Apple Partners with Cisco for Enterprise Security Connector

Apple and Cisco have partnered to make Apple a major player in enterprise technology. In Cisco’s recent Cisco Live customer event, Apple CEO Tim Cook took the stage to discuss the partnership and what it means for both companies moving forward (39:55 mark in above video). Ultimately, the move signals a long-awaited focus on the enterprise for Apple, and could very well mean Apple integration into many AV systems that have been seeking simple integration for years.

The first product announcement to come out of this partnership is the Cisco Security Connector. Expected to be released in the fall of 2017, the Cisco Security Connector will allow organizations an increased level of visibility and control across all enterprise devices, including iOS devices. The Cisco Security Connector will allow companies to track enterprise-owned mobile devices while meeting risk and compliance requirements. The security comes thanks to Cisco Umbrella and Cisco Clarity security functionality.

Here’s more from a recent Cisco blog post:

With the Cisco Security Connector, organizations gain the following:

Visibility: Ensure compliance of mobile users and their enterprise-owned iOS devices during incident investigations by rapidly identifying what happened, whom it affected, and the risk exposure.

Control: Protect users of iOS devices from connecting to malicious sites on the internet, whether on the corporate network, public Wi-Fi, or cellular networks.

Privacy: Safeguard corporate data and users by encrypting internet (DNS) requests.

Cisco is also working with cyber insurance companies in order to develop an architecture that enables insurance providers to ultimately offer lower prices to customers. This will be accomplished through continuous security monitoring and a measurable reference architecture, which will include Cisco and Apple technology.

Finally, Apple and Cisco have announced some future plans for their partnership. This includes broadened support for Apple devices on Cisco networks by extending the “fast lane” for business critical apps to macOS. It also includes delivering meetings with Cisco Spark and Cisco WebEx on iOS and Safari.

It’s clear that Apple has noticed other powerhouses focusing on the market. Microsoft has all new features for Office 365, Google has unified G Suite by Google Cloud, and Amazon Connect is already helping companies like GE.

With a new partnership with an enterprise technology staple like Cisco, Apple can get right up there with the rest in terms of enterprise adoptability.