Extending device life cycle with Samsung Galaxy Enterprise Edition

Samsung’s mobile device business moves at internet time, a breakneck pace of innovation, product development, release, and retirement that matches the expectations of our customers. Well, most of our customers. One important segment — enterprises — sometimes actually needs us to slow down a little. When enterprises build mobile devices into important projects and applications, it takes time. Enterprises need that time to test and qualify devices, procure them, and deploy them across their workforce. This can take weeks, months, and even years to fully roll out in large enterprises.

Samsung’s Galaxy Enterprise Edition program is designed to support the needs of our enterprise customers who need an extended device life cycle. Galaxy Enterprise Edition includes a guaranteed multi-year device life cycle of up to three years (depending on device type), five years of security updates and software patches, as well as a year of Samsung Knox Suite, Samsung’s security tools to help in securing, provisioning, updating, and managing devices.

With Galaxy Enterprise Edition, IT teams can be sure they won’t have to go back to the drawing board in the middle of a project where mobile devices play a central role. Let’s look at an example use case: rugged devices, like Samsung Galaxy Tab Active tablets.

Rugged devices with long lives

Enterprises rolling out rugged devices are solving specific problems, such as operating in an outdoor environment, roaming around on a retail or factory floor, or even handing devices to guests who may treat them roughly. Samsung Tab Active tablets are up to the challenge of projects and environments that need ruggedized devices.

A full deployment based on rugged devices will include accessories, such as a case or battery chargers for the swappable battery, and a plan for the full device life cycle. Enterprises select ruggedized devices and match them with customized applications designed to take advantage of device-specific features and make the best use of every pixel of screen space.

For example, customers selecting Samsung’s Galaxy Tab Active can make use of its customizable Active Key to activate scanners or push-to-talk communications. The rugged tablet may be a key piece of hardware for a project, but it’s still just one part of a much bigger picture of applications, accessories, and management tools.

In projects like these, Galaxy Enterprise Edition devices, such as the Galaxy Tab Active4 Pro, have the long-term support needed. Enterprise Edition devices will be available for an extended and predictable lifetime, and vital security patches and software updates for years longer. When IT teams select Samsung Galaxy Enterprise Edition devices, they know they won’t have to go back to the drawing board and start over because their tested device is no longer available or supported.

Galaxy Enterprise Edition devices have a minimum lifetime of three years for tablets, two years for smartphones, and a guarantee of software updates and security patches for at least five years. Enterprise Edition devices vary by geographic region, so contact your local Samsung reseller to find out more about which devices are in the program.

Samsung supports your rollout

Galaxy Enterprise Edition also includes a one-year license to use Samsung Knox Suite, our comprehensive mobile management and security tool set that addresses the entire device life cycle, from manufacturing onward. Knox Suite is designed to solve enterprise mobility challenges with tools to secure, deploy, manage, and analyze Samsung smartphones and tablets. Enterprises selecting Knox Suite can streamline their device onboarding and deployment, delivering end users a straightforward and simplified experience from the moment they first turn on their smartphone or tablet.

Knox Suite includes Knox Mobile Enrollment (KME), which delivers quick, zero-touch deployment for thousands of mobile devices at once into your corporate mobile device management (MDM) or enterprise mobility management (EMM) solution.

Also included is our own cloud-based EMM solution, Knox Manage, which simplifies device management and monitoring, and allows IT to offer remote support when employees run into technical issues or lose their devices.

The Knox Suite also bundles in Knox E-FOTA, which pairs with Knox Manage and helps your organization avoid OS compatibility issues by allowing IT to deploy firmware updates on your schedule, once necessary testing has been completed.

Knox Asset Intelligence, also part of the Knox Suite license, gives IT teams data-driven, actionable insights about their devices, on a cloud-based dashboard. Knox Asset Intelligence lets teams drill down into important information such as which applications are crashing or sending large amounts of data, how Wi-Fi networks are performing, and battery health and usage.

All of these are built on our foundation of security with Knox Platform for Enterprise (KPE), which provides advanced device controls and deep customization options, including capabilities that extend beyond Android Enterprise.

Enterprise Edition customers extending their Knox Suite license beyond the first year also get a 50% discount off the standard pricing at the time of renewal.

Samsung takes on mobility challenges

Samsung Galaxy Enterprise Edition solves enterprise mobility challenges. Extra-long product life cycles deliver business continuity and a consistent product life cycle. Extended security support includes at least five years of security updates and patches to protect businesses from mobile security threats. And the all-in-one Samsung Knox Suite makes comprehensive device life cycle management easy with cloud-based solutions designed to meet enterprise requirements.

Learn more about how Samsung Galaxy Enterprise Edition devices help secure and manage your mobile fleet. If you’re not sure about the right smartphone for your business needs, get personalized advice with this free assessment from Samsung.