UPDATED 14:25 EDT / JANUARY 31 2012

IBM’s Mobile Strategy, Acquisitions Tackle BYOD Security

IBM’s Bob Sutor, the head of the WebSphere Foundation within the company’s software unit, blogged his take on two of the company’s most recent product announcements, both impacting IBM’s mobile goals for the coming months.

Last year Big Blue announced an organization-wide adoption of a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policy enabling a full half of its 400,000 workers to bring their own smartphones to work. At the time, IBM said it has several software offerings under development designed to power this move, as well as other similar shifts occurring in client organizations.

Today IBM unveiled one of these solutions, as well as another big element of is strategy. The IBM Endpoint Manager for Mobile Devices is a management platform that empowers admins with abilities such as remote data wipe, policy compliance enforcement and other functionality. It also supports a full roster of mobile platforms, including iOS and Android.

The second news update is an acquisition. Big Blue bought out Worklight for an undisclosed sum; a private firm that offers a development suite specifically designed for cross-platform app creation.

Sutor believes that these most recent pushes by his company are a positive step. The new offerings – along with the other factors that are already included in IBM’s mobile portfolio – seem to address a good chunk of what a good BYOD policy roll out requires, at least on paper.

“Therefore the modern Mobile platform needs device-side and server-side application development and lifecycle tools; support for multiple devices and mobile operating systems; mobile application an device management; security capabilities from the devices all the way to the back-end; and scalable, transaction-capable connections to the IT systems on which your organization depends for its business. This is what IBM is demonstrating today in these strategic announcements in addition to its existing products and solutions.”

IBM’s certainly on the right track, making proactive moves in a sector that’s anxious to develop BYOD for the large scale.  We’re seeing some defiant employee behavior at many offices across the nation, bringing in their own smartphones and tablets to the office if the company doesn’t issue one to them.  The result is a growing demand for a secured work environment in terms of network safety, all the while reducing headaches for IT admin and executives.  The more IBM builds this technology out for themselves, the more they’ll be able to help others implement strategies elsewhere, addressing some key issues with Android in particular.  Two recent companies bridging this gap include SAP and Intel.


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