SAN FRANCISCO-The Mobile Management and Directory Interoperability Forums of The Open Group recently published its “Executive on the Move” Business Scenario, a report that shows business drivers and requirements for mobile computing and suggests opportunities for the use of directory services in mobile work environments.
According to the business scenario, executives and other employees in a range of industries are increasingly using mobile computing and communications mainly to: maximize time spent on productive and profitable work; maximize availability of executives; maximize competitiveness with timely information; and increase quality of enterprise information.
The report concludes that in order to meet these needs, mobile workers need to be able to use mobile devices for conversation, conferencing, messaging, alerting, information access, information updates and online transactions. Based on these needs, The Open Group plans to develop standards for directories that can be used to support mobile work forces and in its first effort, the firm plans kick off its Mobile Directory Challenge at its meeting in Cannes, France, in October.
The Mobile Directory Challenge asks companies to demonstrate their products interoperating in a mobile situation to showcase the benefits of enabling the management of wireless networks through standards-based directory services. According to The Open Group, several aspects of mobile enablement can be directory managed, including: users and user device information; user and user device authentication and authorization; systems and networks information; systems and network use and state; and roaming session persistence information requirements.
