Federal agencies need MDM solutions that can be deployed quickly and are flexible enough to respond to changing trends in mobility.

Wondering where everyone's been? If you're coming off of a quiet weekend, chances are high that your friends, family, and co-workers have been busily acquainting themselves with their new iPads, released on March 16th. The newest addition to the famed tablet family has gathered plenty of interest from a range of demographics, and IT pros are no exception.

Similar to shoppers in the trenches of a local Apple store, K-12 schools have made it a top priority to get their hands on the latest gadgets and technology. Teachers are calling for bundles of iPads to be delivered for their students, and its popularity has spread nationwide. To get a picture for what I'm talking about, Apple reported in September at least 600 school districts had begun implementing one-to-one programs where at least one classroom makes a tablet available to every student. Its quite an anomaly whenever a consumer-driven technology can take the learning process such a long way. But who's complaining? Increased engagement is the very reason demand for the iPad continues to increase. It gives young learners something they enjoy using when they're not in the classroom and puts it right in front of them. An added benefit is the ability to stay up-to-date on material. The last thing a school district on a tight budget wants to do is buy in to the repeated process of textbook replacement.

What are you using to get the job done today? Whatever it is, chances are you'd be reluctant to go back to a typewriter and briefcase packed with handwritten contents. Tablets, smartphones, desktops and laptops are here to stay. They've worked their way into our routine in so many ways that it makes it difficult to grasp the hard truth. That being, the more ways we use these devices the more risk they present us. An overwhelming number of organizations have overlooked this risk... but why? Perhaps the edge these devices provide us is the very thing that blinds us. The worst part is, the stakes have never been higher.

Recently, the MaaS360 MDM solution achieved an important certification under the U.S. Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) by the GSA. Google and Salesforce.com are the only other cloud providers who have achieved this certification from the GSA. We've maintained our position as the pioneer in SaaS (software-as-a-service) solutions for secure mobile device and app management. Now that we're a FISMA-certified company, we've become the preferred solution for many Federal agencies.

Smartphones, no doubt, are the current buzz of the technology market. No technology in history has been so fiercely adopted and has evolved at such an aggressive pace. These devices have something to offer every industry and are even favorites of our children!

  Results from the latest MDM report by InformationWeek demonstrate the Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) trend has grown considerably in the past year. If the next report's results are consistent with the past two, BYOD will continue growing until it is a complete normality in the enterprise. This year's survey respondents (323 technology professionals from 50+ person business environments) added a considerable margin to the already-high percentages from last year's survey responses that indicated BYOD acceptance, implementation, and/or future planning were a part of their IT strategy.