“Here’s a few questions bouncing around the IT world about the iPad, followed by my best attempt to answer them,” John C. Welch reports for Computerworld.
“Will the iPad support Exchange? That was certainly the first thing I asked when I spoke with my sources at Apple: Will the iPad have the same support for Exchange, VPNs, remote wipe, and so forth that the iPhone enjoys. The answer from my man in Cupertino? ‘Yes, as per the iPhone’ was the reply,” Welch reports. “This should surprise no one, as there was no logical reason whatsoever for Apple to cripple those features in the iPad and the iPad alone when it shares the OS with Apple’s other mobile handhelds.”
So, we can expect to find the following in the iPad:
• Exchange ActiveSync support, including remote wipe
• The same level of VPN support as the iPhone
• The “Find my iPhone” feature
• The same support for policy configurations as the iPhone
“My Apple source wasn’t sure if the iPad has the same encryption support found in the iPhone 3GS, although it seems likely, as the hardware should be able to handle it. Assuming that guess is right, the iPad will be at least as compatible with a corporate network as an iPhone,” Welch reports. “It will not, as some of the more breathless screeds have intimated, be an unmanageable, uncontrollable blight.”
There’s much more in the full article – recommended – here.
IT is going to have to open their minds and just try the iPad.
From an iPad business assessment one of my clients asked for:
——
My MacBook Pro is primarily an information and communications device. From the moment I wake up until the moment I go to sleep, it’s with me. Chief uses include e-mail, calendaring, using the WEB, writing, social media, checking voice mail, watching video, watching movies, listening to podcasts, and listening to music. I also use it for brainstorming, to do lists, project management, reading magazines, reading newspapers, and reading e-books. In addition I listen to audiobooks, do audio/video/text chats, look at images, PDF files, Word and Excel attachments. I access Google Maps, Google Documents, and VOIP. Of course I also use my laptop for more prosaic activities such as work, which is primarily lots of IT support, network management, and application/database development. I do this for both Mac OS X and Windows 7, which it easily runs simultaneously.
My laptop cost just over $2500. I can get an iPad that easily addresses 90% of those functions for $500. Heck, that’s OLPC/NetBook territory.
Mobile workers need a mix of functionality while on the road. In addition to many of the activities mentioned above, they need secure access to corporate networks often via VPN. They need access to corporate file servers. Many need access to Exchange servers. I personally need the ability to do remote support (remote computer control) often via VNC. CITRIX has already announced products that will allow iPads to be used as remote Windows machines or Windows management tools. Personally I also manage routers, reset servers, monitor network performance, and monitor firewalls. Mobile execs need to do presentations, research on the road, and modify documents. Increasingly personal and corporate documents are being kept in “the cloud” on services such as MobileMe and Google Docs.
Enterprise workers also need mobile access to vertical market applications. I can envision any number of such applications being created for the iPad. The medical IT community is already buzzing about the possibilities.
Again, an iPad can address much of this starting at $500. Combine all the tasks I mentioned above under and an iPad starts looking like an amazing deal.
There are lots of applications already available. Many are very powerful business and productivity applications. Right out of the box the iPad has access to over 140,000 iPhone applications.
“breathless screeds”
Too kind, more like lying, asshat, college, dropouts.
Hmm, it seems I am lucky with the IT at the university where I teach: since January 2010, there is no support anymore for windows-PCs, as everyone uses macs (ok, it’s a university for finearts/music, so it isn’t that surprising)…
In my workplace, the terms “open mind” and “IT Dept.” are mutually exclusive.
“Did I just see an Apple logo!? Out, damned spot!”
“How Apple’s iPad fits into IT”?
As the article says, just like the iPhone.
The question for IT is do you embrace willingly, or do you have it jammed down your throats unwillingly?
The choice is yours.
“It will not, as some of the more breathless screeds have intimated, be an unmanageable, uncontrollable blight.”
I can’t be the only person who immediately thought of Randall C. Kennedy there.
IT won’t go out and buy iPads.
I’ve broken through the wall by supplying Sr. Execs with Apple equipment on occasion.
I have one all Windows client that I would love to see using Macs. Every time they suggest that something can’t be done on a Mac, I whip out the old Macbook and demonstrate it being done, such as remote access to Windows service providers.
The CEO is pretty cool. I’m considering gambling on getting him an iPad for Christmas. If it works as well as I think it may poke a hole in the “Windows Only” mentality that permeates the place. Or I could just be out $500.
You will see many iPads at Vista community clinic. We already have many providers using the iPhone. The iPad will easily be added, how do i know, cause i am the IT guy buying them.
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Once Nextgen releases their iPhone/iPad application. Good bye exam room PCs.
http://nextgen.com/
Gut feel says the security on the iPad will be far ahead of any typical Windows PC in a company.
Apple certainly has a full security team addressing iPad issues with the full knowledge that for Hospital and doctor/clinic use the iPad would have to maintain crucial data as proprietary, as would be expected in many other businesses.
Hence, I can see iPad having a DISTINCT advantage over windows laptops in the average business environment, where a user interacts with company documents to read, print, send copies of data to customers or suppliers, etc.
My guess is the physical security of the iPad will be enhanced with a form of “Remote Destruct” via the network that will make them more attractive than Wintel solutions.
The advantages for normal business use continue to astound.
And you wonder why there isn’t a camera on the iPad?
Answer: To keep the corporate IT Nazis happy. To them, a digital camera, especially one that can send email, is the greatest threat to mankind for corporate espionage.
This guy must come from an alternate universe. He sounds like a progressive IT guy.
Don’t be too certain on the camera. My guess is that there may be a model with and one without a camera. That would be the obvious and logical route to take for Apple since some people are not allowed to have a camera and some people think a camera is necessary.