There is a 14-dog race going on, with a goal to win the wallets of the enterprise for mobile security spend. When lined up in the starting blocks, the racers may all seem to have equal chances, but a few are better poised to cross the finish line first and bask in the glory of the winners' circle. Three of these technologies are the odds-on favorites to lead from start to finish, with the rest of the racers struggling to remain relevant.
Coming off the starting block with the "holeshot" are the mobile device management vendors. With huge engines of revenue, large customer counts, and first-mover advantage, this dog is the odds-on favorite to take the championship trophy. Mobile device management vendors are already expanding their technologies and products into security platforms to diversify their rapidly commoditized product offerings. The move is paying off for the biggest and toughest MDM participants in the race, giving them the early, and potentially insurmountable, lead.
Nipping at the heels of the MDM vendors are the crossover mobile security offerings such as mobile antivirus and mobile end point management. This class of race dog is also well-funded, with the benefit of approaching the problem as a security-first offering expanding into the adjacent technology spaces. They can smell the sweat of the quickly accelerating MDM technologies but aren't about to be outdone and are gaining their own traction and momentum with upgrades to their marketing and positioning. If they can break the current enterprise view that "antivirus doesn't work," they might be able to come back in the later laps of the race.
Lagging behind in a distant third place are the traditional end point management offerings. They appear to have fallen asleep at the starting line. As the chase rapidly came out of the gate, these technologies were too busy smiling at the pretty girl dog in the crowd and have let the race pass them by. If they want to stand a chance in this race they had better rev their enormous engines and quickly innovate up to speed. I wouldn't count them out of the race just yet, as they do have one of the largest motors in the race, and with the right moves can still overtake the younger rookies as well as the security veterans.
If you're interested in learning more about the mobile security technology race, go have a look at my latest report: "TechRadar™: Enterprise Mobile Security, Q4 2013." In this report I detail the top 14 enterprise mobile security technologies, outlining the positives, negatives, and expectations of success in the mid to long term. If you're an enterprise looking to deploy mobile security solutions, this report will help you understand where to spend your limited time and resources; if you're a vendor in the mobile security space, you can read this report as a technology-focused prediction of consolidation and future recommended strategic technologies. Either way, enjoy the read, and good luck watching what is surely going to be one of the best technology races since the "Apple vs. Microsoft 500" back in 1988.
