iPhone not enterprise ready: Gartner
- 26 June, 2009 16:04
- Comments 5
Is the iPhone 3GS ready for enterprise? The answer is a qualified no, according to Gartner analyst Robin Simpson.
“It has Exchange ActiveSync, which enables remote kill, and enforces password protection,” Simpson said. “Apple has also enabled encryption, but as far as we can tell it’s not centrally controllable by an IT department.”
The iPhone 3GS was launched in Australia today. Existing Apple iPhone customers can access many of its features by downloading the 3.0 software via iTunes.
“It’s basically not enterprise ready,” he said.
The issue that many IT departments will have is that executives will bring iPhones into the business and expect that IT will support it. “The pressure is coming from senior executives and professionals,” said Simpson.
He said that because smart devices are so configurable, many people will simply do an end-run around IT departments and install and use the devices themselves without official sanction.
“You really need to give people the choice, rather than trying to hold back the tide,” Simpson said. “And the reality is that if all people want to do is email and calendar, then the risk is not very high to the business.”
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Comments
Chris Fleck
Many Enterprises are now using Citrix to enable iPhone access
We have found a large demand from our Enterprise customers to use Citrix as a way to provide support to users who want the iPhone. Beyond just email it is now possible to provide secure access to most company apps from the iPhone while IT stays in control.
Anonymous
Enterprise iPhone Management
This company, Trust Digital appears to have a centralized administrative management console for iPhone support. See the Youtube link for a brief demo.
Anonymous
What an Ashole
Joe
I basically disagree
Mr. Simpson really doesn't get it nor does he fully understand smart phone deployment within enterprises. I have a deployment of over 40,000 BlackBerry devices and there is nothing the BlackBerry can do that the iPhone 3GS cannot. However the iPhone 3GS can do things much better than the BlackBerry. Namely keep your calendar properly synced across worldwide time zones. The BlackBerry Enterprise Service continually corrupts user data. Since the iPhone 3GS talks directly with Exchange there is no corruption of information.
Maybe Mr. Simpson needs to make his judgements off of empirical information versus slideware?
Cheers from the trenches.
Anonymous
Gartner is still spreading FUD after all these years?! I was at a major telecom company and the idiot CIO (who still used plastic vuegraphs because he didn't know how to use a laptop) brought those guys in to "evaluate" things. Millions of dollars later all they did was "advise" us to go Microsoft. Guess we know who was lining their pockets!
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