Cisco’s new tablet app store is all business

Cisco Systems is getting into the app store business, but given its business-networking pedigree it isn’t launching any old application storefront. Rather it has created an application distribution framework that is modeled on consumer app portals but can be customized by IT managers for the particular needs of their corporations. The app store, called AppHQ, is also designed for a single device, Cisco’s own enterprise tablet, the Cius (Unfiltered: Cisco consumer push includes tablets)

Cisco calls its portal an application ecosystem rather than a store, because it borrows the distribution model of consumer stores like iTunes and Android market but keeps in place the controls, permissions and security of a traditional vertically integrated IT software provisioning. With AppHQ, IT administrators can build their own custom ‘stores’ within the Cius tablets they hand out to employees. Those stores can hold software specifically developed for the enterprise, general business productivity apps and even the general run of games of consumers apps available in the Android Market (Cius uses the Android OS). But according to Cisco senior director of product management Tom Puorro, App HQ gives enterprises the flexibility of restricting as much or as little content as it sees fit.

“This is a dream prospect for an IT Administrator,” Puorro said, giving them “any degree of freedom they want, whether they want to be very loose or very firm.”

AppHQ is hosted in the cloud, which gives IT managers a number of options not available through consumer app store channels. Cisco goes through its own testing and validation process for apps that can be deployed in AppHQ, giving managers an idea how they’ll behave on a typical tablet or on the enterprise network. While AppHQ will function as an overarching storefront for Cisco and third-party business software, customers can create “a store within a store” where enterprises can stock their own proprietary software such as back office, payroll and database apps. The store can be branded and customized to each enterprise.

The store manager component is where IT managers get their true powers, though. It allows them to grant or deny access to any application or category of app in AppHQ as well as dictate what an employee can access through Android Market and third-party app stores. Puorro said an IT manager can make every app in Android Market or the Amazon App Store available to employees, shut off access to those portals entirely or allow downloads of select list or specific category of apps. An IT manager, for instance, might not mind employees downloading Angry Birds, but might draw the line at gambling games or apps that could break enterprise security policies.

While there are other app stores geared toward enterprise devices, most notably BlackBerry App World, most of them follow the iTunes consumer distribution model. Cisco’s deployment makes the IT manager the customer rather than the end device user. Other vendors have proposed this kind of enterprise app portal model before. In 2009, MobileIron began selling a white label portal service directly to enterprises (CP: MobileIron introduces the enterprise app store). Cisco’s is the first enterprise app store to make an impact. Today it announced a long list of customers, including CDW and Verizon Communications, who plan to use both the Cius tablet and AppHQ.

The Cius will officially go sale on July 31, though it’s still unclear what kind of wireless connectivity the first tablets will have. Verizon Wireless has committed to selling a long-term evolution (LTE) version of the tablet (Unfiltered: Cisco jumps on the VZW LTE bandwagon), while AT&T is expected to sell an HSPA+ tablet to its customers as well.