Enterprises Will Drive Mobile Devices Management to a $5 Billion Market


Carriers Ready To Support Non-Portfolio Devices Will Win Key SME Segment

London, England & Boston, MA, USA -/1 Dec, 2004 - Wi-Fi Technology News/- Managing a hodgepodge of wireless devices as fully administered extensions of a company's IT fabric is a daunting proposition. According to Strategy Analytics, the issue will be most acute for smaller businesses less able to exercise control over a growing population of network-hungry devices as diverse as the individuals who purchased them. Strategy Analytics' recently released, "Market Outlook: Strategic Perspectives on Enterprise Mobile Device Management," examines the critical nature and functionality of 'MDM' solutions which allow IT professionals to tame remote wireless devices, and reveals why ease of integration and support for a broad array of devices will be key features.

This report also highlights opportunities available to mobile operators and MDM players that can effectively remove the device management barrier to wireless adoption by addressing an expanded scope of IT concerns. Beyond patching application software and configuring device settings OTA (over-the-air), potential showstoppers include the inability to lockdown a device in the event it is lost or stolen, or remotely enforce data encryption, synchronization and/or backups. Moving forward, least-cost wireless network routing in a multi-access environment (i.e. WWAN/ Corporate WLAN/ Public Hotspot) will also gain importance. The MDM market, now dominated by software licensing, is poised to grow ten-fold by 2010 into a $5 billion global market dominated by managed services.

"Early enterprise adoption of mobility has either been the result of proactive, well considered strategies granting wireless access to process workers, or reactive short term measures in response to the uncoordinated purchases of wireless devices by knowledge workers," states Cliff Raskind, Director, Global Wireless Practice. "In both cases, IT managers have to make critical policy decisions to protect the integrity of enterprise IT services. Unlike PC's, this is exacerbated by unclear lines of device ownership and the mobility inherent in wireless devices."

While larger enterprises licensing MDM software have blazed the trail so far, the market will ultimately be lead by SME's seeking competitive advantage and cost reduction leveraging less expensive smartphones and personal productivity solutions like email available from operators. An underserved SME segment will provide greater opportunities for operators in terms of service differentiation in the form of customer support and network-centric MDM tasks like least-cost routing and device lockdown. However, the SME market will not be without challenges as IT comes under increasing pressure to accommodate users who "self-fulfill" with their own open OS smartphones. Here, successful operator differentiation must enable smaller businesses to uniformly manage a heterogeneous assortment of devices - one-in-three of which will be purchased outside of the operator's portfolio.

About Strategy Analytics
Strategy Analytics, Inc., a global research and consulting firm, provides timely insights and strategic business solutions to companies operating at the convergence of information, communications and entertainment technologies. With worldwide headquarters in Newton, MA and principal offices in England, France and Germany, Strategy Analytics focuses on market opportunities and challenges in the areas of Automotive Electronics, Broadband, Telematics, Wireless Strategies and Enabling Technologies. For more information, see http://www.strategyanalytics.com