Hartwell accepts that at least in concept the specific device should not matter because for the most part the information can be delivered to the user through a standard browser. “Let’s call it developer bigotry, although that may be a little bit unfair. The point is that a big swathe of IT people from the smart device brands to the software developers will insist that ‘native is better’ and so apps should be written for the capabilities of the specific OS and device. It’s true that most of the leading apps that get five-star reviews, especially on the iPad, were written in native code. But the world is moving on and we have developed apps using HTML5 that are indistinguishable in performance from native iOS apps.” But from a security point of view, he says, implementing policies to secure any data at rest on the device will still depend to some degree on the device operating system and its technical characteristics. Those variations are here to stay, Hartwell believes, because this will always be where device manufacturers differentiate their products from the competition.
The real value is in better use of employee time and greater productivity on any device because people today typically use two or three depending on their situation and what they want to do. That broad range of capability, typically six to eight or so applications for each user, is controlled by the enterprise through a powerful and flexible ‘policy engine’, Nigel Hawthorn, Mobile Iron
“The idea of secure, containerised software kernels that will sit on the device but be well separated is one approach, from Citrix and VMware and probably others to come. But that still needs to work with the OS. The major factor is that smart phones are essentially consumer devices, developing and changing for that set of markets, with only a minority reaching upwards to enterprise grade. I just do not believe that creating an enterprise device is ever going to work. Consumerised IT is where we are at and will stay. Enterprise ICT will just have to work with that, not only in mobile because it’s happening all over.”
Accepting that a high proportion, perhaps even most remote corporate ICT usage is on traditional laptop PCs, Hartwell says that is a mature area of less concern and that the real differentiation is not the size or even functions of the device but the operating systems. “Microsoft is now the first manufacturer to offer an OS family for smart phones, laptops and desktops and clearly that is an interesting line of development. At least interoperability between systems on different classes of device.” The route to device independence for the enterprise, he says, is what Gartner is now calling a Mobile Device Development Platform. This allows applications to be made available for multiple devices, sharing just enough code with the device OS to deliver native-like familiarity and performance.
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