Telefónica to launch Dual Persona service for mobile devices, powered by VMware®

Telefónica to launch Dual Persona service for mobile devices, powered by VMware®:

BARCELONA – Feb. 28, 2012. Today at Mobile World Congress, Telefónica Digital and VMware®, Inc. announced the launch of the new Telefónica 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.

Telefónica 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 Telefónica 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.

Telefónica Dual Persona Service, Powered by VMware

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

The Telefónica 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 Moisés Navarro, Director of Strategy and Cloud Services at Telefónica 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, Telefónica 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 Telefónica 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 Telefónica 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, Telefónica’s Dual Persona service will undoubtedly be the compelling solution to propel this trend,' said Celestino García, Director of TELECOM 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.'

“The explosion in emerging markets is set to revolutionise the competitive environment of the ICT sector”

Telefónica - Press Office - Press room home - “The explosion in emerging markets is set to revolutionise the competitive environment of the ICT sector”:

Barcelona, 28 February 2012.- “The explosion in emerging markets will radically alter the current competitive environment in the ICT sector, and companies with a strong presence in these markets are set to play a pivotal role in unlocking this huge potential. This is a huge challenge and a huge responsibility.” It was with these words that Santiago Fernández Valbuena, Chairman of Telefónica Latinoamérica, concluded his speech at today's keynote session entitled “Mobile Operator Strategies in Developing Markets” at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

This anticipated revolution spearheaded by emerging countries is supported by the data of industry analysts. Forecasts indicate that at some point in the next five years there will be more smartphones in developing countries than in the developed world[1]. Moreover, IP traffic is set to post a sevenfold increase in Latin America over the next five years, the world's highest average growth rate (+48%)[2].

Fernández Valbuena, who focused largely on Latin America – where Telefónica has been present for two decades – indicated that the sector is changing rapidly and that opportunities in the area are huge.

At a time when these countries are not only growing, but have achieved robust levels of development and confidence, to the benefit of their social structures, with an ever larger and ever stronger middle class, average forecast growth rates for the ICT market are almost 8% per annum (ahead of GDP)[3]–, and “broadband (fixed and mobile) and the services based on this connectivity will be the main source of growth in the years ahead.” In fact, he added “the future of the region and of the sector depend on the ability of operators to foster this market,” in particular wireless internet.

Telefónica spearheads the ‘sector revolution’

Telefónica, which is already spearheading the data revolution in Latin America and capturing growth, associates the explosion of this market with several key factors. According to Fernández Valbuena, one pivotal factor is “the rapid spread of smart devices, especially of smartphones, in a region with a huge appetite for technology”. Moreover, the company is opting for products focused on service and not on unlimited use – moving away from flat rates –, “guaranteeing the most groundbreaking combination in bundles, and segmenting and adapting our proposal to the needs of a highly diverse market.” In addition, and finally, the ability of the sector to implement M2M solutions in the business fabric is an opportunity in itself and essential to boost productivity in the region.

Thanks to its strategy, Telefónica already has over 24 million broadband accesses in Latin America, of which 16.3 million are MBB accesses, including smart devices and dongles, and in the last three years Telefónica Latinoamérica has increased by 10pp both the weighting of data revenues as a percentage of mobile service revenues, and the contribution of non-voice revenues to total fixed telephony revenues. The objective to 2013 is to almost triple current MBB accesses and for mobile date revenues to account for one third of mobile service revenues. The company has also significantly increased its provision of connectivity-based services, which are driving improvements in productivity and forging a new profile for the company as a provider of mobile financial services, especially for unbanked segments, e-Health solutions, which help to universalise healthcare - especially in remote areas-, and cloud services for businesses.