Dual Persona by Telefonica is a new service yet to be launched. The service promises to enable two-phones-in-a-phone allowing an Android phone user have an otption for personal use and another for business use. The technology powered by VMware will enable IT departments securely provision, manage and de-provision a corporate mobile workspace(email, applications, data, etc.) to an employee’s Android device over-the-air, while enabling the employee to better retain the privacy and control of their personal mobile environments.Telefonica made the announcement at Mobile world congress and indicated the service will be available in the second quarter of the year on Samsung Galaxy S II as the first device. Samsung is expected to offer service compatibility with all of its devices in the coming months.
The increased computing power of modern mobile devices, coupled with the rise in the number of business ready mobile applications, has resulted in the growing need for companies to manage device lifecycles and the provisioning of mobile applications used by employees. Furthermore, the widespread popularity of smartphones in the consumer market has increased the number of personal devices used in the work environment.
According to Forrester (Forrsights: Mobility Dominates Enterprise Telecom Trends In 2011, July 22, 2011), 60 percent of companies now allow their employees to use personal smartphones and tablets at work and this trend is increasing. The influx of personal devices makes the management of mobile phones and the lifecycle of mobile applications more complicated and creates security and manageability issues for corporate IT organizations. Meanwhile, employees are becoming progressively more concerned about personal data privacy and worry that management and control of their smartphones by IT administrators could be intrusive.
Powered by VMware Horizon Mobile, the Telefonica Dual Persona service will be offered as part of the Telefonica Cloud Computing service catalog. In addition to dual persona support for Android devices, the Telefonica Cloud Computing catalog helps companies more effectively manage their databases, virtual desktops (PCs) and applications by offering easy to consume cloud-based services.
The Telefonica Dual Persona service will enable IT managers to provision and manage an employee’s work profile and mobile applications via a cloud-based instance of VMware Horizon Mobile. Because of this separation, when an employee leaves the company or if a device is lost or stolen, business will be better able to safely and securely remove corporate information from mobile devices, while not having access to an individual personal profile.
The user experience will be intuitive and similar to that of a conventional smartphone on both profiles. Users will be able to switch from one profile to another with a simple click of an app, and they will receive both work and personal notifications within both profiles.
According to Moises Navarro, Director of Strategy and Cloud Services at Telefonica Digital, “The Dual Persona service brings benefits to both employees and companies – the employee can use just one device, for both personal and work use while still maintaining privacy – the company gains greater control and security over corporate information, increased efficiency and cost savings on mobile devices, less provisioning and incident management time and greater employee satisfaction. Importantly, this is all made available via a cloud-based, pay-per-use model”.
