Hewlett-Packard is creating a suite of services aimed at helping enterprises extend their businesses applications to employees and customers who are using mobile devices.
The HP Mobile Applications Services, announced Oct. 24, are designed to enable workers and consumers to access applications, data and businesses processes through any device and from any location. HP, like many other tech vendors, is looking to help businesses deal with the rising trend of the consumerization of IT, which is resulting not only in more mobile workers but also employees who are using their own personal mobile devices-particularly smartphones and tablets, in a trend called Bring Your Own Device, or BYOD-to access the corporate network, creating a host of management and security headaches for IT staffs.
The trends also are forcing enterprises to change the way they work with employees and customers, according to Srini Koushik, vice president of HP's Worldwide Applications Development Services unit.
"The consumerization of IT is changing the way people work and interact with the companies with which they do business," Koushik said in a statement. "HP offers a complete suite of mobile services to help clients realize the full potential, and address the challenges, of this emerging environment."
Further reading
HP's new mobile services touch on every part of the application lifecycle, from design and development to installation and management. Through the Mobile Opportunity Workshop, HP gives businesses the tools to figure out which processes and ideas can be best made into mobile applications, using business value and ease of implementation as markers. HP's Mobile Enterprise Strategy Assessment helps businesses create enterprise-level mobility strategies and solutions, and the Mobile Application Development Services offer custom, packaged and hosted client, client/server and cloud based solutions on all top operating systems.
In addition, HP's Mobile Enterprise Solution Architecture Consulting supports a wide range of solutions from both a technical and business angle, the Application System SOA and Integration Services help enterprises leverage technology and reusable assets to create a service-oriented architecture environment, and Mobile Application Testing ensures that mobile applications work across multiple platforms and offer the best user experience.
HP and its rivals, including Cisco System and Juniper Networks, are rapidly rolling out solutions to help businesses deal with the growing BYOD trend, which has been fueled by the rising use of Apple iPhones and Google Android-based smartphones and, more recently, tablet PCs driven by the popularity of Apple's iPads. The trend is toward greater use of mobile devices, and a greater demand by workers to use their owns devices-rather than ones issued by employers-to access the corporate network.
According to the annual Visual Networking Index Forecast from Cisco, by 2015, there will be almost 15 billion network-connected devices-including smartphones, notebooks, tablets and other smart machines-more than two for every person on the planet. By 2015, the average U.S. citizen will have seven connected devices.
Cisco in April rolled out its Identity Services Engine (ISE) for wired and wireless networks, helping enterprise networks to automatically identify "visitors" seeking access. Juniper this month launched new switches and security software under its Simply Connected networking umbrella.
For its part, HP offers wired and wireless access through its Mobile Access Solution portfolio, and wireless security through its TippingPoint and RF Manager solutions.
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