Jun 11
TechEd: My favorite gadgets… powered by Windows Mobile and System Center
Today I was able to attend two sessions focusing on Windows Mobile and System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008. I was the lucky winner of the Windows Mobile trivia game and walked away with a Samsung Blackjack II to add to my growing number of WinMo devices. Starting with the Motorola MPX-200, I have worked my way through five devices to the AT&T Tilt/HTC TyTn 2. These devices have not only made vast improvements in hardware, but similar improvements in software and usability.
With System Center Mobile Device Manger (MDM) and Windows Mobile 6.1, Microsoft has added some serious enterprise features into WinMo. The devices now meet encryption standards of the Defense Industry while meeting the mobile entertainment standards of a music collector. The important question is, “How can I control mobile devices that access corporate data?” Well, WinMo 6.1 and MDM have the answer! With approximately 125 policy settings for devices, administrators can control the camera, radios, Bluetooth devices, and block applications that are outside of policy. These capabilities extend to remote wipes of lost or stolen devices, and the wipe can include attached storage cards as well.
What is really intriguing about this solution is the way it is implemented. In a MDM managed environment, devices are connected to the corporate network via an IPSec connection to a mobile device gateway. This ensures access to corporate resources with the high security associated with VPN technologies. Even basic synchronization of Exchange data flows over the encrypted connection so all traffic is encrypted and authenticated.
WinMo provides a huge variety of devices and form factors by a large number of manufacturers. Even across all these unique devices, MDM can consistently provision and manage devices whether it’s for a corporate standard, or a consumer purchase.