Telefonica Digital and virtualization powerhouse VMware teamed up on a Dual Persona service that splits corporate and personal data profiles on one Android device. The Galaxy S II will be the first device to get this service.
Telefonica
Digital and virtualization powerhouse VMware Feb. 28
unveiled a new service that lets users separate
their corporate work data and their personal data on one Android handset.
The Telefonica
Dual Persona service is designed to help IT departments provision and manage
corporate email, applications and data to an employee's Android device
over-the-air via a cloud-based instance of VMware's Horizon Mobile device-management
software.
When an
employee leaves the company or if a device is lost or stolen, the business will
be better able to wipe corporate information from mobile devices without
deleting the user's personal profile. Dual Persona users may switch from
professional profile to personal profile by tapping on an app icon. Users will
also receive both work and personal notifications within both profiles.
The service,
introduced at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, will be available
first on Samsung's Galaxy S II handset in the second quarter of this year.
Samsung, which
has sold more than 20 million S II units, will run Dual Persona on additional
Android smartphones and tablets in the coming months, and Telefonica said it
hopes to get its software on other operating systems and platforms in time.
Telefonica
will provide more information on pricing and countries where the service will
launch in the coming months.
The
split-phone identity concept is not new.
Enterproid last year launched Divide, a software
platform that lets corporate road warriors create and keep personal and
professional profiles on one Android smartphone or tablet.
What's driving
this trend toward mobile gadgets with split personalities? The consumerization
of IT is a major reason. Forrester Research has said 60 percent of companies
now allow their employees to use personal smartphones and tablets at work, a
trend that should blossom.
As BlackBerry
maker Research in Motion's market share wanes, consumers are bringing other
devices such as iPhones, iPads and Android smartphones and tablets into the
workplace. This bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend spurs IT managers to figure
out how to manage the secure transmission of corporate data and apps across
these personal gadgets.
As more and
more personal devices flood the workplace, managing and securing corporate data
on those devices can get unwieldy, presenting challenges for IT managers.
Hence, the
opportunity arises for services like Telefonica's Dual
Persona and VMware's Horizon Mobile, which the company unveiled in
the U.S. last October in a pact with Verizon.
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