into work one way with everyone shouting about a massive customer data breach that’s tanked your stock numbers.

Have you used a form of sandboxing in your workplace before?