Managing the tablet

With the launch of Apple's iPad 2, the IT industry has entered the post-PC era. Within 24 months, tablet PCs should outsell any networking end-device such as laptop and desktop PCs.

While this is understandable, given the impetus behind moves towards the adoption of cloud computing and the increasing need for workforce mobility, the key questions are how will tablet PCs be integrated into businesses and - more importantly - how will they be managed?

These concerns are growing following end-user enthusiasm for Apple's iPad 2 - a slimmer, lighter and more powerful version of its best selling iPad. Increasingly, marketplace acceptance of the iPad 2, and competing tablet PCs, will blur the distinction between business and home applications, and hasten the integration of social and business activities.

As tablet PCs proliferate, so the flaw in what is now billed as their most important feature will become evident; their ability to be customised to suit any user's personal needs by uploading any number of a growing library of readily available applications ('apps'). 

This ability to customise the tablet PC pushes it further away from the reach of any corporate 'group policy' or 'profile' for all devices connected to the network.

Because the design foundations for the iPad 2 and other tablets were laid as consumer-type devices, they are not geared to support the enterprise customer - as a Lenovo or IBM PC might be - with inherent licensing and other management features.

The tablet needs to be managed on a case-by-case basis. With their numbers growing in the enterprise environment, so are the security risks associated with them.

Underlining this trend is research data from Harris Interactive revealing that end-users are more likely to transmit sensitive information on tablet devices than they do on smartphones.

The flaw in what is now billed as their most important feature will become evident.

Andy Robb is CTO at Duxbury Networking.

This is due to the tablet's ability to easily emulate and perform tasks associated with the corporate laptop or desktop PC - where such action would be commonplace - while delivering the freedom and mobility benefits of a smartphone, where it isn't.

The challenge facing network managers today is to define and limit the amount of information that will be shared by the corporate network and tablets. This is exacerbated by the fact that tablets are 'app-driven' as opposed to operating system-driven.

Previously, IT managers could deny access to specific programs on an operating system-driven PC, but this is not the case today, because the tablet is multi-nodal and capable of interfacing with the corporate network via WiFi and cellular links at the same time.

The tablet may 'see' information across the cellular network that is not available across the WiFi link. This data may be unmanaged or unprotected, and its availability presents a huge headache, not only for network managers, but for corporate decision-makers on the broadest of scales.

Is there a solution to the problem? While the IT industry has a lot to learn about securing the network against rogue tablet users, there are steps that can be taken today.

Two counter-measures have been available for many years, but are seldom deployed effectively. They are enterprise management solutions and network access control (NAC).

The tablet could be the biggest driving force behind these tools regaining their rightful place in the enterprise and boosting their uptake.

NAC, for example, has been considered a 'nice-to-have' solution, but it gradually passed from favour because of the ready availability of anti-virus software and other network management solutions. It was talked about, but never implemented on a large scale.

Now there is so much risk within the network environment that traditional tools must be re-evaluated, and even adapted or 'morphed' into appropriate solutions to address and better cater for tablet PCs and similar platforms sure to follow in the future.

NAC has the ability to indentify devices and user profiles, and pinpoint where they are endeavouring to connect within the network.

Enterprise management systems identify their activities, calculate how long the devices are connected to the network, and list the applications being accessed. They also give some visibility as to whether these devices are productive or not.

That said, there is no optimal solution at the moment. While network architectures change to accept the tablet, there is only a 'best effort' security option available to the IT industry - to deploy the systems the industry has on hand.