Fully managed service enables customers to
easily and securely provide employees one-click access to internal
websites and web applications on mobile devices
Intuit Inc., Unisys, and Oak Hill Advisors
among initial customers using Amazon WorkLink
Today, Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS),
an Amazon.com company (NASDAQ: AMZN), announced the
availability of Amazon WorkLink, a fully managed service that
enables companies to provide their workforce with secure one-click
access to internal websites and web applications from their mobile
devices without connecting to VPNs or using custom browsers. End
users simply download the Amazon WorkLink app to enable access to
internal content through existing browsers on their mobile devices.
IT administrators determine which internal content to make
available, and Amazon WorkLink securely renders it behind the
scenes using the compute and networking infrastructure of AWS,
delivering a non-cached, fully functional, graphical representation
of the web content to the user requesting it. Amazon WorkLink
removes the need to build and maintain complicated infrastructure
and software deployments to secure access to internal content on
authorized mobile devices outside of the firewall. Amazon WorkLink
also reduces the risk of information loss or theft because content
is never stored or cached on devices. There are no up-front
payments, per seat licensing costs, or long-term commitments, and
customers pay only $5 per active user per month. To get
started with Amazon WorkLink,
visit: aws.amazon.com/worklink.
Today’s workforce of employees, contractors, partners, and
suppliers needs access to internal websites and web applications to
do their jobs, but often lacks convenient means to connect when
working outside the corporate firewall. With existing solutions,
enabling access means IT administrators must invest in and deploy
both Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to ensure secure connectivity,
and mobile device management (MDM) software to configure devices
and control user access. For end users, these VPN and device
management applications often require access fobs and tokens,
one-time passwords, and custom web browsers – all of which can be
cumbersome and significantly slow the process of connecting to
vital corporate resources. As a result, simple tasks like looking
up a colleague on the Intranet or checking the status of an open
customer ticket are often delayed until an employee can return to
the office, hindering the productivity of today’s global workforce.
IT administrators face the even more daunting challenge of setting
up, operating, and maintaining VPNs and device management software
deployments, which often requires the purchase of licenses for
workers regardless of whether they are used or not. Even when these
solutions work as advertised, information is still stored or cached
on devices, leaving companies at risk of loss or theft of corporate
data. And, because devices connect to the corporate network
directly, enterprise resources may be exposed to device-based
malware.
Amazon WorkLink was built to provide convenient access to
critical content for workers and to make it easier for IT
administrators to deliver secure access to mobile devices, all
while providing greater security by ensuring that the corporate web
content is never stored or cached on the device. At the core of
Amazon WorkLink is a secure web browser hosted in the cloud that
transforms web content into a fully interactive simple vector
graphics (SVG) graphical representation. Once rendered, Amazon
WorkLink sends that graphical representation to the web browser on
an end user’s device. Unlike virtual desktop applications, this
means Amazon WorkLink does not stream content, but instead embeds a
fully interactive image in an end user’s existing browser, enabling
common gestures and features like scrolling, typing, and pinching
locally on the device despite the web page running in the cloud.
Amazon WorkLink prevents web content from being stored and cached
on the device itself, and saves bandwidth by eliminating the need
to download large HTML, style sheets, and JavaScript files used to
display web pages. When an end user closes their web browser tab at
the end of a session, none of the content remains on the device,
meaning lost or stolen devices don’t need to be remotely wiped. At
the end of the session, the ephemeral cloud-based web browser
disappears, ensuring corporate content only resides within the
customer’s network. Because Amazon WorkLink is fully managed, it
removes the heavy lifting of software and infrastructure
deployment, capacity planning, and scaling, as well as the need for
custom browser updates. With Amazon WorkLink, mobile devices never
connect directly to the corporate network, narrowing the path for
device-based malware to reach enterprise resources behind the
corporate firewall.
“When talking with customers, all of them expressed frustration
that their workers don't have an easy and secure way to access
internal content, which means that their employees either waste
time or don't bother trying to access content that would make them
more productive,” said Peter Hill, Vice President of Productivity
Applications at AWS. “With Amazon WorkLink, we're enabling greater
workplace productivity for those outside the corporate firewall in
a way that IT administrators and security teams are happy with and
employees are willing to use.”
Amazon WorkLink can be configured directly from the AWS
Management Console. Once configured, end users can download the
Amazon WorkLink application from either the Apple App Store or the
Google Play Store (available soon), log in with their corporate
credentials, and start accessing internal websites, while Amazon
WorkLink works behind the scenes to ensure data is delivered
quickly and securely. Amazon WorkLink works with SAML 2.0 compliant
identity providers including Okta and Ping Identity, and honors
existing security policies. Amazon WorkLink supports devices
running iOS 12+ (with Android 6+ coming in weeks) and works with
Safari, with Chrome support to follow in the coming weeks. Amazon
WorkLink is available immediately in North America and Europe, and
will expand to additional regions in the coming year.
Intuit Inc. is a business and financial software company
that develops and sells financial, accounting, and tax preparation
software and related services for small businesses, accountants,
and individuals. “Our DevSecOps team at Intuit expects instant
access to key internal resources anywhere, anytime,” said Shannon
Lietz, Director, Information Security at Intuit. “We are excited
about making these mission-critical employees more productive than
ever, regardless of where they are. Being able to promptly act on
security tickets without any worry or friction, even when away from
our desks, allows us to ensure Intuit products remain secure and
our employees more efficient.”
Unisys is a global information technology company that
builds high-performance, security-centric solutions for the most
demanding businesses and governments on Earth. “Our clients
frequently say they struggle with securing mobile access to
internal web resources without restricting employee productivity,”
said Mickey Davis, global vice president of Managed Workplace
Services, Unisys. “With Amazon WorkLink, end users
can securely perform important tasks – such as resolving
customer support requests, reviewing important business reports and
approving budget requests or expense reports – in seconds using
just their phones. We are testing Amazon WorkLink at Unisys to
access our training wiki and trouble ticketing system, and we’re
excited at the prospect of using it to empower our clients and
their workers as well.”
Oak Hill Advisors is a leading alternative investment
firm with approximately $32B under management across performing and
distressed credit related investments in North America, Europe, and
other geographies. “Our business and technology teams rely on a set
of services providing dashboards and project management tools,
running in our data centers to complete their day to day
activities,” said Sajawal Haider, Chief Information Security
Officer at Oak Hill Advisors, L.P. “Currently, to provide anytime
access on mobile devices, we use a combination of mobile device
management and VPN solutions, which are complicated and expensive
to maintain. Amazon WorkLink being a managed service solves this
problem for us by providing mobile access to critical web content,
while securing sensitive data. And the best part is our users love
the experience.”
Brillio is a global technology consulting and business
solutions company dedicated towards modernizing IT infrastructures
to facilitate agility for enterprises in the consumer goods,
financial, manufacturing, and healthcare industries. “Our customers
consistently tell us one of their biggest challenges is enabling
secure mobile access as they move their legacy content to a
mobile-first world. Amazon WorkLink will allow us to help our
customers keep pace with the speed of markets by delivering both
productivity and security on the go,” said Siva Perubotla,
Associate Vice President & Head – Digital Infrastructure at
Brillio. “We have leveraged Amazon WorkLink for our own internal
use cases which involved productivity enablement for our global
workforce by building capabilities through secure, cross platform,
on-demand and seamless access of internal knowledgebase, learning
modules, and intranet resources. We are excited with the results
and convinced that we will be able to replicate the benefits for
our customers at scale."
Privo is an AWS Advanced Consulting Partner with
practices across a wide range of services including DevOps, End
User Computing, and Cost Optimization. “When AWS introduced us to
Amazon WorkLink, we saw the opportunity to deliver both security
and productivity on mobile devices, while also enabling our
customers to both complement their MDM solutions with more secure
and seamless Web access, and open up secure access to end users who
do not have any access at all today,” said Doug Heestand, Partner
at Privo. “We use Amazon WorkLink ourselves today to help our own
employees access our internal training intranet and now we're
excited to help new customers take advantage of Amazon WorkLink's
unique capabilities.”
8K Miles is one of the leaders in providing a wide range
of expertise ranging from Enterprise Cloud Transformation, Big Data
Analytics, Identity Access Management, and other Managed Services
to maintain continuous compliance regulations and security of the
enterprise. “Health Care and Pharma companies work with some of the
world’s most sensitive data on a daily basis, and we have been
helping them securely navigate the move to the cloud for over a
decade,” said Sudish Mogli, CTO for 8K Miles. “Our AWS customers
are all at different points in their digital transformation, with
some already all-in on the AWS cloud, others in a hybrid state, and
others just starting from their on-prem infrastructure. Amazon
WorkLink will allow us to help all of these customers enable their
end users with secure one click intranet access no matter where
their origin servers are located. Our customers tell us that their
workers are spending more on more time away from their desks, and
Amazon WorkLink will be an exciting part of making that time more
productive and secure.”
Eplexity is a cloud services provider focused on cloud
acceleration, devops as a service, managed cloud services, and
cloud security, all designed to accelerate customers’ AWS journey.
“We are thrilled to work with AWS to enable our customers with
cost-effective, secure connectivity to their mobile workforce for
critical line of business services,” said John Clendennen, Eplexity
CEO. “Amazon WorkLink provides organizations who are not in a
position to redevelop legacy applications the ability to deliver
full mobile access to end users.”
About Amazon Web Services
For over 12 years, Amazon Web Services has been the world’s most
comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. AWS offers over
165 fully featured services for compute, storage, databases,
networking, analytics, robotics, machine learning and artificial
intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), mobile, security,
hybrid, virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR), media, and
application development, deployment, and management from 60
Availability Zones (AZs) within 20 geographic regions, spanning the
U.S., Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India,
Ireland, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Sweden, and the UK. AWS services
are trusted by millions of active customers around the
world—including the fastest-growing startups, largest enterprises,
and leading government agencies—to power their infrastructure, make
them more agile, and lower costs. To learn more about AWS,
visit aws.amazon.com.
About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather
than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to
operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews,
1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment
by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets,
Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and
services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit
amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.
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