Mobile Active Defense MECS Server Solution

The Mobile Enterprise Compliance and Security (MECS) Server from Mobile Active Defense (MAD) takes an interesting view on mobile device security. This product is designed to be much like the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, but for anything that is not a BlackBerry. This would include both Apple iOS and Android mobile devices, as well as Windows Mobile and Nokia Symbian. This solution allows an administrator to set a full range of policy options on the server side and push them down to the device through a native process that cannot be tampered with by the device user.

Installation includes configuring the server itself and then registering devices with the server. The server is appliance-based and can either be hosted by MAD or reside on the customer site in a DMZ. Once the server is configured, a device connects to the server through a VPN connection and all traffic to and from the device is forwarded through the system.

Policy functionality is quite comprehensive. Policies can be configured for content filtering and firewall, and password and passcode policy, as well as advanced functionality, such as jailbreak detection, application protections and geolocation policy and remediation.

Documentation included a relatively short user guide, which detailed how to configure and use the features.
MAD offers customers full phone and email technical support, 24/7/365, through an agreement, and at no cost during evaluation or trial periods. Unfortunately, at this time, there is no web-based support.

Pricing is per device per year on a tiered threshold based on the number of devices being purchased. In the one to 100 range, the MECS Server is priced at $120 per seat/per year for the cloud-based option, including software maintenance and 24/7 phone support. At a price starting at around $120 per device/per year, this product can become quite expensive for certain organizations. However, we still find it to be an excellent value for the money.