Expect mobile and desktop management platforms to converge: VMware

• IT depts want to manage smartphones and desktops in the same way
• Convergence spurred on by Microsoft’s Windows 10 unified OS

 
VIRTUALISATION giant VMware Inc believes that device and desktop management platforms will converge, with more organisations wanting to manage all these end-points via a single dashboard.
 
“Historically, you had one set of tools to manage desktops and laptops, and a separate set of tools to manage smartphones and tablets – those tools typically didn’t cross,” says Shawn Bass, chief technology officer of VMware’s end-user computing division.
 
“What is happening today is that those two tools are starting to merge,” he adds, speaking to Digital News Asia (DNA) in Kuala Lumpur recently.
 
This comes as organisations increasingly look at adopting Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) strategies, partly because managing devices has become easier with Microsoft Corp’s Windows 10 operating system (OS), the US software giant’s ‘unified’ OS.
 
“With Windows 10, [VMware’s] AirWatch can fully manage corporate laptops and devices, and do it without being in a corporate environment,” says Bass.
 
“They can do it on the cloud. This changes the game a lot on how corporate devices are managed in the enterprise,” he adds.
 
In the past, if the IT department needed to update software on a laptop, the user would need to connect the laptop to the corporate VPN (virtual private network).
 
“Now, Windows 10 can be managed by enterprise mobility management (EMM) platforms like AirWatch,” says Bass.
 
“The organisation does not need to have the infrastructure in the branch office; it can just manage the devices from the cloud and manage them no matter where the devices are.
 
“With Windows 10 and AirWatch … you don’t need the VPN to manage the device. [The IT department] is always in the background, synchronising policy changes and software updates,” he adds.
 
One workspace
 
In response to this converged management trend, VMware introduced its WorkSpace One offering, which it claims helps enterprises manage different types of devices more easily.
 
“The organisation can have 3,000 devices – it doesn’t matter if they are iPhones, Android devices, or Windows laptops, they can be managed the same way,” says Bass (pic).
 
“Our goal with WorkSpace One was to make all those different devices into ‘just another device’,” he adds.
 
Workspace One, which was launched in March, integrates elements from AirWatch, VMware Identity Manager and Horizon Air to create a secure, user-centric app experience for both end-users and IT administrators, according to the company.
 
Through a work email address, the solution provides users with secure, single sign-on access to various corporate applications from any smartphone or tablet.
 
It allows smartphone users to access corporate apps with just a fingerprint scan, minimising the problem of having to remember too many passwords.
 
“I spoke to many CIOs (chief information officers) and almost all of them said they want to get out of the device management business,” says Bass.
 
“It doesn’t drive revenue or create business value. Now, with migration to BYOD becoming easier, the idea has become very compelling for many organisations,” he adds.
 
Related Stories:

We are not as fast as we need to be: VMware CEO
 
VMware targets Microsoft and AWS with OneCloud
 
Enterprise mobility management software market to grow 4x in 4yrs
 
 
For more technology news and the latest updates, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn or Like us on Facebook.