Windows 8 is finally out. The question for enterprise is, should we care? While I don’t see any enterprise professionals doing cartwheels over it, the early returns do look somewhat promising – at least for portable devices.

I myself laid eyes on a bevy of news Windows 8 devices at a hardware vendor’s coming out party a few weeks ago, and I liked what I saw. However, there was a distinct consumer flavor to these offerings (as one might expect from the company that pioneered personal electronics back in the 1970s).

But some more robust Windows 8 devices are also on tap, and I have to think they could have some serious allure in the corporate sector. To date, while many enterprise organizations have come to tolerate the tablet, I think the number of large enterprise companies that actively embraced – or God forbid, actually pushed tablets out to users proactively – you could count on your digits, without removing your shoes. I believe that most tablets in the enterprise initially came in the back door, or in many cases, through the boardroom door as executives showed up to work with their shiny new devices and demanded that IT hook them up to the corporate network.

Originally Posted by Aaron Goldberg, Tablets at Work Blog

When we start to talk about using tablets in an enterprise, one of the first things that must be understood is that the tablets we all know and love are not industrial-strength designs focused on the needs of a commercial organization.  Rather, these are consumer-first products that have real limitations when it comes to using them for business.  And this isn’t just a hardware discussion, although there are some key hardware differences.

1.  Operating System

The first large difference that has to be addressed is the operating system.  And the operating system is dramatically impacted depending on what the tablet is used for.  Consumer tablets are for browsing, running little apps, games, and generally “light-weight” work. 

Originally Posted by Kristin Bent, CRN

Apple, Lenovo Face Off

There’s no doubt that the iPad has taken the tablet market by storm. Its sprawling collection of apps and eye-catching display have made it the clear-cut winner in the consumer market. And with the bring-your-own-device trend picking up the pace, Apple’s flagship tablet has been inching its way into the hearts of enterprise users, as well.

But, there’s a new tablet in town that may just have what it takes to de-throne the almighty iPad: Lenovo’s ThinkPad Tablet 2. Running Windows 8 and sporting a long list of security features sure to make IT teams smile, Lenovo’s latest gadget could rise to become the ultimate business-ready tablet.

Here’s how it shapes up against the iPad.

Originally Posted by Lane Jesseph, Tablets at Work Blog

When modern workers move from smartphone to desk phone to IM to email to conferencing—and from desktop to laptop to tablet and back to smartphone again—the conversation can get a bit muddled. But since each medium offers unique capabilities and strengths, none is likely to disappear in the short term. And the BYOD trend—whether contained, discouraged, or cultivated in your organization—surely adds more complexity.

That’s why more enterprises are pursuing unified communication strategies and solutions—ones that can help today’s mobile workers take advantage of all the communication tools available so conversations are enhanced, not fragmented.

Microsoft Lync is one such solution drawing increasing attention from enterprises determined to leverage diverse communication types, not restrict them. Why is this relevant now?

Windows 8 promises to be a departure, in many ways, from the much-loved Windows 7 operating system. There’s wide (though certainly not universal) agreement that consumers will embrace it, for its touch-optimized Metro interface, if nothing else.

There’s much more that’s different in Windows 8, but not every new feature or capability will get pulses racing among enterprise IT professionals. There is, however, more than enough to warrant seriously considering moving your enterprise to Windows 8 sooner rather than later. Here are a few of the most interesting updates:

Windows 8 promises to be Windows re-imagined, but it’s important to know that the new Microsoft operating system comes in more than one “flavor.” Most notably, Microsoft is releasing Windows 8 on two processors—Intel and ARM—to maintain its enterprise footprint while trying to expand its reach into the consumer tablet and smartphone markets.

It will be interesting to see how organizations and consumers respond to both. “ARM and Intel have been trying to expand in each other’s market, with ARM chips making a push into PCs and servers while Intel increases its focus on smartphones and tablets,” notes a recent article in the Wall Street Journal.

Although Windows 8, Windows Pro and Windows 8 Enterprise—the Intel-based editions—come with varying specs and features, they’re all fundamentally different from Windows RT—the ARM-based edition. (If Windows RT doesn’t sound familiar, though, you’re not alone. This edition was formerly called Windows on ARM—or WOA—until Microsoft renamed it.)

To help you pick the right OS for your enterprise tablets, we’ll compare Windows 8 and Windows RT in three categories important to IT leaders: legacy app support, software restrictions and hardware options.

Microsoft’s new Windows 8 operating system promises to take mobile technology to a new level and could potentially transform the way students and faculty use their devices and computers both on and off campus. To start, the Windows 8 user interface is a radical departure from the classic Windows aesthetic of the past 25 years, and its expansive touch feature puts Microsoft at the forefront of computing innovation.

Windows 8 will likely enter the IT conversation at your college or university in the near future. Should you supply students with Windows 8 tablets and PCs? Can you support them on campus? How is Windows 7 different from Windows 8?

In previous posts we’ve written a lot about how Windows 8 will bring a new user interface to PC and mobile device users. But Windows 8 also introduces many features designed to help IT professionals better manage and protect their enterprise information. One of the more interesting tools IT industry watchers are talking about in this area is Windows To Go.

Part of the Windows 8 Enterprise edition (which we’ll discuss in greater detail later this month), Windows To Go will enable users to access their Windows 8 corporate image from a USB drive. IT administrators will have the power to burn whatever image they like on those USB drives, so they can determine the exact OS experience their users will have. Users can then boot that image from any x64 PC at any location, regardless of whether they are online. (Note: Windows To Go is not supported on Windows on ARM).

This is important to IT professionals because it gives them the ability to control the environment their users work in—from managing app and file access, to enforcing policy compliance and administering streamlined support. Windows To Go can further help IT professionals better secure and manage access to company information by employees using their own personal computers and mobile devices.

Originally Posted by Avram Piltch, LAPTOP

One great thing about the Intel booth at Computex Taipei: you never know what unreleased product might suddenly appear there. This morning, we visited the booth and spotted an Intel rep demonstrating the power of its next-generation Atom processor on an as-yet-unannounced Lenovo Thinkpad tablet.

Though Intel reps would not tell us much about the product and did not know its model name or number, they did confirm that it has a 10.1-inch screen that is “HD” but not “full HD.” They showed the Thinkpad tablet running Windows 8 and we were impressed with not only how smooth it seemed playing video and swiping through Metro, but with how sharp the images looked. When the Intel rep launched into desktop mode and opened an Excel spreadsheet, we were able to see 13 columns clearly in landscape mode.

Last year, we were really impressed with the Android-powered Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet. This new ThinkPad tablet appeared thinner, though we were not able to touch it. The back also featured an attractive matte finish with the ThinkPad logo while the front was extremely glossy. As you might expect, both sides had webcams. There’s no word on whether, like its predecessor, the new ThinkPad tablet will have a stylus.

We look forward to learning more about the new ThinkPad tablet when Lenovo decides to share more details. In the meantime, check out the video and photos for a closer look.

Read more at laptopmag.com

Intel CEO Otellini calls out ARM on Windows 8 Tablets

Intel CEO Paul Otellini on Thursday said that the company has an advantage over its rival ARM on Windows 8 for tablets because of decades of developing x86 chips that support the Windows operating system. “We think it’s a differentiator,” said Otellini at the company’s investor meeting in Santa Clara, California. “We have the advantage of the incumbency, the legacy support.”

Intel’s only competitor in the Windows 8 tablet market is ARM, whose processors ship in most tablets today. ARM may have an entry point to the Windows tablet market, but faces a tough road ahead considering Intel’s history with Windows, Otellini said.
Originally Posted by Agam Shah, Computerworld

CIO Roles Evolve as Supercomputing and Enterprise Mobility Become Widespread

It should come as no surprise that, with the growth of mobile development and the progression of artificial intelligence and supercomputing, CIOs would at some point be facing a different landscape in IT management. According to ComputerWorld, panelists at the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium encouraged future CIOs to embrace traditional management roles as well as make the most of emerging technologies like social networking, big data, and enterprise mobility.