Motorola Unveils Slew Of New Tech, Vows To 'Keep Pace' With Enterprise Demand

Servicing 25,000 channel partners, Motorola Solutions released a slew of new products and software updates Tuesday all aimed at helping partners address the challenges of new and evolving operating systems.

"What we have found with Google is the company is doing a good job for Android but is not doing a great job of forecasting what their company is going to be for enterprise. They are not used to giving anybody the long-term road map," said Barry Issberner, senior director of enterprise product and solutions marketing at Schaumburg, Ill.-based Motorola Solutions.

Issberner said Motorola Solutions' new products and software updates provide the Android road map that is otherwise missing for enterprise customers.

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Motorola Solutions released three new mobile devices operating on Android Jelly Bean with advanced internal security features, suitable for enterprise, as well as hardware features that make the devices durable for rough and tumble conditions. The three devices include the ET1 enterprise tablet, the MC40 mobile computer specifically geared toward retail with bar code scanning and secure payment processing abilities, and the MC67 mobile computer and cellular radio.

The company also extended its "Mx by Motorola Solutions" suite. With the updated suite, vendors are now able to provide real-time mobile device management services remotely, the company said. The devices themselves also have amped-up security features to make the Android operating system ready for enterprise. The Mx suite is an optional ad-on for solution providers to offer to their customers.

Lastly, Motorola Solutions has rolled out its latest update, version 4.0, to its RhoMobile Suite, an asset the company has enjoyed since acquiring RhoMobile in 2011.

"RhoMobile Suite 4.0 simplifies the development process by creating a common single set of API's for both JavaScript and Ruby that extend across all device types and operating systems," according at a Motorola Solutions statement.

The purpose behind RhoMobile is to allow developers to create applications that "easily move forward to another device," Issberner said. He said the RhoMobile Suite will continue to support Windows 8, iOS and future versions of Android and make it easy for developers to adjust to any platform for which a customer asks.

"When we look at the technologies we have used in the past, it has been relatively stable, particularly in operating systems over the past 20 years. It has been all about Microsoft," Issberner said. "Now, that has changed."

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In particular, Motorola's Issberner noted that Android and "to some extent iOS" have matched and surpassed Microsoft's mobile platforms in the enterprise. The key is for devices and the applications on them to move fluidly from one version of its operating system to an updated version almost immediately.

"We had to think hard about how to keep on that advanced technology treadmill. [End users] want the latest [operating system], and our partners have struggled with that," Issberner said.

Issberner said it is the end users who are demanding near-instant gratification when accessing apps and features on their work-based mobile devices, but it is in the hands of the vendor to ensure the devices are able to keep up.

Referring to the vendor's responsibility, Issberner said, "We have made a commitment to partners. We will keep pace."

PUBLISHED Oct. 1, 2013