Regulatory compliance is not an option – it is a cold, hard necessity. Security breaches can bring serious consequences. Failing audits can cause career setbacks. In the past, enterprises could think about security strictly in terms of centralized desktops and mainframes safely within robust corporate firewalls. But the same sensitive data that is protected by firewalls and intrusion protection systems in the corporate data center is increasingly showing up on unprotected mobile and remote computers.

THINKstrategies has found a growing level of adoption and interest in a new generation of ‘on-demand,' ‘cloud-computing,' pay-as-you-go services aimed at helping companies grapple with a wide array of business and information technology (IT) challenges.

Until now, defense, intelligence, and civilian agencies that wanted to transmit classified voice, video, and data over wireless networks had to deploy a purpose-built National Security Agency (NSA)-certified Type-1 wireless solution. But purchasing and operating separate wireless networks for classified and unclassified clients increases equipment and operational costs. It also prevents the Type-1 wireless clients from taking advantage of the built-in capabilities of enterprise-class wireless infrastructure, such as intrusion detection, location tracking, and network management.

Higher productivity means a lower cost of doing business. Surveys show that workers put in more hours and produce better results when they can work at home, check email and edit documents in airports and hotels, and download data and documents in customer offices. A Dell study found that employees given laptops increased productivity by 7.7 hours per week over comparable workers with desktop computers.

Businesses today have reached a tipping point where a majority of the workers are mobile, or soon will be. It's time now for a set of best practices and solutions specifically aimed at managing the mobile computing environment. Our lives are becoming more flexible and mobile, so are our work lives. Mobility isn't limited to classic road warriors. Mobile work practices now encompass telecommuters who work from home; office workers who carry notebook PCs into conference rooms for meetings; employees in remote field offices; and day extenders who put in a few extra hours of work at home.

For today’s computing environments, there is little question that endpoint security is a required component of an overall enterprise security strategy.1 On one hand, various trends fostering user mobility ensure that many endpoints will frequently be exposed directly to the Internet.

One of the most difficult challenges facing the federal government in general and defense agencies in particular is how to protect data in-transit across wireless networks, while allowing agencies to benefit from mobile computing. In April 2004, the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) issued DoD 8100.2, entitled “Use of Commercial Wireless Devices, Services and Technologies in the Department of Defense (DoD) Global Information Grid (GIG),” a policy that set a range of requirements for wireless security.