Enterprise Connect on the Horizon: Looking at MobilityEnterprise Connect on the Horizon: Looking at Mobility

We'll address BYOD, device OSs, tablets, and the future of mobility in the enterprise. Here's a preview.

While Enterprise Connect 2012 doesn't start until March 26 of next year, believe it or not, we are already in the planning phases. Each year the mobility track seems to expand, and there is no indication that the intensity surrounding mobile devices and applications is likely to abate. I thought I would give a quick rundown on what we're thinking and solicit ideas from the readership.

The discussion of Mobile Device Ecosystems will be the focus of our traditional Monday morning session, and there will be a lot to talk about. Android has now pulled into a clear lead in worldwide market share, and Samsung, the leading manufacturer of Android handsets, recently surpassed Apple in smartphone sales. In the meantime Google has launched Android 4.0, which features on-device encryption, so should have a much stronger position in the enterprise.

RIM continues to struggle and Bloomberg reported last week that its stock price has slipped below its book value (that's a company's assets, including cash, inventories, real estate and intellectual property minus its liabilities). If RIM continues to falter, perhaps we'll be able to convince Microsoft that it's time to tell us something about how they expect Windows Phone (or iOS or Android) to fit in their Lync portfolio.

Tablets will be back again, and the battle between branded (e.g. Cisco Cius and Avaya’s Desktop Video Device) versus unbranded versions will continue. Cisco launched the Cius last June, touting it as an "enterprise tablet" and demonstrating how you could yank it out of the base and it would automatically transition a voice or video call from the wired network to Wi-Fi. We'll also have a number of folks taking the counter side to that argument, particularly when users will be able to buy two or three generic Android tablets for the price of a Cius. In any event, you'll only have to look around the meeting rooms to see how prevalent tablets are becoming.

Unified Communications (UC) successes with wireless will be the focus of a session showcasing mobility case studies for the enterprise. We had been running an RFP session for the past few shows but as everyone seemed to be pitching configurations they never sell in the real world, it seemed time to take this in a different direction. We've seen any number of wildly successful apps in the B2C space, and we’ll be looking for internal and B2B cases as well. We’re looking primarily for end users who would have an interesting case to describe, so if you have an application/deployment you’d like us to consider, please drop me a line.

With the advent of bring-your-own-device (BYOD) initiatives and rising concerns of security, management, and support, we’re also planning a Deep Dive session on Mastering Enterprise Mobility, where we can talk about best practices in managing the BYOD transition. IBM announced last week that they are adopting a BYOD policy covering smartphones and tablets that will include 100,000 users this year and another 100,000 in 2012. IBM doesn't do anything haphazardly, so if they're going BYOD, you can be sure they thought it through.

We are once again planning a main stage summit session asking "What’s Next for the Mobile Enterprise?" where we’ll get to ask both equipment suppliers and mobile operators what they think about the converging worlds of UC and mobility, how users are adapting to BYOD, and most importantly when we're going to see the type of excitement around enterprise mobility that we see in the consumer space.

So the planning for Enterprise Connect is already underway, and we’re looking forward to a program that educates, entertains, and enlightens as enterprises move deeper into mobility. Each year we see more people in the mobility sessions (including a lot of old friends who keep coming back for more), and the conversation is getting a lot more interesting.

I hope you're there to share it with us.