Page 1 of 3
The universe of mobile applications for platforms ranging from BlackBerry PlayBook to iOS to Android is ever-expansive and provides value-added resellers and their customers with a full gamut of value.
From games like Angry Birds to apps that extend global ERP solutions to smartphones or tablets, there can be a fine line between adding value and productivity to an enterprise and subtracting it and, through security issues, putting an entire enterprise at increased risk. As always, the primary quality-control gateway for an enterprise will more often than not be the VAR, the trusted local technology adviser.
This year, with disruption from the new mobile platforms continuing unabated, it’s been challenging to sort out the good from the not-so-good in the world of mobile apps and find value for VARs to deliver. So CRN editors decided to set out on a search for the best mobile apps for the enterprise. We unveiled our first Enterprise App Awards contest and opened the door for nominations.
Some 52 companies found themselves and their apps nominated this year for the Enterprise App Awards. Of those, editors selected three winners, based on which apps did the best job of extending the power of enterprise applications to the new mobile platforms. The CRN Test Center handed out the awards at our NexTI conference earlier this month in Las Vegas.
While we’ve examined hundreds of apps for all aspects of IT over the past several months, true, hardened enterprise-quality solutions for the mobile platforms have had a tendency to stand out. And the apps we’ve selected for these awards stand out even among those.
Citrix Receiver
One of the first, strong enterprise apps we went to in our demonstration of the power of the iPhone and iPad to mobility was the Citrix Receiver app. Here, Citrix has driven the ability to provide business applications from the enterprise to any user on any device, provide enterprise-level security and provide a direct connection between iPhones, Android devices, BlackBerries and iPads, for example, right to the desktop.
Citrix was founded in 1989 and has reinvented itself several times, becoming one of the information technology industry’s leaders in virtualization and system management. Shortly after Apple launched its first iPhone product in 2007, Citrix followed up with an app that could provide remote desktop functionality for Windows machines onto the then-new smartphone platform. The company has continued development in this space and, shortly after Apple launched its first iPads, made its Citrix Receiver app available there, as well. Today, the app also runs on the Android operating system.
As IT continues to walk a fine line between enterprise support for smartphones and tablets based on iOS and Android, Citrix’s technology is there to help bridge the gap.
NEXT: Digium Switchvox Mobile
