mobile device management

Government Agencies Balance Mobile Device Management, BYOD

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Mobile device management software is helping federal, state and local governments to keep track of employee handheld devices. But as agency programs grow in size, new challenges such as technology life cycle and migration are beginning to surface. To address these issues, organizations are taking a number of approaches designed to meet their specific needs.

NASA straddles the line between device and data management policies. Unlike defense and intelligence agencies, NASA is an “open organization” founded to share its data with the public, said Adrian Gardner, chief information officer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center at the Symantec Government Symposium. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 16, 2012 at 4:00 PM

Army Test Program Equips Top Leaders With Tablets, Smart Phones

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Top military officials are finally getting a chance to see first hand how tablet computers and smartphones other than their trusted BlackBerrys might work in the line of duty.

As part of previously undisclosed program, 200 mobile devices – including iPads, iPhones, Samsung Galaxy tablets and smartphones – have been issued to senior military personnel: 100 to top leadership in the Pentagon and another 100 to key staff at major commands such as Army Cyber Command and the Training and Doctrine Command. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 1, 2012 at 10:00 AM

Defense Department Seeks Plans For Mobile Device Management Services

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In an important move aimed at advancing the Defense Department’s use of commercially-available mobile devices and services, the Defense Information System Agency announced it is seeking proposals to provide the U.S. Military with mobile device management capabilities and a dedicated mobile application store.

The announcement took the form of a request for proposals (RFP) posted to the federal government procurement website, FedBizOpps.gov. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 23, 2012 at 1:30 PM

New IT Proposals: The Rise Of 21st Century Seat Management?

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The new computing generation has burst on the federal scene in a big way. The latest manifestation is solicitations coming from two cabinet agencies.

But they remind me of a scene many years ago. I spoke at the retirement party of a federal executive who had briefly worked on a program called seat management. I joked that more people were attending the party than had signed up for seat management, and got a roar of laughter.

“Seat”, as people called it, meant a contractor would supply to federal agencies a PC and all of the required software and services, charging a per-user, per-month fee.

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Seat management, touted as the biggest thing since computers, went over like a lead balloon. But it turns out, the concept might have simply been ahead of its time.

Today, agencies one by one are putting their productivity applications in the cloud. Separately, they are providing mobile devices or letting employees bring their own under BYOD plans.

Marry cloud and BYOD and you have the 21st century version of seat management. The difference today is the seat can be in someone’s car or kitchen, at the beach or in an airplane.

About those two new request proposals demonstrating what is going on: Keep reading →

 /  Published September 13, 2012 at 7:01 AM

Why Mobile Device Management Doesn’t Matter

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When it comes to mobile computing, what do organizations value the most? Consider the following: You lose your smartphone (or, worse, someone steals it). What first crosses your mind? Is it, “That’s going to cost $200 to replace”? Or, do you think, “Someone I don’t know has access to all of my ‘stuff,’ my contacts, my kids’ photos, my home address, my email”? The answer is obvious; you value the data.

The same is true of your organization. Keep reading →

 /  Published April 17, 2012 at 8:22 AM

Mobile Computing Is The ‘New Normal’ For Federal Employees, Study Finds

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Mobility at work has become the “new normal” for federal employees, but managing mobility continues to create challenges, a new government sector survey concludes.

The report, based on a survey of 414 federal employees and IT professionals, found: Keep reading →

 /  Published February 10, 2012 at 4:03 PM