In April 2016, I attended the 2016 Samsung Developer Conference (SDC) in San Francisco. The conference is a gathering of all things Samsung, present and future, and shows off what’s possible when software is tailored to the plethora of Samsung hardware. But what does that mean, for software to be tailored to Samsung hardware? Well, at SDC, I saw that Samsung’s tools can expand the power of software well beyond the confines of a third-party operating system. Not only does Samsung enhance another company’s software, but they provide the secondary and tertiary hardware to turn their already versatile devices into an even greater example of technological dominance.
Thanks to Samsung KNOX on Android, Tizen on wearables, an ever-expanding partnership with Facebook-owned Oculus and a head-start on the inevitable rise of IoT, Samsung is poised to create great devices. But Samsung also empowers those who dare to try with the ability to do more with their products than what was originally fathomable. In this three-part blog series, I’ll be sharing what I learned at SDC and what developers should look forward to when exploring Samsung’s potential.
The Limitless Potential of Samsung KNOX
The first way Samsung enhances software development is with the KNOX platform, which is embedded in their Galaxy devices. KNOX is a software kit that uses integrated hardware to provide government-grade, HIPAA-compliant security on mobile phones and tablets alike. KNOX comes in many flavors and runs between Android and the hardware.
With KNOX, the possibilities are endless. KNOX lets developers turn a device into a single-use machine. KNOX lets us set up private VPNs. We can create applications that are installed on a personal device, satisfying the BYOB nature of modern businesses. Those devices can monitor and funnel data for an app or set of apps and use a dedicated line of service to do so. The business benefit? Such technology would allow employers to theoretically pay for and monitor an employee’s data usage.
ProKiosk Mode is another amazing feature of KNOX. Samsung envisions replacing single-purpose screens (terminals, cash registers, in-flight entertainment modules) with customized tablets. The tablets can be either purchased off the shelf or custom made by Samsung and managed remotely using Samsung’s web portal for KNOX Customization—this makes roll-outs and upgrades easy. You can even include overriding boot animations, allowing for deep branding customization.
I myself used KNOX to create a Kiosk Mode tablet (a slightly different concept than ProKiosk Mode), which was demonstrated at the SDC. My implementation locked the tablet to a digital room-painting application written by PPG and Summa. I learned how to set up the tablet to do only what I wanted and needed with a level of granularity that iOS, stock Android, or other devices can never offer.
The left image is of the KioskMode application I wrote, allowing a user to enable and disable the tablet’s KioskMode. The image on the right is the home screen of the PPG Paint Visualizer App that runs inside the KioskMode created by the app on the left. Both apps utilize Summa branding boot animations (not shown).
Samsung KNOX Security
KNOX is a world-class software development kit, but its most notable feature is the security it provides. KNOX offers a relatively inexpensive way for businesses to roll out reassuringly secure, locked-down services for clients and employees. KNOX is HIPAA compliant (hence why S Health, Samsung’s health platform, is locked down with it) and easily enables remote device management, e.g. for remote troubleshooting. If a developer tells Samsung that keys have been compromised, Samsung will invalidate the license tied to a piece of KNOX software using SDK keys and licenses. This, depending on the implementation, can brick a device or disable a single app.
This system promises great relief from troublesome situations. With Samsung moving millions of devices a quarter and extending KNOX support to low-level hardware devices (I use a Galaxy Tab A 7.0, a device that costs no more than $150), the software is decently represented in the wild. If your app deals with personal data, needs to separate corporate data from personal data, or if you just want to make sure a device is self-contained on a user’s system, it makes sense to employ Samsung’s KNOX. And even on devices that do not support KNOX, applications using this SDK will run just fine (assuming the proper checks are in place).
In short, you can’t go wrong with KNOX.
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Summa is a Samsung Business Solutions and Enterprise Alliance partner. We love helping businesses adopt mobile-first strategies and strengthen their competitive edge by combining Samsung technologies and custom software solutions. Curious how strategy-driven, user-centered technologies can help your business scale, streamline and grow? Connect with us to find out.
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