Armor5 emerged from stealth mode today and announced $2 million in seed funding from Citrix Startup Accelerator, Nexus Venture Partners and Trinity Ventures, to redefine data security and compliance for the mobile enterprise. Founded by security, mobility and cloud computing experts from Adobe, Motorola and Yahoo, Armor5 is the first zero touch service to safeguard intranet, cloud data and applications by ensuring content from these systems never actually resides on the end-users' devices. A beta version of the Armor5 service is available on its website today.

How Armor5 works

Most BYOD security services focus on individual mobile device management. As the use of these devices grows dramatically, new approaches are required to help IT balance the needs between user productivity vs. maintaining security and compliance. According to Osterman Research, annual IT costs for managing smartphones rose 48% from 2011 to 2012. Armor5 has taken an entirely different approach to solving the BYOD security problem. Its service connects to a company's network via VPN, virtualizes intranet data and cloud applications, and generates a secure URL that mobile workers can use to access content and applications safely from any device -- personal or company issued. The entire provisioning process, from IT sign-up to end-user productivity, takes just a few minutes.

"Our vision is to create a completely self-service, cloud-based answer to the security problems posed by today's explosive growth in enterprise mobility," said Suresh Balasubramanian, CEO at Armor5. "We solve immediate pain in the areas of mobility, network security and regulatory compliance. And we do so in a way that provides end-users immediate access to the apps, data and content they need from any device they're using, without sacrificing data security."

"Zero touch" deployment

In launching its service, Armor5 is introducing a radically simple concept it calls "zero touch" BYOD security. Simply, Armor5 can be deployed without mobile client software installation; without mobile security agents; without any configuration on the part of IT; and without intranet data or enterprise cloud applications ever downloaded to the end-user device. "Zero touch means faster time to deployment, better security and compliance, improved mobile user productivity, and a substantially lower cost for BYOD security," commented Balasubramanian.

For additional security, Armor5 offers dynamic watermarking and the disabling of downloading, forwarding and printing of documents. Using the cloud-based Armor5 dashboard, IT can easily monitor and manage end-users, devices and documents, and ensure BYOD policies and compliance standards are being met while providing analytics to speed auditing and reporting.

Industry support

"We have been evaluating the Armor5 solution for our data security and compliance needs," said Keith Phillips, Chief Information Officer, CPP, Inc. "We have been impressed by the simplicity, elegance and ease of setup and use of this novel, 100% cloud-based solution, requiring no agents to install on any device. Their dashboard gives us exposure to detailed activity information that has the potential to evolve into an integral part of our compliance and risk management strategy," said Phillips.

"IT must manage compliance in an increasingly BYOD world, without negatively impacting the user experience," said Michael Osterman, principal and founder at Osterman Research. "Armor5's unique and interesting approach accomplishes both and should be seriously considered by anyone struggling with BYOD in their organization."

"CIOs are understandably concerned with data security given the rise of smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices inside their organizations," said Fred Wang, general partner at Trinity Ventures. "Armor5 is the first vendor to address the BYOD security problem without requiring software installation on the mobile device. Its singular focus on the intersection of data security and BYOD, and its unique approach to solving the problem, is the reason we are investing."

"Corporate asset management, compliance and enterprise security are critical concern areas as the global workforce becomes more flexible and mobile," said Naren Gupta, co-founder and managing director at Nexus Venture Partners. "We are excited about Armor5's innovative approach to address these opportunities simply and seamlessly."

"Armor5 has tremendous potential to complement Citrix technologies in addressing BYOD challenges," said Dr. Michael Harries, Senior Director and Chief Technologist at the Citrix Startup Accelerator, which has incubated Armor5. "The service is ideal for CIOs who need an immediate solution to enterprise data security and compliance challenges with the growth of BYOD."

About Armor5
Armor5, Inc. is a cloud service provider that's solving the problem of secure mobile access to enterprise data and applications in a new way. The company serves enterprises, cloud solution providers and any organization struggling to secure network access for mobile users. Armor5 offers the only zero touch, 100% cloud service that accesses a client's network, virtualizes enterprise data and applications, and provisions secure and compliant access for every end user using any mobile device. Founded in 2011 by former executives from Adobe, Motorola and Yahoo, the company is privately held with patent-pending technology and investment from leading venture capital firms. For more information, visit www.Armor5.com.