Meet WSO2 EMM 2.2.0!

We're excited to announce yet another landmark of our EMM story:  the latest version WSO2 EMM 2.2.0! WSO2 EMM comes with a host of device management, app management and analytics features that benefit IT admins as well as device owners themselves.

Let’s explore some of the new key features of this release.

Device Management

The latest release comes with improved APIs for better extensibility, advanced WiFi profiles and supports device restrictions available in Android 5.0 - Lollipop upwards.

Advanced WiFi Profiles

Some organizations prefer to configure enrolled devices over-the-air (OTA). The previous WSO2 EMM version supported only WEP (simple profile with only SSID and password input) and with 2.2.0 organizations will be able to configure enrolled devices with advanced WiFi profile types, such as EAP, WPA2 and enabling TLS/TTLS.

Device Restrictions

WSO2 EMM 2.2.0 supports all device restrictions (e.g. network configuration, VPN configuration, volume control) available from Android 5.0 - Lollipop upwards. For the complete list of supported devices restrictions, refer to our official documentation (Note: camera setting was delivered in a previous release).

App Catalog at Your Service

In the previous WSO2 EMM distribution, when a mobile application needs to be installed on a device either the admin will have to push applications to the mobile device via the WSO2 EMM Management Console or the device owner will have to be granted access to the Management Console, which is not a practical scenario.

With 2.2.0, WSO2 EMM will have a standalone mobile app called ‘App Catalog’. The App Catalog lists all mobile apps the device owner is permitted to install. Device owners will be facilitated to install mobile apps with just a click of a button and to uninstall and remove them as well.

With this feature, admins will able to allow and deny mobile apps already installed in the App Store, so that a specific set of mobile applications are provisioned to device owners. This will also enable fencing unknown malicious mobile apps from accessing corporate data.

Room to Grow - Let’s OEM

With this release WSO2 EMM unlocks a host of features capable of underpinning OEM efforts for organizations using custom Android devices as part of their business strategy (e.g. medical devices, point-of-sale devices, kiosks). Managing custom devices is two-fold; you can either maintain custom firmware or use custom apps signed by the device vendor (or by the firmware key provided by the device vendor). The 2.2.0 distribution comes with a system service app that can be installed on the device and thereby used to perform root operations on the device.

Automatic Device Enrollment

With this, admins will be able initiate the device auto-enrollment by entering serial numbers via the Management Console for the required devices. Once corresponding devices are handed over to device owners, device owners will be facilitated to select the relevant serial number from the device and generate a one-time-token (OOT), which expires within a predefined duration. To complete the enrollment, you can either type in the OOT or simply scan the QR code.

This will increase the speed of enrolling a large number of devices with a few steps with less device user intervention.

Over-The-Air Firmware Upgrade

This feature will allow admins to upgrade device firmware (apps written to device ROM) via the WSO2 EMM Management Console to one/more devices in one go (e.g. a firmware upgrade to all COPE devices). Device owners, on the other hand, need not worry about manually obtaining the latest firmware, as upgrades will be auto-installed.

Silent App Installation, Update, and Removal

In the previous WSO2 EMM version, app installations would only take place subsequent to a user confirmation. With 2.2.0, apps can be installed, updated, or even removed from the device without the device owner’s consent.

Device Hard Lock

This enables admins to completely block a device user that can only be revoked by an admin. This will help organizations to screen out device users who breach organizational policies.

Device Reboot

This facilitates admins to remotely reboot Android devices via the Management Console.

How are my Devices Doing?

WSO2 EMM 2.2.0 offers an array of features to keep you up-to-date around your device portfolio.

Analytics Dashboard

The WSO2 EMM Device Monitoring Dashboard provides admins with insights into unmanaged and non-compliant devices, device distribution by platform, and BYOD/COPE ownership and connectivity.

Device Details

Admins can view both dynamic and static device related information via the WSO2 EMM Management Console. Viewable static data include memory, CPU details, and OS version. Viewable dynamic data include CPU/memory utilization, battery level, installed apps, connectivity strength, power status (i.e. on battery or plugged into a power source), and GPS location.

Alerts on Alerts

The previous WSO2 EMM Management Console facilitated admins to send alerts to Android devices; from WSO2 EMM 2.2 onwards, admins will be notified on the alert delivery and the device owner’s response to alerts as well, i.e. be notified on whether the alert was delivered, displayed, or dismissed. In addition, admins will be able to send custom alert types as well.

WSO2 Enterprise Mobility Manager (WSO2 EMM) is a 100% open source comprehensive platform supporting iOS, Android and Windows devices, which help organizations to deal with both corporate-owned, personally-enabled (COPE) devices and employee-owned devices with the bring your own device (BYOD) program.

You can download the product here and try it out for yourself. If you come across any issues please feel free to report them via the public JIRA.