IBM today announced a broad portfolio of initiatives intended to cast itself as the ultimate one stop shop for companies ready to fully embrace mobile devices as essential tools for doing day-to-day business.

The computing and consulting services giant unveiled IBM MobileFirst, a mix of tools and services all designed to help companies manage, secure and use more business applications on mobile devices.

The company also announced a new alliance with AT&T and launched a major mobile security initiative.

"Let's face it, the future of computing is going to be in mobile, so it's absolutely critical for IBM to have a very strong, if not dominant, position in this space," says Maribel Lopez, principal analyst at Lopez Research. "This is critical to their success."

Lopez gave IBM's portfolio of mobile technology and related services a "B-plus or A-minus."

"It's difficult for anyone to get everything right," she says, "but it's a really good set of services."

In essence, Big Blue has repackaged and put a fresh marketing push behind 10 mobile-related acquisitions in the past four years. It also announced an expanded relationship with AT&T to streamline development of mobile apps for business use. For good measure, it formally launched a major initiative to help tighten the security of mobile apps developed for business use on iPhones and Android handsets.

"Enterprises have yet to tap into the potential of mobile business," says Robert LeBlanc, IBM's senior vice president of middleware software. "Just as the Internet transformed the way we bank, book vacations and manage our healthcare, mobile computing is also transforming industries."

By: DocMemory
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