On October 14, 2015, VMware, which owns AirWatch, announced plans to acquire Boxer, Inc, to enhance security when employees are using email on mobile devices outside of the office. Boxer, a privately held company, offers a comprehensive and secure personal information management (PIM) solution for mobile devices to businesses and consumers.
Because Boxer enables the secure synchronization and use of native and third party productivity applications (email, calendar, tasks and contacts) and enterprise cloud collaboration tools (Salesforce, Box, Evernote, etc.) across mobile devices and platforms (iOS and Android), it should fold nicely into the AirWatch enterprise mobility management (EMM) solution.
For some time, TechOrchard has been participating in an online discussion of proposed AirWatch Inbox improvements suggested by customers. While Inbox has been a good email client solution for fully containerized email and/or a replacement for the native client on devices where the OS provided by the manufacturer is not supported for EMM management, we know that some of you have noticed missing “features” or minor bugs that made using AW Inbox less convenient for the end user than the native client.
VMware’s decision to purchase Boxer should result in a more elegant option for customers. Using Boxer, employees can quickly process email, choosing to share it, move it to other cloud applications, or mark it as read or as spam. All of this can be accomplished simply by swiping left or right on an individual email to bring up such options.
Like other major IT vendors such as Microsoft and Apple, VMware/AirWatch is leveraging its financial strength to improve its products by acquiring “best in class” solutions that fit existing needs. Ultimately, this will provide a more responsive, nimble product development path which, in turn, should provide a better, ever-evolving EMM solution for you and your end users.
VMware CTO Noah Wasser describes, “Upon closing of the acquisition, the combination of Boxer and AirWatch by VMware will create a world-class suite of services that will enable businesses to provide their employees with secure access to their email, content and apps.”
If you’re a current AirWatch customer, be sure to subscribe to these forums in your myAirWatch portal. In the meantime, TechOrchard will continue to pass along news items like this that may impact your EMM use or decision to purchase.
