Carrier Challenges for Tomorrow's Connected Enterprise

by Dr. Badri Nath, Chief Scientist

9/24/2009

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We are starting to see the shape of the future, where everyone, from consumers and home workers to all levels of the enterprise workforce, will be working in a connected environment. Even now, mobile workers are running mission-critical applications on their laptops, netbooks and mobile phones; physical assets with RFID tags are being tracked for up-to-date inventory management; and corporate fleets are using location information and receiving over-the-air scheduling updates. More and more office equipment -- printers, whiteboards, monitors, projectors, cameras, etc. -- is being used by employees remotely, whether they're in the office or not. And technology is already coming to market to enable "smart" meeting rooms that will interact with the people meeting in them whether or not they are physically present.

As we watch the growth of fast cellular networks around the world, the spread of Wi-Fi hotspots, and the rollout of 4G networks such as WiMAX in cities like Baltimore, Atlanta and Portland, we can see the potential of widespread broadband wireless access and the power of 4G networks such as WiMAX and LTE. As networks become increasingly capable of supporting data-heavy mobile services and applications, and as more of the data and services being accessed reside in the "cloud", the more demand there is for these types of services. Eventually, every mobile asset of any value will be able to be networked in a variety of ways, with access to data and services within the cloud from wherever the user is -- whether in a home or business, city or town, train, plane or automobile.

This has huge implications for enterprises as well as for the network carriers, who need to support businesses as they integrate an increasing range of connected corporate assets. The examples listed above are just a few of the corporate assets that will need to be integrated into existing networks and managed by enterprise IT departments. Many of these assets will likely not even be seen by the carriers until they are connected. Whether we are discussing people, goods or traditional IT hardware, in-building or remote, wired or wireless, when these assets are connected, the challenge for carriers will be to help businesses seamlessly managing any of them, in any location, on any network, at any time.

Instant Access

Existing enterprise management tools and policies are optimized for management of "traditional" IT assets -- primarily computers and computer networks, which traditionally have been physically connected and interconnected on a more-or-less permanent basis under the ownership of a single entity. In the enterprise of the future, these same management capabilities need to be extended to any networked "device." But because many of these devices do not fit the traditional definition of an IT asset, and because different entities (device OEM/ODM, mobile carrier, enterprise) may have management responsibility for the devices over their lifetime, managing them requires new techniques. When a laptop, netbook or handheld mobile device is lost or stolen on the road, or a package is damaged in transit, or a fleet vehicle dies on the way back from the airport, or an interactive whiteboard goes down in a remote office, IT will need to determine the state of that asset instantly and react to the situation accordingly. IT, as well as other management authorities at different points in time, will need to be able to remotely view the status of the device and any settings, software or firmware on the device, configure or reconfigure settings to make the device work properly, and update any software or firmware that is necessary to the device's proper operation.

Similarly, IT needs to establish and consistently enforce security and software policies regardless of the asset type, location, or network used. They need to ensure the security of any sensitive data on the different devices and protect the company from unauthorized use of devices, unauthorized access to company information, unauthorized access to device data and unauthorized access to the corporate network via these devices.

Carriers are making great strides on enabling a wide variety of devices to be networked in different ways, depending on the needs and location of the users and the devices. Mobile handsets now come equipped with both wide-area and local-area network capabilities built in. Laptops and netbooks can use 4G connections such as WiMAX as well as Wi-Fi connections. And an increasing number of other devices -- from cameras to business electronics -- will be able to connect to different networks. Significantly improved network connectivity helps reduce the latency of information in a global enterprise, making it increasingly practical for more devices to be connected wherever they are. But what IT really needs is the ability to proactively ensure the uptime, security and performance of these assets, regardless of where they are or how they are connected. The IT toolkit of the future needs to include access to remote management capabilities that can track, manage and secure any type of connected corporate asset.

A Single Worldview

In the enterprise today, IT assets are managed separately from other corporate assets. In the enterprise of the future, this distinction will become blurred. In fact, with many employees already using their personal mobile devices -- from smartphones to laptops and netbooks -- for business purposes, the distinction is already blurring. With so many different types of corporate assets networked, companies will expect IT to be able to treat all of them -- laptops, netbooks, mobile handsets, tagged physical assets, fleet vehicles, networked office equipment, and more -- as first-class citizens of the enterprise inventory. Remote management of these assets will need to include everything from deployment of settings, software, patches and updates, to remote troubleshooting and repair.

This begs for a single management worldview of the entire enterprise inventory, incorporating support for multiple management authorities for mobile assets, to ensure that any networked asset can be managed securely and seamlessly anywhere, on any network, at any time, by the appropriate management authority. A single worldview facilitates proactive application provisioning, configuration and security for networked assets, making it easier to enforce company-wide policies and provide desktop-quality support for the entire gamut of enterprise assets, current and future.

Multiple Management Authorities

At the same time, enterprise IT is not the only concerned party when it comes to networked corporate assets. Mobile assets -- handsets, netbooks, vehicles, even packages -- need to connect to the enterprise through different carrier networks at different points in time. Network carriers need access to many of these assets for configuration and provisioning purposes. Similarly, the management of these assets could be outsourced to an outside entity such as the carrier or service provider. However, enterprise data, identity and settings need to be shielded from unauthorized access. Establishing multiple management authorities, each with separate security credentials, management protocols and policies, ensures a "walled garden" between the enterprise and the carrier or other third-party responsible for management of mobile assets, while also providing protocols and policies for shared control of shared data.

Also, there is an increasing trend toward a blurring of the line of demarcation between enterprise and consumer assets, particularly for assets like mobile phones, mobile Internet devices and other connected "consumer electronic devices." In many instances, these devices are being sourced or procured by the user outside the enterprise, even though they are used to access enterprise resources and systems. This creates new challenges for enterprises and carriers, who now need to design and implement policies and approaches to managing a single piece of hardware that are appropriate for both the enterprise and the consumer.

Conclusion

Carriers have an opportunity to meet this challenge of providing enterprises with both a single worldview and multiple management authorities for their mobile assets. By delivering an integrated management platform that can securely manage a wide range of different mobile assets, carriers can provide enterprises with a secure management environment for their networked assets, while also ensuring that policies are in place to enable the enterprise and the different management authorities to access and control the devices and data when appropriate.

The enterprise of the future will operate in an increasingly interconnected world, where "at work" may mean anything from working within the company's four walls to traveling the globe accessing data and services within the cloud. In this interconnected world, just about every enterprise asset of value will be networked, and many of these will need to use different networks in different ways at different times. Regardless of how they are connected, every networked asset used by a company's employees will need to be integrated into the IT management infrastructure in order to ensure that all of these assets can be managed and viewed seamlessly. A remote management platform that provides a single worldview for the enterprise, while incorporating support for multiple management authorities in the value chain for mobile assets, will ensure that any one of these assets can be managed seamlessly anywhere, on any network, at any time. Offering remote manageability as a service to the enterprise can provide a huge opportunity for carriers.

About the Author

An expert in emerging mobile and wireless computing technologies, Dr. Badri Nath serves as Mformation's Chief Scientist. Before Mformation, Dr. Nath was a professor of computer science at Rutgers University where he accumulated more than 15 years of experience in systems architecture and design, research and development, project management, and obtaining grant funding.

At Mformation, Dr. Nath is responsible for new project initiatives, designing product architectures for manageability in new and emerging wireless networks, intellectual property formulation, and representation in standards bodies. He has authored more than 100 research publications and is in demand as a speaker on subjects ranging from wireless technologies and mobile computing to sensor and near-field networks.

Dr. Nath's experience has included leadership of a wide range of projects in the areas of mobile computing, protocols for wireless networks (I-TCP, APS), information assurance, and security issues in sensor and RFID networks. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and holds a Master's of Engineering degree from IISC and a Bachelor's of Engineering degree from Bangalore University.

About Mformation Technologies

Mformation Technologies Inc. is the leading global provider of mobile device management (MDM) technology, offering a complete solution that enables mobile operators to rapidly accelerate their data revenues and reduce support costs. Mformation's award-winning MFORMATION SERVICE MANAGER� suite is the most complete, flexible and integrated mobile device management software solution in the industry, providing solutions for OMA DM-based provisioning and configuration, FOTA management, smartphone application management, diagnostics, security management, enterprise management and customer experience management.

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