MobileIron, a startup we profiled during the summer, launched its Virtual Smartphone Platform in September. Today, it launched version 2.0 of the standalone virtualization product that attaches to an enterprise's infrastructure to provide data-driven mobile management and cost control.

MobileIron does this by creating a central view of smartphone content, activity, and applications in the data center to give IT and end-users insight into usage, and control over security and cost. It supports the following smartphone platforms: Apple iPhone, Microsoft Windows Mobile, Nokia Symbian, Palm webOS, and RIM BlackBerry, with Google Android coming soon.

Here are some key features of the Virtual Smartphone Platform 2.0:

 

MyPhone@Work:
-Threaded, searchable history of mobile communications
-Social graph of mobile relationships
-Up-to-date view of usage (voice, text, data) to catch costly spikes as they happen
-Up-to-date view of service quality, like dropped calls, to help troubleshoot
-Find-my-phone location and mapping service

 

Event Center to track and respond to potential security, cost, or quality problems. The Event Center takes data and turns it into actions. It can also be mapped to the company's wireless billing plans. Some examples of MobileIron Release 2.0 events are:
-Prevent bill surprises by tracking when employees are approaching billing plan thresholds for voice, text, and data
-Reduce roaming costs by capturing international roaming usage as it happens
-Identify potential theft by monitoring SIM card swaps
-Identify at-risk phones by monitoring memory and storage shortfalls

•Enterprise App Store:
-Gives IT a way to simplify and control the application available to users. IT publishes approved internal and external applications, noting whether they are supported or reimbursed, and defining access based on user role or IT policy. Employees then browse their Enterprise App Store through the MyPhone@Work portal and select the applications best suited for them. They simply click on the app icon to install the application either directly through the Enterprise App Store or through links to external app stores. Customer Case Study

See here to learn more about version 2.0 of the MobileIron Virtual Smartphone Platform Release 2.0.