Microsoft pushes Windows Phone 8 enterprise benefits

Updated smartphone platform includes management and security features to appeal to corporate buyers

This article first appeared on our sister website V3.co.uk

Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 platform looks like having greater appeal to enterprise users than its predecessor, with better support for security and management, as well as some measure of app compatibility with Windows on the PC and tablets, the firm claims.

The latest version of Microsoft's smartphone platform was unveiled in a blaze of publicity this week, but while most of the attention was on the social networking support and other consumer features, Windows Phone 8 also has a lot of changes under the hood that are likely to prove of interest to business users.

With Windows Phone 8, handsets can now be brought under administrator control using System Centre Mobile Device Manager (SC MDM), allowing firms to apply policies to user devices via their Active Directory infrastructure.

Alternatively, smaller companies can manage email and access policies via an Exchange server using the Exchange ActiveSync protocol, Microsoft said.

Applications can also be pushed out automatically to a user's handset via an organisation's own private Enterprise Marketplace app store, with each user's Active Directory credentials specifying which applications they ought to have for their role.

Security is also beefed up in Windows Phone 8 at both the operating system level and the application level in order to defeat malware, Microsoft's Richard Warren, UK technical solutions professional for Windows Phone, told V3.

"Sandboxing is strong in this version of Windows Phone, so apps can only access their own memory area. Signing of the apps also ensures that an app will not be executed if any part of the code has been changed," he said.

This signing has also been extended to the entire platform, he added, so that if malware somehow manages to inject itself into the operating system, it changes the signature and the handset will not boot.

"This isn't as disastrous as it sounds, as there is a recovery process that can restore the operating system to its original state," Warren said.

The Secure Boot process is enabled by the SecureMSM feature in Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 system-on-a-chip (SoC), the processor that currently powers all Windows Phone 8 devices.

This serves the same functions as a trusted platform module (TPM) on a PC, and also provides for hardware-accelerated encryption of all data stored in the phone's memory (but not on flash storage cards).

Microsoft pushes Windows Phone 8 enterprise benefits

Updated smartphone platform includes management and security features to appeal to corporate buyers

Ironically, some of these features were supported in Microsoft's old Windows Mobile 6.1 platform, only to be dropped when the firm restarted its mobile strategy with Windows Phone 7, which largely targeted consumers.

"The consumer market for smartphones is much bigger than the enterprise market," said Warren, explaining Microsoft's decision at the time. However, with Windows Phone 8 "we realised we needed to put the enterprise features back in," he added.

As with existing Windows Phones, Windows Phone 8 has mobile versions of Microsoft's Office applications, comprising Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, plus Outlook for email, and can access documents stored on a corporate SharePoint site.

These apps offer similar capabilities to the Office Suite on the desktop, but are optimised for use on a mobile handset.

"You can think of it as a mobilised version of the previous Office 2010 stack, but with features added in to match the latest Office and to meet phone user needs," said Warren.

The Office Mobile apps are good enough for "low grade work such as updating a spreadsheet" or making simple changes to Word documents, Warren said, although even Microsoft does not see workers using these as a full-time replacement for the desktop Office applications.

Furthermore, with Windows Phone 8, Microsoft has based the platform on the same core NT Kernel code as Windows 8, which makes it possible for developers to build apps that can target Windows Phones, Microsoft Surface tablets, and the PC.

This cross-platform capability only really applies to the new-style apps based on live tiles that run on Windows 8 PCs and Microsoft's Surface tablets, and even then you cannot simply create a single app that will run across all devices, because of differences such as screen size between phones and Windows PCs.

Nevertheless, Microsoft maintains that a "Metro-style" app developed for Windows 8 should require little in the way of code changes to run on a Windows Phone 8 device, and vice versa.

With all these capabilities, Microsoft must be hoping it can convince enterprises that its platform is the right choice for corporate smartphones, and deflect buyers away from the magnetic pull of Apple's iPhone.

However, Microsoft's partners will also need to play a big part in this by offering compelling device hardware.

Nokia has already touted the business benefits as part of its sales pitch for its Lumia 820 and 920 devices, but whether it, alongside the likes of HTC and Samsung can succeed, only time will tell.