ipad review - what is the use case for business?

TEChnology manager michael aboltins reviews the ipad
The IPAD. Useful? Kind of. A new category? Definitely. Sleek? Without a doubt. Something everyone wants? Like no other gadget I have seen. Useful to business? Maybe….

I’ve spent a couple of weeks with the iPad now.  Aside from the terrible name I have to say I have woven Apples latest device into my life. It’s the best portable way of consuming media I have had to date.  It should be noted, I have a windows 7 convertible tablet as well, and the two don’t really compare, nor do their use cases. The two are in different categories and are very different devices. So much so I don’t believe the needs of one will be fulfilled by the other.

However the real question is where is it’s use? For me as a personal device it’s definitely with reading magazines. Lifestyle magazines have reinvented what a magazine can look like rather than just scanning in the pages of their printed editions and the effect is quite amazing. Outside of that does this help business? Or even more so can it be worked into a security framework within an organisation? I believe the short answer is yes.

Let me start out by saying that some of our clients have told me, for the most part that they still have not decided whether they will research using iPads for business use. However one or two have found a use case for their own iPad, and I think it’s workable within a business and security context!

The use case (as presented to me) in effect is a minimal use, minimal support, minimal corporate footprint device to allow users internet access and access to their corporate e-mail. A user that doesn’t really need their own laptop but could make use of some minimal corporate resources. The benefit to IT is firstly that they don’t have to spend time on a big system image to include a lot of peripheral software and the additional licenses associated with this. Secondly, Apple and others have insurance offers in place to mitigate the cost of loss/theft and damage to the iPad.  Any music, apps or otherwise are the users responsibility and not that of the corporate body supplying and supporting the device.

From a security perspective, as it’s running the same software as the iphone it’s already exchange compliant allowing for encrypted mail stores. With the appropriate systems policy as well as written policy the iPad gives you no further exposure than a corporate mobile with e-mail enabled. Appropriately configured and with the right architecture you should be able to enable two factor authentication to the mail store and enforce system passwords via the exchange connector to the device. Finally if loss of device is experienced remote wipe is possible and replacement is a fairly easy exercise.

Am I going to stand up and say the iPad is a “secure” device? Hell no, the existing research needed on this topic indicates otherwise, however they patch often and support remote wipe and encryption. Coupled with an appropriate use policy I can see no impediment to organisations that have these limited use case users.

Michael Aboltins, Technology Manager, Loop Technology.