Research and Markets: Mobile Device Management - A Strategic Outlook

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/f48b8f/mobile_device_mana) has announced the addition of Frost & Sullivan's new report "Mobile Device Management - A Strategic Outlook" to their offering.

“These techniques present both consumers and stakeholders with a quicker and more cost efficient model, utilizing over-the-air technologies for implementing software updates in wireless devices.”

Advent of Multiple Smart-phones and High-end Feature Phones Expands Prospects for Mobile Device Management Technologies

MDM technologies are expected to witness worldwide commercialization and adoption by 2011-2012. The launch of a host of smart phones such as the RIM Blackberry, Apple iphone, and the G2 from Google has clearly enlarged the subscriber base for mobile users. The upsurge in the mobile device market has further stimulated the growth of software-based applications for managing various aspects of mobile devices including configuration and security in addition to other business applications. "As conventional models of device management incur high costs in terms of customer support and maintenance operations, remote device management solutions that employ firmware-over-the-air (FOTA) and software-components-over-the-air (SCOTA) have been catapulted to the spotlight," notes the analyst of this research service. "These techniques present both consumers and stakeholders with a quicker and more cost efficient model, utilizing over-the-air technologies for implementing software updates in wireless devices."

While the technology promises immense benefits from a cost standpoint, it is still insufficient and thus important for the stakeholders to evaluate a few other key factors to ensure its successful commercial roll-out globally. Although developers have designed numerous mobile device-specific applications that afford multiple functionalities, users are concerned about the ease of installation and configuration of these applications on their mobile devices. Heavy dependence on product support teams has made the user-friendliness of these solutions questionable. Over-the-air MDM offers a lot of promise in bridging this gap by delivering an intelligent platform for enabling remote configuration and management of mobile applications. The internal memory of mobile devices is a key challenge impeding the functional viability of remote MDM. The upgrade packages are often large and compete for storage space within the memory of mobile devices. Developers in this space must offer packages to support in-place updating and execute firmware upgrades with minimal strain on the run time memory of the mobile device. With FOTA aiming to enable remote upgrades in mobile applications, the vulnerability of mobile devices to malicious agents across wireless networks is bound to increase. "The technology is implicitly expected to secure the entire update process in mobile devices; however, it will also be required to possess the competence of detecting and quarantining any undetected bugs already existing in the software," says the analyst. "The need to embed such strong security measures comprising the resource requirements of mobile devices - poses a major test for the developers in this domain." A thorough and comprehensive process of validation, verification, and authentication is vital for ensuring remote device management.

The Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) and its Device Management (DM) working group is the major consortium acting as the single umbrella for all MDM standard development activities. Vendors must take appropriate steps to ensure that solutions developed comply with the latest specifications of the OMA-DM, as well as formulate new standards to reflect the development of new MDM capabilities as and when they emerge. "The US offers the most significant market opportunities at this point in time," observes the analyst. "In the next two years, service operators in countries such as India, Japan and South Korea are expected to adopt MDM in order to capitalize on their booming mobile subscriber-base."

Technologies

The following technologies are covered in this research:

FOTA
SCOTA

This Frost & Sullivan research service titled Mobile Device Management - A Strategic Outlook analyzes and assesses the diverse factors impacting developments in the mobile device management (MDM) space. The study provides an analysis of MDM and offers in-depth insights on the drivers and restraints influencing the over-the-air technologies market. Strategic recommendations for overcoming the impediments currently prevailing in this domain are also provided.

Key Topics Covered: