Sophos, DIALOGS unite for mobile protection

Complete security leader Sophos, announced it's entrance into a definitive agreement to acquire DIALOGS, a privately-held provider of mobile management solutions, headquartered in Germany.

DIALOGS, one of Europe's leading mobile device management (MDM) providers with customers such as BMW AG, Daimler AG, Siemens AG and ThyssenKrupp, brings twenty years of experience in mobile product development. This acquisition further solidifies Sophos's leadership position within enterprise mobile protection.

Frank Zimmermann, co-founder and MD, DIALOGS, said "We're excited to be joining a complete security leader with deep background in mobile security. Our complementary expertise will further strengthen the Sophos mobile development team, resulting in quicker time-to-market to deliver enterprises the industry's most comprehensive mobile security offerings."

Chris Hazelton, research director, mobile and wireless, 451 Research, said "IT continues to see large numbers of mobile devices coming into the enterprise - both corporate and employee-liable - and is under intense pressure to bring these devices under control, email was the initial pain point, but management of mobile apps is taking center stage. Now more than ever, IT needs to focus on app data traveling across these devices. The ability to provide aflexible SaaS MDM offering paired with mobile application management (MAM) will go a long way toward solving the mobility challenges faced by IT today."

Together with DIALOGS, Sophos strengthens its mobile footprint, providing customers with complete security for their mobile workforces. DIALOGS offers an MDM solution, smartMan, which is already at the core of Sophos Mobile Control and will form the basis for MDM and mobile management solutions that will be integrated into the Sophos UTM-based (unified threat management) suite. Additionally, DIALOGS offers mobile communication services for fast and reliable mobile messaging and location-based services, which Sophos will continue to support.

"This is only the beginning of Sophos complete security offering for mobile devices and will be complemented by solutions for mobile security and mobile data encryption in the coming months. Joining forces with DIALOGS will allow Sophos to offer fully integrated solutions." Rainer Gawlick, CMO, Sophos said.