AirWatch Connect 2013 will be kicking off tomorrow in Atlanta, Ga., focusing on bring your own device (BYOD), mobile device management (MDM), and enterprise mobility, but while our insight can always be valuable, we wanted to give our readers the scoop from an insider.

AirWatch Chairman Alan Dabbiere answered a few of MSPmentor’s questions before the keynotes get started on Tuesday. Our conversation covered a range of topics that included acquisitions, capital funding, employee expansion and more.

CJ: AirWatch acquired Motorola Solutions’ Mobility Services Platform back in June 2013. Can we expect any announcements regarding this acquisition at the conference? Has this acquisition changed any of the company’s daily operations?

DA: The acquisition really sped up our development for rugged devices and other platforms. Some of the proprietary technology we received is broadening and improving our ability to do much more granular management of Motorola devices, especially in the areas of RD (rapid deployment), scanner management and diagnostics.

CJ: AirWatch was placed into the top right quadrant of the Gartner Magic Quadrant report for MDM in 2013. How will AirWatch keep its status, making our way into the fourth quarter of 2013?

AD: With 1,500 employees, we’re nearly three times the employee size of our competitors, which has helped us pull away from all the other EMM (enterprise mobile management) vendors in in areas like app containerization, dual persona, secure email containers and secure document distribution and collaboration with Secure Content Locker. No one else can keep up with the size and scale of the AirWatch R&D team.

CJ: In May 2013, AirWatch received new venture capital funding to pay for acceleration of global growth, expanding research and development teams, etc. What new initiatives have these teams been working on? How many more employees were hired as a result of this new capital?

AB: We were fortunate that we did not need any outside capital when we brought in our $200 million Series A funding. We suspect the AirWatch installed base is six to eight times larger than any other EMM provider. Consequently, our revenues have kept up with our growth. Last year we grew revenues by more than fourfold and our employee base more than threefold. While the funding has strengthened our balance sheet and given us more flexibility, we really have not changed any of our strategic direction or changed course in any way as a result. Again, we were fortunate prior to that funding announcement to have all the financing we needed to execute on every strategy that was important to us.

CJ: How many channel partners will be attending the conference, and what can they expect to hear from AirWatch?

AD: More than 90 channel and technology partners are participating in our Mobility Expo and even more have come to attend the event. We are making several announcements during the event in addition to new partnerships that focus on the channel.