VMware this week announced a mobile virtualization solution that allows a single mobile device to securely run a work account in isolation from a user’s personal account.
It will be available only on LG smart phones with the Android operating system initially (starting in 2011), but VMware says eventually the technology will enable users to select the phone of their choice while allowing IT departments to enforce enterprise-level security and compliance.
VMware’s mobile virtualization works by running a user’s personal e-mail and applications natively on the Android phone, while a guest operating system contains the employee’s work environment, Network World explains. Devices would have two phone numbers.
The solution has the potential to satisfy the security and management requirements of even the staunchest corporate-liability supporters.
Enterprises have long recognized the benefits of individually liable mobile devices: wider device selection, zero hardware purchases and no provisioning or plan optimization consistently top the list.
But corporate liability has prevailed as a best practice for a few key reasons, security chief among them. Enterprises needed to own the devices so they could remotely wipe phones left in taxis and keep corporate wireless numbers when employees left, for example.
While VMware’s solution won’t replace the other benefits you give up by moving to individual liability (corporate discounts and optimized pool plans come to mind), it does elegantly resolve some of the primary security and management headaches.
VMware will market management tools and release a software development kit to connect existing management platforms to the VMware system, Network World reports. This would allow IT to encrypt work-related data and perform remote wipes without removing personal data.
Several questions remain, including how mobile operators will bill for two phone numbers on one device and whether different routing paths can be set for each of the phone numbers. But those questions are not substantial enough to quell growing enthusiasm and hope that VMware’s solution will win broader adoption among other operating systems and carriers.
“We’re seeing interest from Verizon Wireless customers in the area of mobile personas, which allow a personal mobile phone to be leveraged in a professional setting in a secure way that is IT-approved,” says Humphrey Chen, executive director of New Technologies, Verizon Wireless, in VMware’s press release. “The kind of virtualization VMware offers helps to make this happen, and we’re evaluating ways to help our customers achieve this.”
Bottom line: By alleviating the security concerns around employee liability for mobile devices, VMware’s announcement adds momentum to the diversification of IT end points, the consumerization of enterprise technology, the trend toward BYOD (bring your own device) and the “IT-as-a-service” model.
Telwares believes VMware’s mobile virtualization is a strong push into the market, and a potential enabler for larger employee-owned device deployments in the future. However, the technology needs to mature, OEMs must decide their role in the virtualized mobile environment and future product releases must encompass a broader set of platforms before enterprises can evaluate options for adoption.
Posted by Michael V 
