BYOD

BYOD: You’ve Seen It Coming

First it was just a few sales people with BlackBerrys. Then the CEO and CFO started messaging each other on their iPhones and iPads. Now everyone wants to bring their own device to work. The consumerization of IT has started an avalanche, and it’s headed your way. BYOD stands for bring your own device, but what it means for you is that the workplace is now as big as the world.

Netswitch can help you to start now to build the IT infrastructure, wide area and wireless networks that you know you are going to need tomorrow.

The following best practices were developed by the Netswitch Customer Solutions Group and provide three critical steps you need to take to ensure that your wireless network will be ready when tomorrow arrives at your workplace.

1. Prepare Your Network

Assess and plan to upgrade your wireless network to ensure that it is capable of supporting additional bandwidth requirements of employee-owned mobile devices, to include adequate Quality of Service (QoS) controls for the appropriate handling of critical traffic.

2. Implement Security Architecture and Policies

Review or create an IT Security Policy to address non-company owned mobile assets, to include:

  • Definition of the allowed types of devices and OS’s
  • Device and application ownership and management
  • Data loss prevention and compliance considerations
  • Develop a granular network access strategy to address mobile devices, and include an assignment of privileges based on user, device, location, and time of day
  • Implementation of identity management and network admission control technologies that deliver device profiling, posture, assessment, and/or remediation
  • Implementation of technologies for centralized authentication, authorization, and accounting
  • Use of content filtering technologies to enforce data loss prevention, threat prevention, acceptable use policies, and general access control.

3. Monitor and Manage Activity

Implement a mobile device management (MDM) strategy that can provide complete provisioning, configuration, monitoring, and reporting for connecting BYOD mobile devices.
Implement centralized and comprehensive wireless management and monitoring tools that provide converged user access, and identity management with complete visibility into endpoint connectivity, regardless of device, network, or location.

Put Netswitch’s extensive experience in wireless network design and architecture to work for you as you prepare for your future mobile workplace, populated with unlike device types and non-integrated protocols. We’ll focus on the problems while you focus on your business.

NetSwitch is a preferred CISCO provider and a GOLD Microsoft partner.