controlling wireless costs with any connection reportingany connection reporting is part of what...

Controlling Wireless Costs With Any Connection ReportingSupporting Three Dimensions of Mobile Intelligence

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Any Connection ReportingSupporting Three Dimensions of Mobile Intelligence

Wireless Spending: Out of Sight, Out of ControlEmployees today are connecting their laptops to the Internet from everywhere: homes and customer offices, airports and train stations, hotels and retail stores, street corners and moving cars.

These mobile workers expect simple connectivity and fast performance. They expect to be able to use whatever access point is most convenient. They want to use whatever mobile data cards and software they find or put on their systems.

But they don’t pay much attention to cost.

So it is no surprise that wireless connectivity costs are spiraling upward.

Unfortunately, most organizations can’t make intelligent decisions about how to contain these rising costs, because they have no systematic way to track connection and cost data across all of their employees and service providers.

But there is a tool that enterprises can use to reduce the cost of wireless connectivity even as usage grows: Any Connection Reporting.

In this white paper we will provide a general overview of Any Connection Reporting. We will then look at specific applications of this technology and see how organizations can use it to:

•Reduce the cost of 3G data service plans.•Select the most appropriate and cost-effective

connectivity plans for employees.•Reduce the number of hourly and daily

connection fees in hotels and public places.•Simplify inventory management for mobile data

cards.•Reduce the potential for costly security breaches

and strengthen compliance reporting.

Table of Contents

Wireless Spending: Out of Sight, Out of Control ......................................2

What is Any Connection Reporting? ..............3

1. Reduce the Cost of 3G Service Plans .........3

2. Select the Most Cost-Effective Connectivity Plans .................................4

3. Reduce Connection Fees in Hotels and Public Places ...................................5

4. Simplify Inventory Management ...............6

5. Reduce Security Breaches and Strengthen Compliance Reporting ................7

Summary: Controlling Wireless Costs with Any Connection Reporting ...................9

Appendix: Mobility Intelligence ...................9The Maas360 Visibility Service ...................... 9The Maas360 Control Service ....................... 10The Maas360 Mobile Service ........................ 10Maas360 Security Services .......................... 10

End Notes ......................................... 10


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Any Connection Reporting is part of what Fiberlink calls “Mobility Intelligence.” Mobility Intelligence is the use of mobility-related information to address three major objectives: cost reduction, security and regulatory compliance. We will look at how Any Connection Reporting addresses these threedimensions, and an appendix will discuss how other aspects of Mobility Intelligence can provide additional cost savings and operational improvements for mobile workers.

What is Any Connection Reporting?IT and networking groups typically find themselves supporting a large body of connection managers. These include software (and sometimes hardware) that manage connectivity with Wi-Fi hotspots, 3G cellular networks, wireless network routers at home, corporate wireless LANs, and dial-up networks.

In fact, a survey of medium-sized and large enterprises found that the average laptop contained three connection managers and the average IT group was supporting nine connection managers across different business groups and geographical regions. i

The vendors of these connection managers typically supply some reporting for their products. Unfortunately:

•The data collected by each connection manager is often insufficient for any useful analysis.

•There is no consolidated view of data across all the connection managers, service providers and devices being used.

“Any Connection Reporting,” as implemented by theMaaS360 Platform, involves placing a light-weight software agent on laptops and other mobile devices to collect data on all connections made from those devices. That data is sent to a hosted management platform “in the cloud.” The data from multiple devices is consolidated into reports that are available through a browser-based interface. The data in these reports can be filtered and sorted on line, or downloaded to a spreadsheet, database and expense management system for additional analysis.

It should be noted that Any Connection Reporting, as implemented on the MaaS360 Platform, is a hosted

solution—operating “in the cloud.” This provides several advantages:

•Low monthly subscription fees instead of a large capital investment.

•No investment in servers, server software or facilities.

•No operating costs to manage, support and upgrade the server.

•Ease of deployment and scaling, from a handful of users to tens of thousands.

In the next sections of this white paper we will see how these reports can be used to reduce costs, simplify the support of mobile workers, improve data security, and help demonstrate compliance with government regulations and corporate standards.

1. Reduce the Cost of 3G Service Plans3G data networks can boost the productivity of mobile workers by allowing them to make wireless connections at broadband speeds using cellular networks.

But this productivity comes at a cost. 3G data service plans for laptops typically cost from $25 a month for a few megabytes of data and domestic service, to over $100 a month for unlimited data and international reach. So the cost of providing 3G data plans to 100 laptops might range from $30,000 to $120,000 or more.

Of course, not every mobile worker needs a 3G data plan. But how can an administrator tell which individuals need a plan and which don’t?

Figure 1 shows a report that can be used to identify mobile workers (and not-really-mobile workers) who might not need a 3G data plan. This report shows mobile data connections made within the last 180 days, sorted by user name.

One user has made only six 3G connections in that time period, with a total duration of about 100 minutes. This employee, and others like him, can probably be taken off the 3G plan, or at least moved to a less expensive one.




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Figure 1: This report shows an employee who has used his mobile data plan only six times in 180 days.

To extend our calculation above, if 20 of the 100 employees could be taken off the 3G data plan, the organization might save between $6,000 and $24,000 per year in connection costs.

2. Select the Most Cost-Effective Connectivity PlansTelecommunications carriers and network service providers offer a range of wireless connection plans based on types of service (3G networks, Wi-Fi connections, dial-up) and geographical reach (North America, Europe, Asia, worldwide). Some plans offer limited minutes and megabytes, some unlimited, and some pools of minutes or megabytes that can be spread over a group of users.

Some companies, including Fiberlink, offer plans that aggregate services from many service providers.

Because the costs of the plans vary so widely, identifying the right plans for each group of users can provide tremendous savings.

Figure 2 shows an example of two reports that can be used to analyze connection usage for individual users. The first report shows details of Wi-Fi connections, and the second shows details for Broadband and Wi-Fi connections together. Figure 1 (above) shows similar data for 3G network connections.




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Figure 2: These reports show data that can be used to evaluate Wi-Fi, 3G and broadband usage, so the most cost-effective connectivity plan can be assigned to each user group.

This information can be downloaded to spreadsheets, databases and expense management systems, so administrators can analyze aggregate usage by user groups, departments, connection types and other factors.

The data available from these reports allows organizations to select the most cost-effective connectivity plan for each group without sacrificing productivity and convenience for employees.

For most organizations, Any Connection Reporting is the only practical way to compare data across service providers and across geographical regions.

3. Reduce Connection Fees in Hotels and Public PlacesAlthough free Wi-Fi services are available in many hotels, stores, airports and other public places still charge hourly, daily or monthly fees for Wi-Fi access. And many employees will reflexively take out their company credit cards, even if there are better alternatives, such as a corporate connectivity plan or a free hot spot nearby.

These connection fees can add up, especially when employees stay in hotels for significant periods or visit countries with high Internet access charges.

Figure 3 shows a report that can be used to identify connections made through a Wi-Fi service often used by locations that charge for Internet access. The employees making these connections can be contacted and reminded to use less expensive alternatives.




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Figure 3: This report shows employees who may be paying unnecessary Wi-Fi access fees in hotels and public locations.

4. Simplify Inventory ManagementMany enterprises have large numbers of mobile data cards circulating in the field. Often these are swapped between users and systems without any notification to the central networking or operations group. Those groups have no way tracking mobile data cards by users or machines.

As a result, expensive cards end up lost or underutilized.

In addition, when it is time to upgrade to new connectivity plans, administrators might need to contact hundreds of laptop and distributed PC users in the field to determine which systems can handle the upgrade.

Figure 4 shows a report that tracks what mobile data cards are in the field, by computer and by user.

With Any Connection Reporting, inventory information on mobile data cards, which otherwise might take weeks to collect, is available centrally in a few minutes.

A Fortune 500 manufacturing, finance and media company is planning to collect data on connections made by its employees at major hotel chains. It will use this data to negotiate more favorable rates with those hotels. The potential savings for this company is tens of thousands of dollars per year.




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Figure 4: A report showing mobile data cards installed on laptops.

5. Reduce Security Breaches and Strengthen Compliance ReportingSecurity breaches can be extremely expensive, leading to regulatory fines, expensive programs to notify customers and employees and to protect them against identity theft, extensive clean-up and remediation efforts, and the cost of lost business.

A global entertainment company is planning to use Any Connection Reporting to track mobile data cardinventory and to establish a baseline for their upgrade to new mobility services.

The company will collect data on the distribution of installed mobile data cards so they can determinewhich will support the new services and how many new ones need to be purchased.

They will also use connection data to assess the optimal service plans to assign to different user groups.

This company expects Any Connection Reporting to reduce costs by:

•Eliminating the need to collect by hand and collate mobile data card and connection data.•Reducing the number of new mobile data cards purchased.•Helping administrators assign the right service plans to users, rather than the most expensive ones.•Shortening the upgrade process.




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A recent survey of 45 large enterprises found the total cost of data breaches averaged $204 per compromised record, or $6.75 million per event. ii

Unfortunately, mobile workers frequently expose confidential data to loss by:

•Using unencrypted wireless connections, leaving data vulnerable to interception and eavesdropping.•Connecting via unauthorized Wi-Fi access points, leaving data vulnerable to “man-in-the-middle” attacks.

Figure 5 shows a report that can be used to identify at-risk connections. This shows users who have been using connections with open authentication and no encryption. It also shows users who are connecting through insecure home routers and hotel access points without encryption.

Figure 5: A report showing connections with open authentication and no encryption.

These employees can be contacted and trained to use more secure methods.

Administrators and security staff can also identify situations where additional security measures should be enforced. For example, vendors such as Fiberlink can provide services that enforce the use of virtual private network (VPN) connections, that encrypt data stored on laptops and mobile devices, and that implement Data Leak Prevention (DLP) software.




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In addition, a number of US federal and state government regulations, as well as legislation from other government bodies around the world, require that organizations apply best industry practices to safeguard data on mobile systems. This includes ensuring that all wireless communication is encrypted.iii After tracking down and eliminating open and unencrypted connections, IT and networking staffs can use Any Connection Reporting to prove that they are complying with these requirements.

Summary: Controlling Wireless Costs with Any Connection ReportingAs mobility becomes the standard mode of work rather than the exceptioniv, and as connectivity options multiply, there is an increasing risk that wireless connectivity costs will spiral out of control. Yet most organizations lack the data to make intelligent decisions about how to contain these rising costs.

Any Connection Reporting provides a means to collect and report on data about wireless connections for all connection managers, service providers, and mobile workers. It can provide a complete picture of wireless network connectivity across the entire organization. And as a hosted solution “in the cloud,” it is easy to implement and operate.

In this white paper we have looked at five ways Any Connection Reporting can help enterprises control expenses:

•Reducing the cost of 3G data service plans, by pinpointing employees who infrequently or never use them.•Selecting the most appropriate and cost-effective connectivity plans for employees, by identifying how

often and how much employees are using wireless connections.•Reducing the number of hourly and daily connection fees in hotels and public places, by identifying

connections made through fee-based service providers.•Simplifying inventory management for mobile data cards, thereby minimizing the need to purchase new

mobile data cards and providing data to help with upgrades to new connectivity plans.•Reducing the potential for costly security breaches, by identifying vulnerable open and unencrypted

connections, then strengthening compliance reporting by providing documentation that wireless connections are being encrypted.

These capabilities help organizations address the three dimensions of Mobility Intelligence: cost reduction, security, and regulatory compliance.

Appendix: Mobility IntelligenceAny Connection Reporting is one aspect of what Fiberlink calls “Mobility Intelligence”: the ability to use information about mobile workers and devices to protect, connect and control mobile data. Organizations with significant numbers of mobile workers should consider the full range of Mobility Intelligence options, as provided by the four MaaS360 services summarized below.

THE MAAS360 VISIBILITY SERVICEThe MaaS360 Visibility Service gives IT and networking staffs a detailed knowledge of laptops, netbooks, distributed PCs and mobile devices. It collects and correlates data from mobile endpoints so administrators can assess installed hardware and software, identify missing patches, flag outdated anti-virus signature files, and assess the state of firewalls, anti-virus packages, data encryption, and other security applications running on the endpoints.




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All brands and their products, featured or referred to within this document, are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and should be noted as such.

For More InformationTo learn more about our technology and services visit www.maaS360.com.1787 Sentry Parkway West, Building 18, Suite 200 | Blue Bell, PA 19422 Phone 215.664.1600 | Fax 215.664.1601 | [email protected]

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THE MAAS360 CONTROL SERVICEThe MaaS360 Control Service gives IT operations staffs control over laptops, and distributed PCs. It allows them to automate the processes of updating patches and anti-virus signature files, remediating security applications, applying network access controls (NAC), and reporting on compliance with corporate policies and government regulations.

THE MAAS360 MOBILE SERVICEThe MaaS360 Mobile Service dramatically simplifies the support of mobile workers and devices. “Road warriors” can use a single interface and a single password to connect easily to Wi-Fi, 3G, broadband and WLAN networks. Fiberlink’s virtual global network of 101,000 access points gives enterprises an option to work with one vendor worldwide for wireless connectivity instead of multitude of network service providers.

MAAS360 SECURITY SERVICESThe MaaS360 Platform can be used to deploy and manage a wide range of critical endpoint security applications, including personal firewalls, anti-virus packages, VPN clients, data encryption software, data leak prevention solutions, and backup and recovery services.

End Notesi. Survey of 333 IT Staff At Companies Of 500+ Employees, Kelton Research, February 2008. Survey

sponsored by Fiberlink.ii. 2009 Annual Study: Cost of a Data Breach; Understanding Financial Impact, Customer Turnover, and

Preventative Solutions, Ponemon Institute, January 2010.iii. For example, Massachusetts 201 CMR 17.00 includes a requirement for: “Encryption of all transmitted

records and files containing personal information that will travel across public networks, and encryption of all data containing personal information to be transmitted wirelessly.” See: http://www.mass.gov/Eoca/docs/idtheft/201CMR1700reg.pdf. A similar requirement is included in an amended version of Nevada NRS 603A: http://www.leg.state.nv.us/Statutes/75th2009/Stats200916.html#Stats200916page1603

iv. Mobile Work is the ‘New Normal,’ CIO Magazine, September 15, 2009. http://www.cio-digital.com/ciodigital/20090915/?pg=18&pm=1#pg20





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