This is a rather interesting press release I spotted this morning. Â NitroDesk the makers of TouchDown an Activesync client for Android have announced their plans to officially support Lotus Notes Traveler. Â Now Touchdown has worked well with Traveler for a while, and there have been a number of new releases since I last played with it.
Here is the interesting part, I am not sure why someone using a supported Android Device would choose Touchdown over IBM’s Android App, but Touchdown supports the Kindle Fire (the Kindle Fire is not currently supported by Traveler) giving Traveler access to Kindle Fire Owners.
From the press release:
Bellevue, WA (PRWEB) February 03, 2012
NitroDesk, the makers of TouchDown, the number-one Microsoft® Exchange server synchronization solution for Android-powered devices, announce Lotus Notes support in the next release of TouchDown at the end of Q1.
System Requirements
TouchDown requires Lotus Notes to be running with Lotus Notes® Traveler. Lotus Notes Traveler 8.5.2.1 and above supports Android 2.x devices. Lotus Notes Traveler 8.5.2.2 and above supports Android 3.x devices.Pricing and Availability
NitroDesk TouchDown is priced at USD 19.99 and is available for download and purchase directly on the device from Android Market. Enterprise and volume-license customers and MDM partners should contact sales@nitrodesk.com for additional pricing options. A fully functional 30-day trial version is available for download in the Android Market.
Hi Mitch,
Email/contacts sync of Notes to TouchDown worked well before, but there were a number of issues with the calendar, particularly with meeting invites. These are all sorted in the latest TouchDown beta so I guess they now feel they may as well have official support…
As for why you might want to use TouchDown over the IBM client; the main reason we see customers using it is the integration TouchDown have done with various MDM platforms (MobileIron which we sell for instance, but also others). Your MDM platform can perform selective wipes (wipe business contacts, calendar & email only) of your Android device, configure email settings over-the-air, enforce encryption of the app, ensure the user has a passcode set on the app or their device etc. These controls are really the bare minimum a business needs to control a large fleet of smartphones, particularly if there is a mix of Andoird and iOS devices. TouchDown being a pure ActiveSync client also means it works well with most ActiveSync reverse proxies.
@Philip. Clarification- Traveler server can manage most if not all of these settings mentioned with or without another MDM product. See this link for the settings:-
http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/dominowiki.nsf/dx/Creating_a_Lotus_Notes_Traveler_policy_settings_document_LNT853
@Rob: Fair point, the Traveler app does give a fair amount of control which is probably enough for some, but most MDM platforms offer a huge amount of funtionality on top of the basic device controls offered by ActiveSync/NotesTraveler. For instance –
– Jailbreak detection – if you cannot detect jailbreak/rooting then there are apps out there that can easily trick the likes of the Traveler client into thinking the device is secure (encrypted, passcodes etc.) when it may not be
– Advanced passcode/encryption control offered by the likes of Apple MDM or Google C2DM
– App inventory and app black/whitelisting
– App deployment
– Automated over-the-air configuration of devices
– GPS tracking of devices
– Automated quarantining of out-of-policy devices
– Manage exactly which devices can connect over ActiveSync instead of allowing anybody with credentials and the server address sync their email
– Detailed fleet inventory
The list goes on and on so this probably isn’t the place to get into it, suffice to say there’s a lot to MDM. The Gartner Magic Quadrant document on the subject is a good read – http://www.sap.com/campaigns/2011_04_mobility/assets/GartnerReport_MDM_MQ_April2011.pdf