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  • IBM i Mobile Apps Challenged By BYOD Management

    March 17, 2014 Dan Burger

    Five C-level executives sit down to have a conversation about implementing mobile computing. Each one has his or her unique experiences. Some are under way with mobile projects, some are yet to begin, but have made mobile a priority. All are eager to share stories and compare notes on what has worked and what has not. And all of them come from companies that run their businesses on IBM i.

    One of them was responsible for bringing the group together to discuss mobile strategies, mobile device management, mobile application development, security, and the assorted and sundry challenges that can cause a person to wake up in the middle of the night sweating like a mouse in a box of rattlesnakes. The ringleader is Roxanne Reynolds-Lair and this is somewhat of a dress rehearsal for the IT Executive Conference that she puts together each year.

    Mobile computing is a topic that demonstrates the power of a panel consisting of people on the front lines of making decisions and getting things done. Executives appreciate the reality-based information. If there is one thing it lacks, it is salesmanship and bias. (Okay that is two things.) It is not something that is missed.

    For the benefit of this IT Jungle article, Lair put together a virtual panel, (also known sometimes as a conference call) to discuss mobile computing, a re-creation of a very popular session from the 2013 Executive Conference. The panel members were Carl Novit, Rachele Hockert, Phil McCullough, Todd Spight, and Lair. Company names are not being identified because not everyone was comfortable with that, believing they can speak more openly when employers remain anonymous.

    Among this group, all had mobile access to corporate email, which on most surveys would qualify for implanting a mobile solution, but was barely mentioned in these talks. Everyone assumed mobile email capabilities were standard operating procedures and this discussion would move beyond that first step.

    Application development for mobile is a much talked about topic and often written about as well. See the Related Stories listing at the end of this article for proof of that. But in this conversation it barely received a mention.

    Mobile device management, bring your own device, and the related security presented the biggest challenges to those who were setting a mobile agenda and also was recognized by those with some mobile experience. Bring your own device (BYOD) raises the degree of management difficulty, particularly in smaller companies where staffing is already stretched to the breaking point.

    The widespread impacts of BYOD have led to mobile device management products, but functionality remains limited and the integration of the digital technology with the physical systems and business processes of a company are much more than a technology solution. That’s where collaboration plays a key role.

    Lair has the most advanced mobile deployment. Her users are students with the gamut of mobile devices accessing information on grades, class schedules, calendar of events, and other information. Their access and authentication goes through a portal, which serves as a device management control. Feedback from the students has been positive and Lair is pleased with the level of control. However, she also noted that a rollout of 75 iPads to staff members would require a separate level of mobile device management beyond the lock down capabilities now in place.

    Novit’s company is in the food service, supply, and equipment business. His mobile project involved 100 percent Windows-based tablets with all management policies established by the domain, which is good enough for the time being, he says. His capabilities include being able to wipe the tablet clean if it is lost or stolen or if an employee leaves the company. The mobile application is a work order used by technicians who previously filled out the work orders by hand. The tablets are also set up to send and receive email.

    On a separate issue, Novit recalled the BYOB challenge brought on by sales people who wanted the freedom to buy different devices for email. His company uses Traveler to pump out emails, which supports Android, iPhone, BlackBerry devices. But complications for a small IT department to handle support calls for these devices and the varying operating systems depending on the newness of the device led Novit to decide the company would only support the iPhone. It was the easiest to support, he said.

    The mobile device management aspects have caused Hockert’s company to delay deployment until it has policies in place.

    Moving data outside the safety of the IBM i and having synchronous communication is a risk that troubles Spight, and coming to grips with this security risk has slowed down the mobile project at his company.

    McCullough began the mobile efforts for his employer three years ago with 28 iPads for the board of trustees. Device management is provided by Microsoft Exchange Server, but no corporate database information is passed to these devices. A separate group of users–high-level staff working from home and accessing the company network–create a different risk. In this case, the company relies on its firewall and its virtual private network to identify the users and the machines that are coming into the network. McCullough recommended Wireless Intruder Prevention a separate system that recognizes rogue devices and provides protection against outsiders logging on to the network. Auditors love it, he says.

    As a side note, you will find a separate article in this issue of The Four Hundred, that notes IBM has just released a report based on a survey of CIOs. One of the interesting insights from that report was that two-thirds of C-suite executives (4,200 in the sample) said they had no mobile strategy or a limited mobile strategy. Much of what is going on in mobile computing is still in the experimental stages for a lot of companies. That would seem to indicate that more discussions among executives–like this panel discussion session–is a worthwhile endeavor toward increasing collaboration and emphasizing strategic decision making.

    The group discussion approach to a topic results is an interesting exchange of knowledge and for many people presents an enhanced learning process. Lair, who has attended and made presentations at more conferences than most of us, is an advocate for collaborative processes, when people are more engaged in a discussion. To a large degree the IT Executive Conference that she organizes for the COMMON user group, with a sizeable contribution of time and effort from Novit, relies on active participation in discussions. She insists that executive level participants expect this and are much more likely to gain from attending this type of event. Discussions that begin in a specific sessions tend to continue throughout the length of the conference.

    The IT Executive Conference is scheduled for May 4 through 6 in Orlando, Florida. It runs in parallel with the COMMON Annual Meeting and Exposition. Details of the session agenda and conference registration can be found at this website.

    RELATED STORIES

    Take One Tablet And Call Your IT Manager In The Morning

    RPG Teams Picking Up Mobile Development Skills

    Android or iOS: Which Mobile OS Fits Best with IBM i?

    Mobile Developers Battle Complexity, Deployment Time

    Five Handles For The Mobile Application Pot

    The Sweet 16 Of Mobile App Dev Tools for IBM i



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    UCG Technologies – Vault400

    Do the Math When Looking at IBM i Hosting for Cost Savings

    COVID-19 has accelerated certain business trends that were already gaining strength prior to the start of the pandemic. E-commerce, telehealth, and video conferencing are some of the most obvious examples. One example that may not be as obvious to the general public but has a profound impact on business is the shift in strategy of IBM i infrastructure from traditional, on-premises environments to some form of remote configuration. These remote configurations and all of their variations are broadly referred to in the community as IBM i hosting.

    “Hosting” in this context can mean different things to different people, and in general, hosting refers to one of two scenarios. In the first scenario, hosting can refer to a client owned machine that is housed in a co-location facility (commonly called a co-lo for short) where the data center provides traditional system administrator services, relieving the client of administrative and operational responsibilities. In the second scenario, hosting can refer to an MSP owned machine in which partition resources are provided to the client in an on-demand capacity. This scenario allows the client to completely outsource all aspects of Power Systems hardware and the IBM i operating system and database.

    The scenario that is best for each business depends on a number of factors and is largely up for debate. In most cases, pursuing hosting purely as a cost saving strategy is a dead end. Furthermore, when you consider all of the costs associated with maintaining and IBM i environment, it is typically not a cost-effective option for the small to midsize market. The most cost-effective approach for these organizations is often a combination of a client owned and maintained system (either on-prem or in a co-lo) with cloud backup and disaster-recovery-as-a-service. Only in some cases of larger enterprise companies can a hosting strategy start to become a potentially cost-effective option.

    However, cost savings is just one part of the story. As IBM i expertise becomes scarce and IT resources run tight, the only option for some firms may be to pursue hosting in some capacity. Whatever the driving force for pursing hosting may be, the key point is that it is not just simply an option for running your workload in a different location. There are many details to consider and it is to the best interest of the client to work with an experienced MSP in weighing the benefits and drawbacks of each option. As COVID-19 rolls on, time will tell if IBM i hosting strategies will follow the other strong business trends of the pandemic.

    When we say do the math in the title above, it literally means that you need to do the math for your particular scenario. It is not about us doing the math for you, making a case for either staying on premises or for moving to the cloud. There is not one answer, but just different levels of cost to be reckoned which yield different answers. Most IBM i shops have fairly static workloads, at least measured against the larger mix of stuff on the public clouds of the world. How do you measure the value of controlling your own IT fate? That will only be fully recognized at the moment when it is sorely missed the most.

    CONTINUE READING ARTICLE

    Please visit ucgtechnologies.com/IBM-POWER9-systems for more information.

    800.211.8798 | info@ucgtechnologies.com

    Article featured in IT Jungle on April 5, 2021

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    What Should I Monitor For On My IBM i Partition? Attachmate Brings Full-Function Emulation to Mobile Devices

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Volume 24, Number 10 -- March 17, 2014
THIS ISSUE SPONSORED BY:

Profound Logic Software
New Generation Software
Linoma Software
BCD
WorksRight Software

Table of Contents

  • Systems Of Engagement
  • IBM i Mobile Apps Challenged By BYOD Management
  • Jim Sloan Steps Back from TAA Productivity Tools
  • Mad Dog 21/21: All’s Well That Ends Well
  • CIOs Move From The Back Office To The Front Lines
  • Disk Array Sales Rebound A Bit, Reversing Declines
  • IBM And Lenovo Settle Down Strikes In Shenzhen Plant
  • Saxena Leaves IBM, Watson Not Talking
  • Modernize Your Skills at the Northeast Tech Conference
  • IBM Offers Europe A Power Blade-To-Flex Migration Deal

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