Amazon Web Services Inc. has launched a new managed security product called WorkLink to help companies address the growing trend of workers accessing internal applications on the go.

One of the areas where the service, which debuted late Wednesday, sets itself apart is usability. Virtual private networks and mobile device management suites, the products that enterprises normally use to enable secure application access on employee handsets, aren’t exactly known for being convenient. They often curtail the user experience in various ways, such as by requiring that employees use a proprietary browser.

WorkLink takes a different approach. Instead of requiring workers to change their browsing habits, it creates an isolation layer that makes it possible to use internal websites and applications without accessing them directly.

When a user opens a web page in Safari or Chrome, WorkLink renders it inside an isolated container on AWS’ cloud platform. The service generates an interactive graphic representation of web content that is sent to the browser in place of the original. Workers can type, scroll and select content just as in a regular browser session.

The absence of a direct connection between the user’s device and the application being accessed significantly reduces the threat posed by mobile malware. It also lowers the risk of data leaks in the  process. When a worker closes their browser tab, the information inside gets automatically deleted, which saves administrators the hassle of having to wipe handsets remotely in the event they’re compromised.

“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,” Peter Hill, AWS’ vice president of productivity applications, said in a statement.

AWS is offering WorkLink for $5 per active user per month. The service is similar to the existing browser isolation products available from Symantec Corp., Menlo Security Inc. and certain other network protection providers. Those products enable isolated execution of not just internal applications but also content from the open web, a use case AWS could very well address with a future update to WorkLink.

The service extends the cloud giant’s reach into yet another segment of the security market. Most of the existing tools in its security portfolio are designed to help companies protect their backend infrastructure, but some, such as the IoT Device Defender tool introduced in August, focus on assets at the edge of the network.

AWS continuously releases new services and features for its cloud platform to maintain its rapid revenue growth. The cloud giant has lately also been stepping up its activities in the open-source ecosystem, which is emerging as an increasingly important battleground for enterprise technology providers.

On Wednesday, against the backdrop of introducing WorkLink, AWS also launched an open-source project called Neo-AI. It contains the code for a key feature in the provider’s SageMaker artificial intelligence service. Neo-AI can automatically optimize AI models for different types of infrastructure to improve hardware utilization, with AWS claiming that it’s capable of increasing model performance by as much as 200 percent.

Photo: Robert Hof/SiliconANGLE