VMware said
Horizon Mobile, which puts a virtual work phone on an employee’s personal
phone, will support Apple iOS as well as Google Android.
VMware said its new
Horizon Mobile technology, which runs a work phone as a virtual instance on an
employee’s personal smartphone, will run on Apple iOS devices as well as those
running the Google Android OS.
When
VMware unveiled Horizon Mobile at VMworld 2011, it only supported Android,
which struck some industry observers as a big shortcoming. But Hoofar Razavi,
director of product management for mobile solutions at VMware, said it had been
on VMware’s road map all along to support iOS.
Horizon
Mobile is VMware’s response to the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend in the
workplace, in which employees want to use their own smartphones or tablet
computers at work. But while BYOD is popular with workers, it presents a
dilemma to the IT staff that has to manage network access and secure corporate
data on multiple device brands and platforms.
With
Horizon, the IT staff emails an employee a link to a site, which they access
from the device they want to use and, from that link, set a pass code that
verifies that the employee and the device are approved. The company then
delivers the virtual instance to the device over the air.
The
IT professional operates from a dashboard, called the Horizon Broker that sets
up the virtual “workspace,” as Razavi put it, including all the business
applications the worker needs to do their job. The number of apps included
depends on their job and the
access for which they’ve been approved for various corporate data.
Why should companies use Horizon Mobile?
Horizon Mobile is VMware’s response
to bring-your-own-device trend in the workplace, in which employees favor their
own devices for work-related tasks, and not the ones provided by the company.
It’s fairly easier to do the work required with a machine used by the prior
employee , but most companies fear about security and accessibility issues.
There remains a single question, though, will Apple approve this?
With Horizon
Mobile, all iOS personal
devices can be used without stress within a company. All that has to be done by
the worker is to access a link supplied by the IT staff and set a pass code to
verify the device within the circle. Then, the company itself delivers a
virtual instance of the “work” device over the air, transforming something used
for media viewing and other tasks into a professional tool.
