The mobile operators are currently developing and implementing tools to make these capabilities possible.
Over the air updates (and OMA DM)
OTA stands for "over the air" device management capabilities that enable mobile operators to remotely update software on mobile handsets. Have a new software load for the Nokia N75? Fine, let's push that out to every device on the network. We can do that at 2 a.m. on a Sunday?
And yet there is more to OTA than simply updating software. It's about promoting new services, steering users to content and generating revenues in ways beyond a text message blast. The mobile operator can put a promotion on the device's main screen. It goes further.
Suppose that a carrier has a content partnership with CNN, and a user is accessing Fox News. At this point, the carrier can push a pop-up window suggesting the CNN service. Down the road, when the content partnerships change, the mobile operator can update handset software across its network to reflect the new business model and corporate priorities.
The technology behind OTA is the Open Mobile Alliance's Device Management specification (OMA DM). Virtually every major smartphone and many mobile handsets sold today support this specification, and this means that mobile operators will roll out this capability in the coming months and years.
Here's the rub
We can understand why the carriers want -- and even need -- OMA DM and OTA capabilities. It's their business and they're trying to maximize profits. The consumer market remains a priority, and corporate customers are left to make do. The challenge for IT departments is twofold: to find integration points between OMA DM and enterprise mobility management platforms, and to develop a common set of management "handoffs" with multiple carriers.
OMA DM contemplates the idea of there being multiple parties (e.g., both a carrier and an enterprise) managing a single mobile device, but the specification was designed with neither input nor participation from leading enterprises, enterprise management vendors or mobility management vendors. Sybase iAnywhere wasn't involved. Nor were the teams from HP OpenView, CA Unicenter or BMC Patrol. And thus we are left with a team of vendors selling to the carriers and designing a specification to meet carrier priorities.
This said, OMA DM is real and it is getting deployed today. Where the specification falls short is in the practice of the handoff between carriers and enterprises. As currently designed, OMA DM will not offer the type of seamless simplicity we've come to expect from Wi-Fi. Instead, each carrier will employ OMA DM in a slightly different way, defining handoff and demarcation points in contractual terms. Demarcation and handoff are important because they clarify the permissions that both the carrier and the enterprise will have, answering questions such as:
- Who updates the operating system?
- Who can install software? Of what type?
- Who controls the Wi-Fi settings?
- What happens when the enterprise and carrier network settings are in conflict?
- Does the enterprise have the sole right to "lock" the device? Or can the carrier do that as well?
- Can the enterprise prevent users from accessing specific carrier services? Under what circumstances?
- How are conflicts between management authorities resolved?
- What happens when the mobile operator wants to push a promotion onto a group of mobile workers?
And so on. OTA updating (and OMA DM specifically) raises as many issues for the enterprise as it promises to solve for the carrier. The OMA has done a very good job so far with the specification, but there are many, many, many issues ahead that an organization of companies selling to the carriers will never be able to resolve without getting enterprises and vendors selling to enterprises involved.
In other words, don't believe everything the carriers tell you. As if you believed everything so far.
The more likely scenario -- at least in the short- to midterm -- is that each carrier will implement OMA DM slightly differently. Each carrier will define demarcation points in a slightly different way. And each carrier will choose to turn each concession of demarcation control into a contract negotiation. For example, one carrier will offer the IT department full management authority rights over the mobile device, but that will require using a proprietary platform; meanwhile, another carrier will allow the enterprise to bring its own platform, but at a price. In other words, get ready to pay for the ability to (1) bring your own devices to the network or (2) manage the carrier-subsidized devices in the ways that you need in order to provide the services your users want.
Fortunately, this is not a matter of technology. Enterprise mobile device management platforms already can manage the same features as OMA DM, and some platforms already have OMA DM client software. The challenge with the carrier will be to define who does what in each and every circumstance. Shared OTA capabilities will take the path of service-level agreements (SLAs) and each carrier will offer something slightly different. IT organizations will be managing numerous shared OTA agreements across several carriers, and they should be prepared to pay in one way or another.
About the author: Daniel Taylor is managing director for the Mobile Enterprise Alliance, Inc. (MEA), and he is responsible for global alliance development, programs, marketing and member relations. He brings over fourteen years of high technology experience and is well known as a subject matter expert on many of the aspects of mobility, including wireless data networking, security, enterprise applications and communications services. Prior to the MEA, Dan held a number of product marketing and development positions in the communications industry.
