Mobile Device Management (MDM)

Glossary
Business phone glossary

Our glossary explains basic terms and abbreviations relating to mobile working, the use of smartphones and tablets in the corporate environment (Enterprise Mobility) and security aspects in the use of mobile devices.

M

Mobile Device Management (MDM)

Mobile Device Management

Measures and software to administer mobile devices

Mobile Device Management (MDM) refers to two things:

  1. The management and administration (“management”) of mobile devices for use in an enterprise, usually the responsibility of the IT department. Today, this mostly refers to mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets running both Android and iOS. Mobile device management is often done with the help of specialized hardware or MDM software.MDM-Software.
  2. Often, the software mentioned is also referred to simply as “MDM”. The homonymous use of the term causes confusion, because sometimes it is not clear whether it is the activity or the software. It is therefore better to refer explicitly to the software as “MDM software” or “MDM solutions” to avoid misunderstandings.

MDM software

MDM software is available from numerous manufacturers, including Microsoft (product name: Intune), IBM (MaaS360), MobileIron or WMware (ONE), to name just a few of the best known.

In the first meaning, MDM is part of the larger Enterprise Mobility Management, which addresses the administration of mobile apps (Mobile Application Management) in addition to pure device management and deployment issues.

MDM providers

There are numerous MDM vendors, including:

Weblinks Mobile Device Management

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