Management and Security
Of course, end-user training isn't the only way Microsoft can make mobility support easier. IT pros also need integrated tools for managing devices and infrastructure. "I want to manage devices with Systems Management Server (SMS), Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM), Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), unattended installations, scripts, and all the other tools already available," said one respondent.
Warren Ashton (group product manager, Exchange) agreed. "A hodge-podge of solutions has been cobbled together because end users are bringing devices to the table and IT has to figure out how to deal with them."
Chuck Sabin (product manager, MED) asked, "Would you rather manage from Exchange or a separate solution? There's something to be said for managing users from Exchange—managing preferences or managing them as mobile users with the ability to connect to mail. But some customers want to use the same existing solution that manages software updates, or policies, or similar things for laptops, and leverage that management solution for mobile devices. We've been trying to figure out what that tradeoff point is. At what point are you managing the devices or preferences within the messaging profile, versus at what point do you manage through SMS? There's a whole set of policies associated with battery life or tweaking certain settings or security. So, there's a balance. We've added some of those capabilities to SP2 for doing password enforcement, local and remote wipe [i.e., erasing the contents of a mobile device], and enforcing certificate authentication versus using corporate credentials. But we think the trend is going more toward leveraging the existing management solution and less toward a separate infrastructure for mobile versus an infrastructure for laptops and everything else in the network."
Kristi Larsen (IT pro marketing manager, MED) said, "Going back to the survey and the business needs for mobility, two things were interesting. One was network monitoring. A question about MOM was whether a MOM client could be on a mobile device so that the admin could see what's on that device from the MOM console. For me that's a good thing to learn, because we always talk about the end user being up-to-date with email, but the IT person's life is the network console."
Warren summarized the management discussion. "The IT pro can now say, 'I need to make this simpler. I need to lower the cost of operating this convoluted, cobbled-together approach that's been going on for the past 5 years. I'm putting a line in the sand. This is how we are going to manage mobile devices. Users have options, but IT will build more structure, simplification, and lower cost into how we maintain this technology.'"
Meeting the Needs?
The Microsoft teams I interviewed were pleased that the survey results supported their findings about what you want from Exchange and Windows Mobile. Indeed, one reader said, "I think the features in Exchange 2003 SP2 are addressing most of my concerns." Do you agree? If you're deploying SP2, tell me your experiences. Oh, and let me know if your users are willing to trade in their BlackBerries for Windows Mobile devices.
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