A report has been published by iPass highlighting current trends for mobile workers. It took responses from 1,000 enterprises currently making the most of mobile working solutions and virtual desktops.

It confirms that the number of mobile workers around the world is really rising, but has revealed some possible issues with smart phones, as expect by IT security professionals. The survey revealed that many workers use a smartphone such as a Blackberry to access their work emails and more.

“What is particularly concerning is the fact that 54 per cent of Blackberry users said they would move to an Apple iPhone if they were offered one, and 63% of employees prefer their smartphone over a laptop,” says Claire Sellick, Event Director for Infosecurity Europe.

“The problem here is that, whilst it’s relatively easy to defend a laptop against the vagaries of a mobile Internet connection, securing a smartphone is a whole new ballgame for many IT managers,” she adds.

Using a smartphone over a laptop computer does add new risks and problems for IT managers looking to support mobile workers. However many smartphones are combating these problems as new technologies emerge as often as new models of iPhone!

Here at VESK we are at the forefront of helping you work better where ever you are, and security is a high priority. We're always working hard to bring you best solutions first.

Many UK companies could see a massive increase in productivity from their staff if they offered mobile working and virtual desktop solutions. A report by an expert at Riverbed Technology believes that offering the right mobile working options to staff would ensure people are less distracted when working out of the office.

Mark Lewis, senior director of marketing and alliances for Riverbed, firmly believes the benefits of good mobile working solutions and applications need to balance out the in-office interaction many workers miss when not in the office.

"There are a number of technologies in place today from a number of organisations, where people can not only access remote applications and files but get access to these with ease and speed," he said.

Research performed recently by Lumison showed that around 50% of office workers expect their bosses to be sceptical of mobile working solutions. They worry that their boss would think they were not completing certain tasks or other staff may not work as hard.

This is not the case however, and many mobile workers reap the benefits of flexible working and networking on the go, without having to miss out on important tasks that used to have to be done in the confines of the office.

Using virtual desktops and mobile working solutions is the key to flexible working, which is a necessity for many workers juggling meetings with external clients, family life and other tasks that don't take place in the office itself.

SMEs are being urged to re-think their wireless management strategy after a new survey reveals the right management policy could save firms up to 35%.

Gartner's Key Enterprise Wireless Service Policy report predicts that 80% of the Fortune 1000 companies will be using wireless internet to pool voice and date by 2014. Despite this prediction, many firms are yet to outline policies for wireless internet management as the technology expands. 

When creating a policy, Gartner encourages firms to "look across IT" and not be limited by a networking or telecom group. 

“A good method to ensure a strong policy is to incorporate a centralised team across IT that will be impacted by mobile and wireless decisions,” said Gartner's Phil Redman. “Wireless policies don’t have to be large documents. Often the best, most-read and most widely adopted policies are brief and to the point.”

Gartner has come up with 12 guidelines to help SMEs establish effective wireless policies. One of these guidelines outlines the need to identify eligibility e.g. deciding who should receive a subsidised service. This could depend on the job title, salary and job function. 

Other guidelines to consider are IT support, technical support, security and procurement procedures. Another aspect to consider is personal versus corporate liability - Gartner recommends firms negotiate services and take responsibility for the end user. 

The move towards corporate liability programs marks a step away from personal liability programs as the number of mobile workers rises on a daily basis. The rise in smartphones and other mobile devices means a smart wireless strategy is essential for business to succeed and move a step ahead of their competition. 

IDC have revealed that America has the most mobile workforce. New research shows that in 2008, 72% of US workers worked on a mobile basis for at least some of the time.The number is set to grow by 76% to 120 million in 2013.

The world's number of mobile workers could top 1 billion by the end of this year and by 2013 more than a third of the world's total workforce is set to work on a mobile basis. 

Mobile workers are already quite prevalent in the Western world with advanced mobile technology, such as virtual desktops and smartphones, but it's set to be the emerging economies of Asia and the Pacific region which are set to make the biggest difference. 

The Asia and Pacific regions, excluding Japan, represent the largest number of mobile workers for IDC's forecast; there were  546.4 million mobile workers in 2008. This is set to rise to 734.5 million workers in 2013; the equivalent of 62% of the world's mobile workforce. 

Western Europe's mobile population is also set for a huge boost. IDC predict there will be about 129.5 million workers in 2013; about 50% of the total workforce. 

Japan's mobile worker population will represent 75% of it's total workforce in 2013; about 49.3 million workers. 

This figures might seem high but, with technology advancing every day, it seems the predictions could become reality very quickly and could have an impact on every mobile worker in the near future.

 

There are growing fears among mobile phone operators that Google will change the game, following its entry into the mobile phone market. It recently released its Nexus One which is doing well and its Android operating system is now used on a wide range of mobile devices. 

Google's chief excutive Eric Schimdt this week tried to assure the mobile industry that their entry into the industry was designed to make telecommunication companies more money, instead of turning them into "dumb pipes". Many anxious operators took the news dubiously and its not hard to see why. 

Since its launch in 2008, the Android operating system has gone from strength to strength and now 60,000 handsets with the operating system are shipped everyday. 

Google told competitors at the Mobile World Congress that the firm have no intention of building a rival infrastructure to compete. Instead the firm will use WiFi as it becomes increasingly available. Google will then allow users to choose operators to be used in conjunction with the phone e.g. when WiFi is not available. The question is, will people want to pay for internet access when they can get it for free?!

While the firm try to assure operators they're not a threat, they have announced plans to introduce a "mobile first" principle, with all key projects and applications to be designed specifically for use on mobile devices. The mobile phone is "fundamental to everything you do and it's the extension of everything we are", said Schmidt. 

So should mobile operators really fear Google? Of course they should! As mobile devices turn more and more complicated, the web is the only platform who holds the answer. And who is the probably the world's biggest internet expert? Google! While mobile operators inevitably know more about mobile devices, Google knows more about the internet which is inevitably going to be the biggest draw to smartphones in the future. 

Mobile workers are going to need the best technology available to them and, with the right research and investment, there's a good chance Google could be the main company to offer that. 

 

On Tuesday it was announced that Skype, a popular mobile working tool, will be available on select US smartphones from March. 

Verizon Wireless has joined forces with the internet call service to form Skype Mobile, a service which will allow Blackberry and Android users to make Skype to Skype calls across its 3G network. The software will be available to US Verizon customers with data plans from as early as next month, with similar plans for UK consumers to be announced later this year.

Skype is so popular because it allows users to make cut price international calls. This new service will also allow users to make international calls to any phone at Skype's standard rates. The application will also mimic popular social media sites, allowing users to send and receive instant messages and see their contacts' statuses. 

It's believed the application will be available on 9 handsets in late March and will later come pre-installed in new handsets. 

The move means that Verizon Wireless will become the first large US mobile operator to allow it's users to make free or low cost calls using Skype. Verizon had previously been opposed to VoIP technology, such as Skype and Google Voice, because it allows users to make calls using the data portion of their mobile tariff. This would cause a dent in operators' traditional voice service revenues, which pull in around $700 billion a year. 

"Over time traditional network-based mobile carriers face the real prospect of losing a major slice of their voice traffic and revenue to new non-infrastructure players that use VoIP," said Gartner's Akshay Sharma.

This announcement will come as welcome news to many mobile workers who often spend thousands of pounds a year communicating with overseas business associates for hours at a time. 

Are you having trust issues with your mobile workers? Want to know where they are at all times? A growing number of firms are turning to GPS technology to find the answer. 

Now, using GPS devices for tracking purposes isn't new. For years employers have used GPS tracking systems to monitor their fleet for delivery purposes and for piece of mind. Some systems even send a signal back as often as once every 60 seconds so you really can know just where your fleet is on every step of the journey. But now it seems simply tracking the vehicles isn't enough.

As the number of mobile workers soared in recent years, so has the number of firms using alternative software to keep an eye on them. According to new research, mobile workers spend 70% of their time in transit, while only 30% of their time is spent in actual meetings and being productive. These GPS devices are designed to increase productivity and encourage work ethic. 

Originally these devices were used purely for mobile workers in delivery businesses but now firms from every sector are investing. 

“As mobility increases, so does the need for companies to keep track of their workforce, as how they spend their time plays a huge role in productivity and efficiency levels,” said Francis Seaw, executive director of Xtend Services who make GPS devices. “So, it’s critical that companies with mobile workforce have a means of tracking their workforce in real time."

Most of the the software is installed in mobile phones but employers do have a legal obligation to tell workers they are tracking them. So far, the overall response has been positive towards the device but there are some who feel this goes one step further to mimicking a Big Brother environment.

 

Yesterday Intel and Nokia shocked the world by announcing they have teamed up in an attempt to break into the mobile smartphone industry. 

In the last few years, smartphones and computer-like devices have become more and more popular as consumers and businessmen have strived to do more on the go. Hundreds of mobile workers use smartphones, such as the iPhone and the Blackberry, everyday and now these two industry giants have joined forces in a bid to break into the market.

At the Mobile World Congress Fair in Barcelona the firms unveiled plans for a new operating system to power smartphones. Nokia are hoping the platform, dubbed the MeeGo, will help to improve it's weak position in the ever expanding smartphone industry. Intel are also hoping the move will finally help it to catch up with the industry leaders after it failed to break into the market on several occasions. 

The platform will combine Nokia's Linux Maemo software platform with Intel's Moblin, which is also based in Linux open-sourced software. It's believed the firms decided to work together after seeing the success of Google's Android operating system which is used in a large majority of smartphones and currently holds about 5% of the market.  

"They have understood the only way to beat Microsoft, Google and Apple is to do it through scale -- get the platform to more devices," said John Strand, owner and head of Strand Consult. 

In similar news, Microsoft launched it's latest Windows Phone 7 yesterday. The handsets will be made by companies including HTC and Sony Ericsson and will feature touch screens which allow fast access to social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. It's believed the main operator will be Orange and it should be available by the end  of the year.

Microsoft are hoping this latest model will be more warmly received than the Windows 6.5 Phone which failed to make a big impact when it was released in October 2009.  

Every day hundreds of mobile workers become the victim of theft - in fact, a staggering 228 mobile devices are reported stolen every hour in the UK. 

The Home Office have decided enough is enough and is now backing new mobile technology in a bid to tackle the problem. The Home Office Design and Technology Alliance and the Design Council have teamed up to launch the Mobile Phone Security Alliance. The aim of the scheme is to protect mobile phone users against crimes such as mobile identity fraud, which rose by 70% last year. 

The scheme is backing three new developments which are designed to act as a deterrents to would-be criminals. They have received support and funding from the Technology Strategy Board.

The first device is called the "Tie" which requires a PIN when the SIM is replaced. This is already a feature of some mobiles but is rarely enabled. 

The second device is an alarm which emits a high pitched wail when the handset travels more than 10 metres away from its owner. It's called an "i-migo" and it's hoped the sheer volume of the alarm will be enough to make criminals think again. 

The last device which has won backing is the "TouchSafe" which requires an Oyster-style swipe card to make transactions on the device. It's believed this technology should help to cut the risk of "M Commerce" transaction fraud which is one of the biggest problems currently facing the 75 million mobile users in the UK today. 

Working prototypes of the three devices will be on show at this week's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. 

 "Overall crime has fallen since 1997 but as new technology creates new opportunities for the user it can also provide criminals with opportunities as well," said Home Office Minister Alan Campbell. "This is where designing out crime can make a real difference and we are leading the way by using technology to protect the public."

 

 

There are hundreds of industries and organisations out there which could benefit from desktop virtualisation, one of the largest being the health care industry. 

Over the last 5 years more and more health organisations have been hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons. "Thousands of patient details lost" and "NHS loses personal details of hundreds of patients" are just two of the headlines which show health organisations haven't been as security conscious as they should have been in recent years.

Health organisations have thousands of private details in every database so security is key.

Why is security such an issue?

Security is a huge issue when it comes to health organisations. They have a legal obligation to protect the details of their patients and any breach of this could land them in serious trouble. 

Stolen computers, carlessness and lack of preparation are just three of the reasons to blame for these recent security breaches. Many organisations have to move thousands of details around at one time making it easy to either misplace or lose patient information. 

Why could desktop virtualisation be the answer?

Virtual desktops make it easy for hospitals and clinics to update their systems and hardware, without the need to un-install and install important information. Key details are then stored directly onto the server, rather than individual devices, significantly reducing the risk of security breaches. 

Virtual desktops run existing health care programmes, eliminating the new for software updates, which, in turn, reduces money spent on IT support. Virtual desktops are also attractive to healthcare organisations because they allow staff to log on to their desktop when they need to from any computer. This could be useful when working from home or from other hospitals.

Desktop virtualisation has also been proven to significantly reduce costs. This would help healthcare organisations manage their strict budgets and would give them the chance to spend the extra money they save elsewhere.