The Evolution Of MDM

By Brian Albright, Field Technologies magazine

The rapid expansion of mobility initiatives in the enterprise can make an IT manager's head spin. "Hundreds of new smartphones and tablets have been launched by vendors in 2011, and each presents unique support challenges," says Jonathan Dale, product marketing manager for Fiberlink Communications. "There is no realistic way to test and approve which devices IT will support and which ones they will not. That means IT has a real challenge in setting their support strategy."

Beyond platform variety, there is also the issue of operating system upgrades. "This ranges from highly predictable Apple iOS devices on one end of the spectrum to Android on the other — with its hundreds of devices and several major OS releases per year," says Joe Granda, executive VP of marketing at Syclo. "Companies are scrambling to plug vulnerabilities and learn the differences between device form factors and OS versions."