At Interop New York there will be one harsh reality on the table: network managers can't keep personal mobile devices off of their networks. That means they need enterprise mobility security and policy strategies in a hurry.

"The days of giving a new employee a company-owned BlackBerry and an IT-controlled laptop and telling them they are good to go are quickly fading away," says Gartner analyst Paul Debeasi, who is speaking on the issue at Interop. "Increasingly, IT must learn to accommodate user requests to support employee-owned devices (smartphones, tablets, laptops) and social media (instant messaging, Facebook, blogging)."

The first step may be in designing enterprise mobility policy.

"IT must talk with their bosses about what user requests should be implemented, what it means to support a user/device/service, and what level of security risk is acceptable," Debeasi said.

At Interop New York, network managers will outline mobile security threats and look at products aimed at policy management and access control. They'll also discuss the impact of extending unified communications applications to personal mobile devices on the enterprise network.

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