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The most widely deployed mobile virtualization solution
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Open Kernel Labs Blog
February 11, 2011
The Enterprise Mobility Banquet
Food for thought – a four-course meal or mobile security a la carte?
In the last year, enterprise mobility has captured the imagination of mobile workers and enterprise IT alike. Employees crave the freedom to use their favorite smartphones and tablets, and their employers seek a secure means to let their road-warriors access business critical assets from outside the office.
The market for enterprise mobility solutions is still very fragmented and polarized. At one end of the table, there exists a veritable smorgasbord of point solutions – anti-virus, mobile firewalls, authentication, Cloud back-up, encryption, remote wipe, plus many flavors of mobile device management (MDM). The challenge lies in combining these technologies to make a well-formed meal. At the other end, some suppliers are offering multi-function “complete” prix-fixe meals: MDM replete with functions like dinner for five at your local take-out restaurant – no substitutions, please.
Unfortunately, like Goldilocks and her porridge, it’s hard to find the solution that is just right.
At OK Labs, we’re realeasing SecureIT Mobile Enterprise, a software and services solution that makes it easier to serve up effective enterprise mobility by choosing the right foundational ingredients, starting with mobile virtualization.
Let’s look at key trends and technologies in the enterprise mobility mix, and how mobile virtualization adds spice and strength to each.
Appetizer – BYOD
Driving enterprise mobility is a mélange of worker desires to carry a single, full-functioning smartphone or tablet together with employer imperatives to streamline device management and provisioning. Today, users bring their fresh mobile devices to IT and get them back sliced, diced, and secured – all the flavor sucked out of them in the name of enterprise security. Conversely, enterprise IT views ad hoc use of personal mobile technology as so much “smelly cheese” stinking-up its network and putting company assets at risk.
With mobile virtualization, you can build two (or more) distinct domains on a single device: an open bistro for tech-savvy end-users who readily mix downloaded apps with social media, personal email, music and videos; and a prescribed restricted and secure mobile diet of access to enterprise applications, corporate email, CRM, ICS, and other business-critical offerings.
Salad - Mobile Device Management
Whether delivered to your table fully dressed or integrated while standing at the tech salad bar, MDM sets out to marry ingredients that include provisioning, remote-monitoring and control, auditing, cost control, backup and wipe of contents. Certainly these are all healthful and necessary, but only partially satisfying. Some MDM solutions can leave enterprise IT hungry for missing functionality, or mix choice components with acquired leftovers. Most importantly, MDM does little to proactively secure the underlying mobile platform, leaving content and apps (and MDM itself) vulnerable to spoilage and contamination from malware and other exploits introduced by user software.
Adding mobile virtualization to the MDM mix keeps everything on its own plate – user software and contents can’t touch enterprise apps and MDM, anti-virus and other security software also get their own isolated place at the table.
Main Course - Security
Even if users are allowed to snack on games and tweets and texts, the main course of enterprise mobility is security. However, smartphones and tablets as delivered today are like open-faced sandwiches, especially those built on open OSes. As a result, mobile malware attacks are on the upswing (Android attacks were up four-fold in 2010), making corporate IT management reluctant to even nibble on enterprise mobility.
To enable enterprise mobility, the entire mobile/wireless supply chain, from chipset suppliers to OEMs to ISVs to network operators to enterprise IT must work together, like farmers and greengrocers and chefs. Mobile virtualization streamlines this cross-ecosystem cooperation, providing robust containers for software introduced on the path from raw technology to fully-baked mobile products and services: user software, services and data reside neatly in one virtual machine and enterprise apps, services and management software in one (or more) other VMs.
For our part, OK Labs is collaborating with the mobile/wireless supply chain to ensure interoperability by crafting joint solutions with companies in the OEM, encryption/security, MDM, integrator, and carrier spaces that satisfy the enterprise appetite for airtight security.
Dessert - Enterprise Application Stores
End-users peruse the virtual aisles of apps stores and mobile markets, sampling, squeezing, trying and buying and updating software at will. Acquiring and maintaining mobile enterprise apps should be every bit as easy. Indeed in 2011 you’ll see a line of new online storefronts with mechanisms for deploying enterprise apps over the air, in-app secure purchasing/provisioning, and dedicated company stores.
Mobile virtualization makes these distribution and provisioning channels easy as pie by letting enterprise IT configure and choose which environments can download and run acquired applications and services – enterprise healthy apps in one domain for business and your favorite lifestyle snacks in another. Life is short – eat dessert first.
Mobile Virtualization – Secret Sauce
In short, mobile virtualization is the “secret sauce” of enterprise mobility. Without it, mobile software and hardware are just so many ingredients sourced from a far-flung global ecosystem, easily noshed by hackers or spoiled by increasingly ubiquitous malware.
But don’t take my word for it – check out the SecureIT Mobile Enterprise white paper and our announcements at Mobile World Congress 2011. I’m going out for tapas and sangria – see you in Barcelona!
Posted by Carl Nerup on February 11 at 04:35 PM
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About Carl Nerup:
Carl Nerup – high tech junkie, trusted industry advisor, and outdoor adventure enthusiast – is responsible for OK Labs global business development, including strategic initiatives, partnerships, and alliances. A communications industry veteran, he brings a wealth of knowledge to the leadership team with demonstrated successes in mobile/wireless and Cloud computing.