Lost in the all the attention focused on the proposed mega merger between Dell and EMC this week was a strategic move by VMware to gain access to personal information management (PIM) software by acquiring Boxer Inc.
Destined to become part of VMware’s AirWatch business unit, the Boxer acquisition is part of an ongoing strategic VMware Business Mobility initiative that focuses on transforming workflows using mobile computing technologies, said Erik Frieberg, vice president of marketing for end-user computing, VMware.
With the arrival of new classes of mobile computing devices, such as the Apple iPad Pro, that sport 12.9-inch screens, end users are increasingly relying on PIM software to manage access to multiple email and cloud application services such as Box, Dropbox, Evernote, Facebook, Gmail, iCloud, Salesforce, Twitter, Outlook and Yahoo, Frieberg said.
Rather than view that as a set of isolated activity, VMware is looking to integrate the capabilities of the Boxer PIM software with the rest of the enterprise mobile management (EMM) services it provides via AirWatch, Frieberg said.
“We’re putting together the building blocks of a framework,” said Freiberg. “As part of that, we’re looking to integrate email and other personal productivity applications into the workflow of the organization.”
VMware will integrate Boxer PIM software with the App Configuration for Enterprise initiative it launched earlier this year to standardize how developers of mobile applications invoke APIs to configure their applications, Frieberg said.
While as a PIM application, Boxer clearly drives most of its current revenue base from consumers, enterprise IT organizations are apt to soon be looking for ways to unify access to multiple back-end services residing in and out of the cloud.
The opportunity for solution providers in the channel going forward is to provide the expertise required to turn the intersection of mobile and cloud computing into a next-generation IT strategy that serves to make their customers more productive than ever.
Michael Vizard has been covering IT issues in the enterprise for more than 25 years as an editor and columnist for publications such as InfoWorld, eWEEK, Baseline, CRN, ComputerWorld and Digital Review.