Sales of Japan’s first restricted-access “Business Browser” corporate-oriented browser for Android begin at the end of May
TOKYO—April 26, 2011—NetSTAR, Inc., Japan’s premier developer of URL filtering product technologies and services, today announced that it will begin sales of the Android version of its “NetSTAR Business Browser software (“Business Browser”) at the end of May. Business Browser is the first restricted-access browser to be offered in Japan that targets the corporate market.
Business Browser is a filtering service for corporate use that combines NetSTAR’s cloud service platform with a browser application for use with smartphones and tablets. It offers system administrators a streamlined method of preventing employees from using smartphones and tablets to access websites that are not work-related, or which pose a security risk. The service has met with a favorable reception since NetSTAR began offering it for the iPhone and iPad in December 2010, and has been installed by major manufacturers.
Although the iPhone and iPad have dominated the domestic smartphone market in Japan, every mobile-service operator now offers a range of unique, Android OS-equipped terminals, and the expectation is that they will be adopted by corporate users in large numbers. Consequently, there is an increasing demand from system administrators for a solution that offers a level of security in the workplace equal to that available for the iPhone and iPad, a solution to prevent employees from using Android-based terminals from any mobile-service provider to access non-work related websites and sites that pose a security risk.
In response, NetSTAR will begin sales of an Android 2.2-compatible version of Business Browser from the end of May this year. With features such as an access log report function and centralized management of access restriction policies, the Android version of Business Browser offers corporate system administrators easy, streamlined management of web access occurring from Android terminals. Moreover, companies already using the iPhone/iPad version of Business Browser who also install the Android version can manage these applications in an integrated manner via the cloud. Prices start at 18,000 yen (excluding consumption tax) per year for a five-user installation. NetSTAR is now offering free trials of Business Browser (up to 10 terminals for a maximum of two months).
Additionally, there will be demonstrations of both the iPhone/iPad and Android versions of Business Browser at the Alps System Integration Co., Ltd. booth at the “8th Information Security EXPO (Spring)” and at the Valtes Co., Ltd booth at the “1st Smartphone and Mobile Expo,” both held over the three-day period from May 11 to May 13 of this year.
The Business Browser service is gaining attention from customers as an indispensable information management solution for control of the ever-expanding area of work-related use of smartphones and tablets. NetSTAR will continue to respond to customer needs, working actively to expand Business Browser functionality and the environments with which it is compatible.
NetSTAR specializes in the development of URL filtering software and services, and in the collection, categorization, and delivery of URL lists. Recognized for their high performance and low false positive rate, our high-quality URL lists are used by all Japanese mobile telephone and PHS telephone providers (*1) and by large companies with strict quality requirements, including approximately 60% of prefectural governments, 40% of central government agencies, and 40% of the companies in the Nikkei Excellent Company Ranking, which is proof of their excellence. (*2)
Note: 1. New lists are distributed daily for use in the filtering systems of NTT DoCoMo, KDDI, Softbank Mobile, WILLCOM, and EMOBILE; 2. Based on NetSTAR’s research.