What’s Holding Back The iPad In Enterprise? [CES 2011]

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Absolute's Stephen Broscoe says enterprise adoption of the iPad will be huge this year.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2011 — What’s one of the biggest problems preventing big companies from adopting the iPad in massive numbers?

The ability to stop employees from stealing them, says Absolute Software. Plus remotely locking and wiping lost devices.


“We have enterprise customers who want to replace 10,000+ laptops with iPads, but until there’s a robust management solution, they can’t go down that path,” said Stephen Broscoe, director of program management at Absolute.

Not coincidentally, Absolute is demonstrating it’s remote management software for iPads and iPhones at CES. Its Mobile Device Management (MDM) system for iOS 4 devices allows inventory management, remote lock and wipe, the ability to disable the camera and other security functions.

Apple offers similar abilities to MobileMe account holders, but Absolute’s offering is more enterprise-focused, Broscoe said.

Broscoe said schools and universities also need ways to manage and secure big deployments of iPads.

Broscoe said iPad adoption is part of the “consumerization of IT,” the growing trend of people using their personal devices at work.

“CEOs are bringing iPads in and telling the IT department to put it on the network,” said Broscoe. “It’s going to be huge this year. Especially after CES.”

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