Better Device Management in Windows Phone 8

Windows Phone 8 does not bring changes only to the interface and to the overall end-user experience, but also delivers a new set of goodies for enterprises.

With the new platform, Microsoft adopted a better management approach, offering two options in the area, for increased transparency and improved results.

The first of them, a light management solution, as Alan Meeus, Senior Technical Product Manager, Windows Phone Division, Microsoft, puts it, involves support for Exchange ActiveSync with Exchange Server and Office 365.

The other option, Mobile Device Management, or MDM, involves a specific approach to the process coming from the server, so that the users would have a straightforward experience on how their smartphone is being managed.

To ensure that the platform is fit for the enterprise environment, Microsoft will make available a set of APIs for companies to take advantage of.

Moreover, there will be a private cloud store for companies to publish their applications to, so that employees would have fast access to these apps, Meeus confirmed during a session at TechEd EMEA 2012 in Amsterdam.

Windows Phone 8 will come to the market with support for the same EAS policies as Windows Phone 7.5 Mango before it, but will also add a new one into the mix, namely device encryption.

Moreover, there are also a series of new policies added to the management server (MDM), such as the ability to disable a MicroSD card, remotely update applications, and enterprise reporting of what is on the device.

The control of applications on an enterprise device will be somehow limited, as users will have the option to opt out of installing some of the software that their company is asking them to.

Speaking of applications, Meeus also noted that Windows Phone 8 will have a lot to offer to users right from the start, through the enabled support for applications designed for Windows Phone 7.5.

What this means is that Windows Phone 8 users will have access to over 100,000 applications from day one, while also offering support for easily porting applications to it, especially if they were developed in C# or C++.

Of course, the user interface of the application will have to be recreated to come in line with the design principles of Windows Phone 8, but the amount of work needed to bring the app to the platform will be significantly reduced.

Unfortunately, users won't be able to install applications on the MicroSD memory cards on their devices, as they can do on other mobile platforms today.

Via: Better Device Management in Windows Phone 8