OREANDA-NEWS. February 16, 2011. Fujitsu announces the worldwide rollout of its Managed Smartphone service, a new suite of hosted Mobile Professional solutions. Recognizing the explosion of business use of smartphones in the enterprise, Fujitsu Managed Smartphone applies the same high standards of service to smartphones that organizations already depend on to manage desktop and mobile computing devices.

Managing smartphones in the enterprise is an increasing headache – with research firm Gartner estimating that more than 75 percent of mobile users will have switched to a smartphone by the end of 2012 (Source: Hype Cycle for Wireless Devices, Software and Services, 2010. 2 Aug 2010 /ID No: G00205246). At the same time, IDC research1 indicates that the number of business mobile email subscribers will swell by more than a third over the next 24 months.

Enabling enterprises to regain control over their mobile devices, Fujitsu is introducing worldwide availability of its Managed Smartphone solution, a complete package of cloud services to manage smart devices including smartphones and tablets throughout their lifecycle in a secure and encrypted environment that businesses and employees can depend on.

Already operational in the Nordic region, global rollout of the full-service hosted solution starts in Europe in spring 2011. Managed Smartphone includes push email and PIM (personal information management), support for multiple devices and mobile operating systems, remote IT administration and device management, diagnostic capabilities and security – including authentication/encryption with backup, virus protection, firewall and spyware checker – as well as secure access to corporate data and applications.

Sten Mortensen, Director Nordic Region Sales, Marketing, Products and Mobility at Fujitsu says: "Today, enterprise computing is increasingly becoming mobile and many companies have a huge array of smartphones and other devices running wild, without any form of central approach to security or management. We’re going global with a managed service because we see a need in companies to increase their control over their mobile ICT infrastructure. We want to be able to deliver a service that allows our customers to access their business-critical tools in an efficient, simple and secure manner."

Senior industry analyst Nick McQuire, Research Director, Mobile Enterprise and Machine to Machine Services EMEA at IDC, comments: "As smartphones and tablets increasingly become essential work tools for many employees, enterprises are starting to realize the additional burden of extending their infrastructure management to include an increasingly widening mix of mobile devices. We expect to see a growing interest in solutions like the one Fujitsu is introducing today, as organizations can no longer afford to ignore the critical IT considerations that mobile devices present them."

Managed Smartphone is offered as a service, covering the entire lifecycle of smart device applications. Services incorporate remote management, support and training. The processes already established with hundreds of customers and tens of thousands of mobile devices in the Nordic region underline that Fujitsu is able to ensure consistent services for users throughout a device’s lifecycle. Efficient, centralized service delivery together with proactive management and support guarantees extremely high service availability. Pricing starts at around €5 per handset per month.

Fujitsu has a longstanding commitment to high data security standards that guarantee security in producing services and processing information. Within the lifecycle service, the information security of devices is guaranteed at all times: upon delivery, if they get lost or stolen and at the end of handset lifecycles. Information security services guarantee content protection, including virus protection, encryption of data and backup copying.