Google's $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility closed last week, stirring talk of Android's new possibilities in the enterprise sector. Android has already conquered the consumer market, running on 59 percent of the smartphones shipped in the first quarter of 2012. According to surveys, however, IT managers are still concerned that maintaining security and control of consumer Android devices used by workers in BYOD practices may be close to impossible.
Analysts have said IT managers have difficulty in getting the Mobile device Management (MDM) tools they need to control Android devices employees bring in their workplace. A recent report by Gartner found adoption of Android tablets and smartphones in large businesses has been "severely limited" so far. This limitation is because managing devices from multiple vendors running different Android versions is very complex.
Back in April, a Gartner survey found that only nine percent of enterprises have made or intend to make Android their primary mobile platform in the next year. Meanwhile, 58 percent of companies use or plan to use Apple's iOS, and 20 percent use or plan to use Research in Motion's (RIM) BlackBerry OS.
Managing and Securing Android
On the other hand, some analysts hope that Motorola's purchase of MDM software maker 3LM in 2011 will help IT manage and secure Android, maybe even in time for the release of Android Jelly Bean and/or Android 5.0. 3LM is not true MDM, according to analysts, but its software does include a layer of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) that could allow Android to work better with third-party MDM software. Google is expected to improve Android manageability using 3LM, but the company made no comment on its plans for the software. Many analysts hope Google will unveil its plans at its I/O conference in late June.
IT shops currently rely on Exchange ActiveSync mostly to manage Android devices employees use for their job tasks, but analysts argue that ActiveSync does not have the sophistication IT shops require. "ActiveSync is a really low-end solution for MDM," said J. Gold Associates analyst Jack Gold, as cited by ComputerWorld. "Now that Google owns Moto [Motorola Mobility], I expect the Moto folks to start feeding back into base Android some of the technology they have developed. This is the primary reason that Google bought Moto, in my opinion."
Enhanced Security at Enterprise Standards
According to Gold, Motorola Mobility will empower Android with "much more capable management interfaces and APIs." Past and current Android versions will not draw much from it, but future versions may benefit from enhanced security at enterprise standards, added Gold.
"None of this helps the Android enterprise users in the short term, unless they decide to work with MDM from Enterproid and others like Good that have a 'two-persona' capability on a device," said Gold, as cited by ComputerWorld. A "two-persona" reportedly means the ability to partition data on smartphones or tablets so that users' personal data will not be lost if an IT shop wipes off corporate data from a mobile device. According to Gold, IT shops currently need to specify which makes and models users can buy for corporate use.
"For the short term, only enterprise level adaptations of Android are safe enough for corporate use, in my opinion," he added. "Longer term, in one to two years, this won't be an issue."
Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility means Google can use Motorola's "expertise to move into the enterprise market so as to take advantage of 'Bring Your Own Device,'" said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi, as cited by ComputerWorld. The "Bring Your Own Device" to work movement, a.k.a. BYOD for short, has gained significant ground and is increasingly more popular. Reaching the enterprise sector with Android is "certainly key for Google, considering the growing trend of BYOD and the decreasing number of people that carry separate devices for work and play," added Milanesi.
