Google unlocks cloud floodgates

Google multiplied the number of cloud computing applications available under the Google Apps umbrella by 10, opening the cloud floodgates for Google Apps business customers and its 2 000-plus application resellers, writes CRN.

According to Google, the deluge of new applications and capabilities swells Google Apps to more than 60 applications that can be leveraged by businesses. Google Apps is Google's cloud-based communications and collaboration software suite.

Traditionally, Google Apps offered Gmail, Google Documents and other capabilities. Now, Google has opened up access to applications like Google Voice, Reader, Blogger, Maps, Picasa, YouTube and a host of other applications to Google Apps customers.

More companies may be altering their policies that manage company wireless devices as mobile employees prefer to use them for both personal and business needs, according to a recent report from research firm Ovum, says Visage Mobile.

Seventy percent of respondents said their companies allow them to use corporate devices for personal activities. Nearly half (48%) said they can use their personally owned mobile devices to access company networks and business applications.

"Employees will want to use their devices, no matter who owns them, for both their work and personal lives," Ovum principal analyst and author of the report Graham Titterington said. "It is unrealistic to delineate between these uses for employees who are mobile and working out of the office for a large part of their time."

Verizon has unveiled a new Mobile Services Enablement Platform (MSEP) that helps enterprises design their applications for a mobile environment so that workers can access the applications across different devices and have the same experience as when the applications are accessed from a desktop environment, reveals CBR Software.

MSEP is the latest addition to Verizon's managed mobility portfolio, which enables on-the-go professionals to securely conduct business where and when they need to.

The company said the new platform provides a flexible way for organisations to design, develop and manage mobile business applications across multiple devices and carriers.