谷歌安卓系统的企业用户之困

    上周于旧金山举行的谷歌开发者大会（Google I/O conference）上，安卓（Android）系统相关消息清淡的令人失望。安卓设备针对企业而推出的易用新功能更是寥寥无几。相反，面向消费者和教育机构的功能都有所改进。不过，虽然谷歌似乎并没有花大力气去提高其移动操作系统对于企业IT部门的吸引力，但是其他公司正在纷纷介入，以期填补这一空白。

    安卓占据了全球移动操作系统市场的大部分份额，但是在企业用户领域，苹果iPhone和iPad仍占据统治地位。之所以出现这种情况，至少部分原因是搭载谷歌安卓系统的设备存在安全和可管理性问题（更不用说搭载安卓系统设备的零散性和多样性）。英特尔公司（Intel）旗下全资子公司迈克菲（McAfee）最近公布的一份报告显示，移动设备上检测到的恶意软件97%都是被设计成攻击安卓系统的。

    除了一些渐进式的改进，谷歌并没有认真解决其应用程序商店的漏洞，也没有针对企业用户增强其开源操作系统的易用性。与此同时，在安卓阵营中一家独大的三星电子（Samsung）已经加大力度在三星版安卓系统中增添了为企业用户定制的安全功能。三星企业安全计划（Samsung Safe for Enterprise）为企业IT部门在设备控制和安全方面提供管理工具，三星KNOX企业解决方案则可帮助用户隔离办公数据和个人数据。三星手机是唯一在企业用户市场占得一席之地（虽然市场份额还较小）的安卓系统设备，这也就不足为奇了。

    上周早些时候，威睿公司（VMware）推出了另一个安卓手机管理工具（这个新软件允许IT管理员设置密码和审批应用程序）。曾一度在智能手机市场领先的黑莓公司（BlackBerry）也在上周自己的产品大会上发布了黑莓企业服务软件的升级版，可为搭载安卓和苹果iOS操作系统的设备安全护航。黑莓宣称，这个新的解决方案可保障其他厂商平台上电子邮件、日历、联系人信息、任务、备忘录、浏览以及文档编辑的安全。它还将允许客户将应用程序软件分类，让企业应用和个人数据保持相互独立。用户也不必登录到虚拟专用网络 （VPN）就可以安全地传送或接收数据。

    黑莓企业移动计算业务高级副总裁大卫•史密斯在一份新闻稿中称：“黑莓为搭载安卓和苹果iOS系统的设备提供安全、设备和应用程序管理解决方案，我们的用户不必重复投资于多种设备管理技术，为企业落实全方位支持整个移动环境的解决方案提供了一种成本低廉且简单有效的升级途径。”

    This week's Google I/O conference in San Francisco was disappointingly light on Android news. And it was especially light on new, enterprise-friendly features for Android devices. Instead, it showed improvements aimed at consumers and education institutions. But while Google may not seem focused on making its mobile operating system more attractive to IT departments, other companies are stepping in to fill the void.

    Android devices have majority market share worldwide, but when it comes to the workplace, Apple's (AAPL) iPhones and iPads still rule. That's at least partly due to security and manageability concerns (not to mention the fragmentation, or many different flavors) of Google (GOOG) devices. According to a recent report from McAfee, an Intel (INTC) company, 97% of malware detected on mobile devices were designed to attack Android.

    Aside from some incremental improvements, Google hasn't gotten serious about fixing the vulnerabilities in its app store and making its open-source OS more friendly to corporate buyers. Meanwhile, Samsung -- the top seller of devices that run on Android -- has stepped up and added enterprise-ready security features in its own version of the operating system. There's Samsung Safe for Enterprise (SAFE), which provides management tools for IT departments to control and secure devices, and KNOX, which separates users' personal and work data. Not surprisingly, Samsung devices are the only Android phones with a somewhat significant -- though still minor -- presence in the workplace.

    Earlier this week, VMware (VMW) launched yet another tool for managing Android phones. The new software lets IT administrators set passwords and approve applications

    And then there's BlackBerry (BBRY). At its own conference, which also took place this week, the once-leading smartphone maker unveiled an updated version of the BlackBerry Enterprise Service that extends its security features to Android (and Apple's iOS) devices. BlackBerry says this new solution would secure email, calendar, contacts, tasks, memos, browsing, and document editing for rival platforms. It would also allow customers to "app wrap, " separating between corporate applications and personal content and eliminate the need to log in to a virtual private network (VPN) in order to securely transmit or receive data.

    "Extending BlackBerry security, device, and application management to iOS and Android frees our customers from the need to invest in multiple device management technologies, giving them an easy and cost-effective upgrade path to a solution that supports their entire mobile environment globally," David Smith, EVP of enterprise mobile computing at BlackBerry said in a release.