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Galaxy S II does work and personal phone duties at once with Telefonica's Dual Persona service

Michael Gorman
Former Editor-in-Chief
Updated ·5 min read

It wasn't so long ago that the corporate world was ruled by RIM, but with the rise of Android and iOS, more folks are wanting to use their personal handsets both for work and play. Enter Telefonica's Dual Persona service that's making its debut on the Galaxy S II. It's powered by VMWare's Horizon Mobile technology that lets you jump between home and work profiles with the tap of an app, and provides notifications for both profiles no matter which one you're currently using. Basically, the work profile is an instance of virtualized Android based in the cloud, meaning your company's IT folks can manage corporate information on your phone without compromising your personal privacy. Samsung plans to give more of its mobile phones Dual Persona in the coming months, so if you don't own a GSII, there's still a chance your phone could get a split-personality, too. PR's after the break.

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TELEFONICA TO LAUNCH DUAL PERSONA SERVICE FOR MOBILE DEVICES, POWERED BY VMWARE®
February 28, 2012

• New Telefonica Dual Persona service, powered by VMware® Horizon Mobile™, will enable two phones-in-a-phone, one for private personal use and another for business use

• VMware Horizon Mobile extends enterprise-grade security and management to employee owned mobile devices with Telefonica cloud-based management service

• Samsung to deliver first Android devices to use Telefonica Dual Persona service

BARCELONA – Feb. 28, 2012. Today at Mobile World Congress, Telefonica Digital and VMware®, Inc. announced the launch of the new Telefonica Dual Persona service. Powered by VMware Horizon Mobile™, the new service will provide a simple way for IT departments to securely provision, manage and de-provision a corporate mobile workspace (email, applications, data, etc.) to an employee's Android device over-the-air, while enabling the employee to better retain the privacy and control of their personal mobile environments.

Telefonica Dual Persona service for Android devices will be available in the second quarter of this year. Additional information on pricing and countries where the services will launch will be made available in the coming months. Both companies are working to make the solution available for other operating systems and mobile platforms in the future.

The companies also confirmed today that the Galaxy SII by Samsung will be the first handset to support the Telefonica Dual Persona service. Samsung is expected to offer service compatibility with all of its devices in the coming months.

Smartphones: The New Corporate Mobile Workspace

The increased computing power of modern mobile devices, coupled with the rise in the number of business ready mobile applications, has resulted in the growing need for companies to manage device lifecycles and the provisioning of mobile applications used by employees. Furthermore, the widespread popularity of smartphones in the consumer market has increased the number of personal devices used in the work environment.

According to Forrester (Forrsights: Mobility Dominates Enterprise Telecom Trends In 2011, July 22, 2011), 60 percent of companies now allow their employees to use personal smartphones and tablets at work and this trend is increasing. The influx of personal devices makes the management of mobile phones and the lifecycle of mobile applications more complicated and creates security and manageability issues for corporate IT organizations. Meanwhile, employees are becoming progressively more concerned about personal data privacy and worry that management and control of their smartphones by IT administrators could be intrusive.

Telefonica Dual Persona Service, Powered by VMware
Powered by VMware Horizon Mobile, the Telefonica Dual Persona service will be offered as part of the Telefonica Cloud Computing service catalog. In addition to dual persona support for Android devices, the Telefonica Cloud Computing catalog helps companies more effectively manage their databases, virtual desktops (PCs) and applications by offering easy to consume cloud-based services.

The Telefonica Dual Persona service will enable IT managers to provision and manage an employee's work profile and mobile applications via a cloud-based instance of VMware Horizon Mobile. Because of this separation, when an employee leaves the company or if a device is lost or stolen, business will be better able to safely and securely remove corporate information from mobile devices, while not having access to an individual personal profile.

The user experience will be intuitive and similar to that of a conventional smartphone on both profiles. Users will be able to switch from one profile to another with a simple click of an app, and they will receive both work and personal notifications within both profiles.

According to Moises Navarro, Director of Strategy and Cloud Services at Telefonica Digital, "The Dual Persona service brings benefits to both employees and companies – the employee can use just one device, for both personal and work use while still maintaining privacy – the company gains greater control and security over corporate information, increased efficiency and cost savings on mobile devices, less provisioning and incident management time and greater employee satisfaction. Importantly, this is all made available via a cloud-based, pay-per-use model".

"Powered by VMware Horizon Mobile, Telefonica Dual Persona service will enable enterprises to securely customize and manage an employee's corporate mobile workspace in isolation from their personal smartphone environment," said Brian Byun, vice president and general manager, End-User Computing, Mobile for VMware. "We are excited to bring this technology to market with Telefonica and Samsung. Horizon Mobile embraces personal freedom and enhances employee productivity by delivering a preconfigured, device-independent corporate mobile workspace that is customized to an employee's responsibilities."

Samsung is working closely with Telefonica and VMware to expand the availability of "VMware ready" devices this year.

"With the "Bring Your Own Device" trend growing faster than ever in enterprise sector, Telefonica's Dual Persona service will undoubtedly be the compelling solution to propel this trend," said Eric Moon, Director of Enterprise Business Team, Mobile Communication Division
at Samsung Electronics. "We are very confident that enterprise decision-makers will embrace Samsung mobile devices along with the Dual Persona service thanks to the flexibly provided to both employees and corporate IT. For employees they will have the ability to securely mix work and play on a single Samsung device."