Analyst heralds arrival of the 'unwired enterprise'

Employees are becoming increasingly mobile

The use of enterprise mobile devices is set to soar by 56 per cent between 2008 and 2014, according to a new report by analyst firm Juniper Research.

Employees are becoming increasingly mobile, and the market is on the verge of becoming an "unwired enterprise" in which mobile enterprise users will generate revenues of $284bn (£192.6bn) by 2014.

However, Juniper's Future Mobile Enterprise: Forecasts, Markets & Devices 2009-2014 report highlights some of the hurdles that remain in persuading significant numbers of businesses to become more mobile.

These include the limited functionality resulting from the small form factor of most mobile devices, and problems in adapting applications for mobiles while not compromising on usability.

Juniper analyst Andrew Kitson, the report's author, reckons that device security and management are probably the biggest concerns that enterprises will face.

"Enterprises need to be assured of total control over the devices their employees use. To do this, they need to limit the types and numbers of devices connecting to their networks, deactivate or restrict devices that are lost or stolen, minimise functionality and access, and employ user authentication, content encryption and other security solutions as appropriate," he said.

"There are upfront cost issues involved, but the greater cost lies in compromising on security features."

The move towards mobile enterprise systems will go hand-in-hand with hosted services and applications, according to the analyst, but these will increase pressure on the networks and require increasingly sophisticated devices.

As a result, Kitson predicts that the proportion of devices connected to 3.5G and 3.9G networks will rise from 13 per cent in 2008 to almost 80 per cent in 2014.

Interestingly, the report also reveals that the use of wireless dongles is losing ground to plug-in data cards and devices with embedded wireless modems.