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  • MS teases Windows Phone 8 enterprise features: Company Hub, encryption, secure boot, IT management

    by 
    Zach Honig
    Zach Honig
    06.20.2012

    At today's Windows Phone Summit, Microsoft alluded to some of the next-gen OS' enterprise features, including a trusted shared Windows core, encryption, secure boot and IT device management. Company VP Joe Belfiore recognized that some business users haven't been satisfied with the operating system's previous suite of enterprise features, and that definitely appears to be one focus of Windows Phone 8. BitLocker Drive Encryption will provide support for device security, while IT administrators will have have the ability to push apps to handsets while sidestepping the Marketplace. Office will also have a greater presence in Windows Phone 8, though we don't know exactly how that will play out just yet. Enterprise clearly hasn't been a primary target of Microsoft's mobile OS to date, but that could very well change beginning this fall. There's also a new Company Hub feature, which will allow companies their own app distribution pipe, as well as giving IT administrators the ability to highlight specific things depending on what's important to their organization. With so many Windows machines in the workplace, it's pretty smart for Microsoft to take a serious dive into this stuff, and it's honestly really slick. There's also a Microsoft IT app, which the company claims will be provided in template form so that outfits can tweak it to fit specific needs. To check out the latest updates from Microsoft's Windows Phone event, visit our liveblog!