CTIA: Ballmer talks device management

SAN FRANCISCO--Steve Ballmer kicked off the IT portion of CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment yesterday, but the Microsoft CEO espoused more than an enterprise vision for mobility in his opening keynote. He discussed Microsoft software bridging personal and business worlds and reducing the dependency of professionals on multiple devices for work and play. When it came down to Microsoft’s new innovations though, Ballmer returned to Microsoft’s roots, announcing a new device management platform squarely focused on the enterprise.

Ballmer used his keynote to preview Microsoft’s new mobile device management portfolio, an IT application and client package that allows companies to control policy, programs and access to Windows Mobile devices just as an IT department can manage its networked PCs and laptops. Microsoft certainly isn’t the first company to launch a device management solution--enterprise application developers have been releasing such software for years--but Microsoft’s platform comes integrated directly with its all-pervasive portfolio of business apps.

“Essentially it is a management service that enterprise IT can…use to manage anywhere from dozens, to many, many hundreds of thousands of Windows Mobile devices,” Ballmer said. “And it will manage the phone, in some senses, like it would manage mission critical data on the PC. It helps provision the device, it will help IT control the devices: Maybe they want cameras turned off, or data encrypted on the phone, password requirements to be set in a hard way for access to corporate data.”

Called the System Center Mobile Device Center, the platform plugs in directly to Microsoft’s enterprise server lines, integrates directly with Active Directory and links to upcoming versions of Windows Mobile 6.0 over a wide area network connection, allowing an IT department to perform all of the management app’s functions remotely.

But unlike other device management solutions, Microsoft is targeting its platform solely on its own mobile operating system, which could leave companies with multiple platforms out to dry. Lack of support for OS solutions comes at little surprise though, Microsoft’s strategy for Windows Mobile from the beginning has been to leverage its deep reach into the enterprise and personal computing space into the mobile world, creating a tightly knit server-PC-handset relationship that would make Microsoft software the default applications for the phone.

The update to Windows Mobile 6 will be available in the second quarter of next year, and two phone makers have said they have built the software into their latest phones: Samsung into its upcoming BlackJack 2 and Palm in its Treo 750. HTC, HP, I-mate, Intermec and Motorola have also agreed to provide service updates for their Windows Mobile devices that will support the new platform.

AT&T will launch the service as an application for its business customers next year, and Sprint said it would support the application over its network for enterprises deploying it.