ac3 tightens security of Government phones

Beverley Head
Wednesday, 02 November 2011 15:55

Business IT - Networking

Sydney based managed services company ac3 has announced it is offering a new service, initially targeted at NSW Government agencies, that will allow them to hand over the management and security control of their mobile phone fleet.

For a monthly fee ac3 would take over mobile phone fleet management for its customers, offering to provide a range of services from checking bills, to plan management, through to managing the software that is on the phones and being able to 'zap' the phone's content if it is mislaid or stolen. Initially the service is only available for mobiles on Telstra plans - but ac3 chief executive Phil McCrea said that accounted for about 75 per cent of all Government smartphones, and that services for other carriers would be added in the future.

The company, which is majority owned by the NSW Government, with the remainder owned by eight universities, has signed an agreement with Techhead Interactive which will allow ac3 to offer the service which is based on Techhead technology. According to Mr McCrea the problem of managing mobile phone usage and security has become acute with the advent of smartphones, adding; 'Ever since senior management discovered iPhones they have been proliferating.'

While managing phones when they were used simply for telephone calls was a challenge, it was increasingly necessary to take a more sophisticated and secure approach to managing smartphones which could contain significant amounts more data. 'This has become a real headache for our clients,' he said, adding that a number of agencies had already signalled their interest in trialling the service.

Although the service only applies to handsets or devices connected to Telstra, a wide variety of end user devices are covered by the service including iPhones and iPads; Blackberrys; Android phones and tablets; and devices using Symbian and Windows 7 Phone.