In 
When it comes to tablets such as the Apple iPad, consumers want the ability to read their email, cruise the Web, download some apps and play games-or rather, one specific game that involves hurling some irate birds at nonplussed pigs.
However, IT pros, whether they are working for a large enterprise or a small business, are looking at the tablet arena from a different direction: They want tablets that will play nice with their legacy infrastructure and applications, offer high security, and let users segregate any personal software and services (i.e., those angry birds) from their professional ones.
IT administrators working in specific fields, notably health care and construction, also want tablets that have long battery lives and are rugged enough to withstand bumps and falls.
Just to complicate things a little bit more, over the past few years the enterprise IT world has undergone something of a radical paradigm shift when it comes to mobile devices. No longer does a CIO or high-ranking IT pro buy his or her employees a couple dozen BlackBerry devices and administrate a relatively homogeneous mobile-device environment.
With the slashing of IT budgets in the wake of the global recession, more enterprises and small and midsize businesses (SMBs) have replaced buying smartphones and tablets in bulk with encouraging their employees to sync their personal mobile devices with the corporate network.
This might save money, but a heterogeneous mobile environment creates its own issues in terms of IT security and compatibility with existing assets. With tablets a relatively new device on the IT scene-thus subject to a lot of evolutionary flux in terms of hardware or software-the complexity and potential problems rise by an order of magnitude.
That could be one reason why some businesses have opted to embrace Apple's iPad, which dominates the tablet market. Indeed, a Sept. 22 report by research firm Gartner found that Apple's iPad will continue to dominate more than 50 percent of the worldwide tablet market through 2014, giving the company a huge advantage over both Google Android and Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8, which will also work on tablets.
"We found integrating iPads into our infrastructure to be straightforward, requiring limited effort," said Kirk Larson, vice president and CIO of Children's Hospital Central California. "We just needed to enter the wireless information, install the VMware View client, and make some minor modifications to the device."
Larson's IT group uses the iPad's configuration utility to remove nonbusiness applications. "This utility, combined with VMware, ensures that data is not stored on the physical device," he explained. "Because of this, we find tablets easier to manage than laptops from a security perspective." The iPads are hospital property, used to access and share information about the facility's patients.
With the VMware View client for iPad, users have access to virtualized Windows-based desktops on their Apple tablet. Similar applications also exist for businesses that want to reconcile a legacy Windows environment with their current need for mobility-and perhaps offer an alternative to purchasing a tablet preloaded with Windows 7.
Users Create Risks
Using iPads that belong to the hospital simplifies life on both the administrative and user ends. With a personal iPad or Android tablet, "It's very difficult for a CIO or CSO to say, ?I'm going to disable the App Store,'" said John Herrema, senior vice president of corporate strategy for Good Technology, which offers tools for mobility compliance and security. "The new challenge with these devices is that it's the users who are creating a lot of the risk."
For example, an employee accessing a popular app or Website such as Facebook through a personal tablet or smartphone might port an address book-and its potentially sensitive contacts-into a public-facing forum. "There are wide open APIs there," Herrema added. "They're not phishing or malicious applications: They say what they're going to do. You will have data loss."
Good Technology's solutions enforce password policies on a mobile device, allow for remotely wiping data from stolen or lost devices, give administrators control over features such as cameras, and safeguard stored data. However, he acknowledged that imposing enterprise IT policies on a personal device such as a tablet will create tensions between users and IT administrators.
"They don't want to enter a password to access Facebook or make a call," Herrema pointed out. "Our thinking is, if you're not applying the same policy to an iPad as you do to a laptop, you don't have a policy."
Enterprises and SMBs also have a need for tablets to interoperate with existing applications and software-something that's led to an increased presence of Windows 7 touch screens in businesses.
"We see demand from all business sectors-health care, field service, construction, retail-for a Windows-based tablet PC," said Mike Stinson, vice president of marketing for Motion Computing, which offers tablet PCs with Windows 7 for verticals. "Windows seamlessly integrates with the legacy systems prevalent in the majority of enterprises. It also provides the software compatibility and security that businesses require."
IT departments, he said, are already "overwhelmed," and adding new mobile operating systems such as Android or webOS to the mix will "only further exacerbate the situation." Many features found in consumer-centric tablets, such as a Netflix streaming app, aren't necessary for touch-centric devices in the enterprise.
"They're not essential, job-related functions," Stinson said. "That's not to say those media features aren't there; they are just less of a priority."
Stinson does have his eye on Windows 8-reportedly due in 2012-which Microsoft is designing to run on a variety of tablet form factors in addition to traditional PCs. "We think the new enhancements, such as improved touch navigation and security features, will improve the user experience, while conforming to security protocols, helping IT better manage its devices," he said.
Windows 8 offers two user environments: the desktop mode (familiar to anyone who's used Windows) and a tablet-ready interface featuring colorful tiles that link to applications. In the early developer preview (see review, page 28), the transition between the two environments is quick and seamless. Windows 8 will support both x86 and ARM architecture.
During his Sept. 13 BUILD keynote, Windows and Windows Live Division President Steven Sinofsky insisted that the rise of mobility made it essential for Microsoft to release a new version of Windows optimized for running on tablets.
Once Windows 8 arrives, IT administrators will have to decide whether to embrace x86 or ARM tablets. "The ARM products initially won't have all the management hooks, but because they won't run legacy code, they will likely be immune to most existing Windows viruses, and should be lighter with a bit more battery life," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst for the Enderle Group. The alternative is "an x86 device that has full compatibility but will also carry Windows baggage."
Some companies have chosen tablets that fit a particular need.
Verizon Wireless has currently deployed some 100 Cius tablets, built by Cisco with the aim of integrating a number of its branded products (including Cisco TelePresence and Cisco WebEx meeting applications) onto a mobile hardware platform. The Android-based Cius was launched this summer as a tablet primarily for business.
"We needed something for collaboration and to bring people into the moment," said Chris Kemmerer, director of unified communication and mobility solutions for Verizon Wireless. In addition to the mobility benefits of a 7-inch tablet, the Cius offers a broad array of communications functionality, the ability to control security policies and access to specific apps (and block access to the Android Marketplace), and lengthy battery life. Verizon's developers can leverage the Android platform to rapidly create new internal apps.
Verizon is also interested in what Kemmerer termed "dual-persona technology," which can segment the "personal sandbox" on an employee's device-presumably loaded with games and the like-away from a virtual operating system loaded with his or her business apps.
Other vendors have their eye on the business market. Earlier this year, Research In Motion launched the PlayBook, which relies on a QNX-based operating system. Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis admitted on the company's Sept. 15 earnings call that sales of the PlayBook were "below where we'd like it to be," but said that the tablet will "ultimately be successful."
Lenovo also recently launched its ThinkPad tablet. It runs Android 3.1 (a variant of the "Honeycomb" build for tablets) and boasts a set of business-ready accessories, including a digital stylus and a keyboard dock.
According to research firm Gartner, tablet sales will reach 54.8 million units in 2011, with predicted sales of 208 million by 2014. That's a very tempting install base.
Accordingly, the hardware and software options available for consumers and businesses will almost certainly continue to proliferate. Despite that, the needs of both the enterprise and SMBs will surely stay the same: security, opportunities for development, tools for segregating personal apps away from business ones, and the ability to integrate and play well with legacy applications.
That's a lot of complexity facing your typical IT administrator or CIO, but at least they'll have options to fit their needs.
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