The second major announcement from Zoholics US this week was the launch of Ulaa Enterprise. Ulaa is the privacy-focused browser that the vendor launched in 2023. The browser, already AI-enabled, recently won the Indian Web Browser Development Challenge (IWBDC), a challenge that was part of the ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ campaign by the Government of India.
The nationwide challenge sought a secure and technologically advanced browser compatible with major devices and platforms. Zoho has now taken this a step further and brought out an enterprise-ready browser.
Many companies use the default browser that comes with what operating system they are using. However, the default choice is often not the best option. While browsers are often offered at a very low cost, there are often security add-ons and administration overheads that can inflate the price significantly.
Zoho, with Ulaa Enterprise, aims to address this by providing a browser that is secure by design. It includes many of the features that Enterprise IT teams are clamouring for as they seek to manage, control or mitigate the risks that common browsers often have. Ulaa is also designed with the user top of mind, ensuring that adoption should be strong.
Sridhar Iyengar, Managing Director, Zoho Europe, commented, “The shift to cloud-based software has made the browser the largest attack surface inside an organisation, yet no software vendor has been able to produce a secure browser that strikes the correct balance between depth of policy controls and straightforward usability.
“Ulaa Enterprise addresses the need for a proactive and comprehensive security solution for businesses to reduce their attack surface, keep users secure, and stay in control of their security.”
Ulaa Enterprise features
Ulaa Enterprise offers a mix of administrative features, including policy management, extension management, and bookmark management. The solution includes an administration console that gives administrators a unified view of every device and user. Admins can access controls, restrict downloads, manage extensions, and govern user behaviour through central policies applied across users and groups.
Proactive data loss prevention is also built into Ulaa Enterprise at the browser layer. It prevents unauthorised uploads, copy-paste actions, screen captures, and downloads of sensitive data. It also blocks camera and microphone use, which stops eavesdropping or covert surveillance.
Other security features include Machine learning-powered phishing detection. Zero Phish, powered by Zia, detects phishing attempts before users click, analysing URLs and page behaviour to block evolving threats in real time.
Admins can set up group or organisation-wide site restrictions. There are also contextual integrations with Zia (see below), Vault, MDM and PAM 360.
Using the Admin Console, IT teams can monitor risks, view detailed audit logs, and enforce security policies with precision at the browser level, reducing or eliminating the need for reactivity. Admins can also create groups within an organisation and manage bookmarks, so that they appear as the default for specific groups.
Thomas Wieberneit, Founder and Principal Analyst, AheadCRM, commented, “As a Ulaa user, I highly appreciate its responsiveness, compatibility, and built-in security features. With the release of Ulaa Enterprise as the front-end to business applications, Zoho now has a security stack that nearly no other tech vendor can compete with. Zoho’s relentless commitment to security and privacy is part of its DNA and is unique in the industry.”
Bringing AI to Ulaa with Zia
Zoho has also added even more AI-powered features to Ulaa. Zia can also organise tabs based on user behaviour, improving productivity and browser management. Users can also interact with Zia with a natural language interface.
The user can ask Zia to group a set of tabs, or perhaps a subset of Tabs. For example, the user could ask Zia to group all Zoho CRM tabs. Zia will create a group which contains all the relevant tabs. Another use is to ask Zia to pin a specific tab or unpin a tab. Zia will also search through the tab history and restore a tab.
Benefits and pricing
Ulaa Enterprise follows the successful launch of the free version of Ulaa in 2023. Since its launch, it has seen significant downloads and a monthly average usage increase of 2.5x. Zoho did not, however, reveal those usage numbers.
Zoho highlights four key benefits for the Enterprise version of Ulaa:
- Low IT Overhead: Ulaa does not require heavy virtualisation or complex infrastructure. Deployment is straightforward, management is lightweight, and policy changes propagate instantly without introducing performance overhead for end-users.
- Intelligent Monitoring: Ulaa supports ethical, targeted security monitoring, without turning into invasive surveillance, to build employee trust.
- Familiarity: Ulaa Enterprise combines Chromium’s familiarity with built-in security, ensuring a seamless experience while enforcing local security checks for speed and protection.
- Cross-platform Support: Ulaa works across all major desktop and mobile platforms, including Android and iOS.
Ulaa Enterprise is available for $1 (€0.90, £0.75) /month per device or $10 (€9,£7.50) per device per year. It offers a free three-month trial.
Organisations can request a demonstration, which can be registered for here.
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
What isn’t clear from this release is how successful Ulaa has been for the free version. However, for organisations already using Zoho products, there are some significant advantages for trialling and potentially deploying Ulaa Enterprise. The administration console is simple, and the insights and control that it will deliver to the organisation are significant.
For organisations looking to reduce the number of suppliers, add-ons and security loopholes that exist, Ulaa provides a one-stop shop to secure the browser. Importantly, the solution also provides Windows, Android and IoS versions, giving a consistent experience for users across all devices.
There are also benefits to users; having access to key bookmarks, no matter what device they use, is a useful feature. It will be interesting to see whether Ulaa usage growth will increase significantly following this announcement. It should be noted that Ulaa Enterprise does not appear to be included in Zoho One yet.
