Unisys Offers a Little Enterprise iPhone Love
Image Source: vampire-mv.blogspot.com
I used to work at Unisys, so their name in a headline usually catches my eye “ but I never expect to see them associated in any way with the iPhone. Until this morning that is.
It seems they announced a range of (software-side) enhancements to their ClearPath line of mainframe servers, alongside five new models launched yesterday. Again, not usually a subject I pay much attention too “ but here ‘s the line that ‘s quite nice to see from an iPhone fan ‘s perspective:
Innovative Specialty Engines that enhance ClearPath system price/performance by offloading support for specialized applications and supporting integration of intelligent devices, such as iPhones and iPods
Clearpath servers are well up in the business-critical, heavy duty enterprise backend neighborhood “ the sort of neighborhood where the iPhone is not supposed to have much of any traction. So it ‘s very cool to see the iPhone not only get mentioned in this sort of area, but get emphasized as a main selling point it seems.
To put that in a little more context, here are the 3 bullet points that Unisys uses right up front in its press release to sum up its new offerings:
- Server and enterprise software enhancements, including new models of the ClearPath Libra and Dorado lines and new releases of the MCP and OS 2200 operating environments
- Innovative Specialty Engines that enhance ClearPath system price/performance by offloading support for specialized applications and supporting integration of intelligent devices, such as iPhones and iPods
- Support for the latest EMC enterprise storage systems.
Notice that no other mobile platform apart from iPhone is mentioned as an ‘intelligent device ‘.
And here ‘s some more detail on the iPhone support:
Through a new capability, the ClearPath ePortal Specialty Engine enables mobile workers using intelligent devices such as Apple iPhone and iPod touch units to communicate with ClearPath applications. Clients with these devices can use the look-and-feel they are familiar with to gain transparent access to critical business information.
The enhanced ClearPath ePortal provides multiple options for integrating these intelligent devices. The options include a plug-and-play capability that generates the iPhone/iPod touch application interface; capabilities to customize Web-based ClearPath applications with an iPhone/iPod touch look-and-feel; and integration of native iPhone applications with ClearPath solutions.
I ‘ve thought for a long while that the iPhone platform will make inroads in the corporate / enterprise area faster than many people seem to think. It ‘s nice to see a little indicator that maybe that ‘s not such a crazy thought. 
Source: Unisys via MacDailyNews
Implemented in the right way, iPhone and Touch Enterprise integration could certainly contribute to a significant competitive advantage for many companies. But, from what I've seen, many businesses seem to be too risk averse and/or have too much bureaucracy and it causes them to miss many opportunities for significant growth. Rather, they seem to be content with doing things the way they always have and avoid change until it is too late.
In the information age, it seems obvious to me that having immediate access to near-perfect information would go a long way in improving customer service, job performance, and overall company competitiveness.
Anderson – I agree, with all of that. I know there are still some security issues that need to be addressed in the iPhone OS (like local encryption for starters) – but I think there are corporates out there (in certain industries) that can live with the trade-off of a little less security for a lot more user experience and usage of apps – and the security flaws will get addressed soon enough …