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Lines Blurring Between Business and Consumer Devices Presents Challenges for IT, Says Info-Tech Research Group

Posted on: Tuesday, 4 March 2008, 09:00 CST

LONDON, ON, March 4 /PRNewswire/ -- From PCs and cell phones to routers and storage devices, the list of technologies that have crossed the business-consumer divide continues to grow at an increasingly rapid rate. Info-Tech Research Group cautions that despite potential cost and ease-of-use benefits, there are challenges to adopting consumer products in small enterprise settings as well as in connecting consumer devices to enterprise networks.

"As technology has permeated all aspects of daily life, vendors have redesigned enterprise tools to create consumer-grade counterparts, really blurring the lines between the consumer and the enterprise. But consumer devices and applications don't factor in all of the needs of the business world, especially support," said William Terrill, associate senior research analyst with Info-Tech Research Group.

Low service priority is a simple way for vendors to offer lower-cost options on devices like servers and routers, so if a product fails, the small business owner who has adopted consumer-grade products could be waiting weeks before the issue is resolved, Terrill explained. Other challenges for businesses with consumer-targeted products connected to an enterprise network can include security, compatibility of devices with the enterprise network, and IT staff resourcing to address issues.

"When it comes to dealing with business-critical information, service delays and other impacts like security breaches could be the kiss of death for a small business," Terrill added. "And equally, enterprise IT managers trying to cope with all sorts of unauthorized consumer devices hanging off their networks can have many headaches."

Terrill said the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January demonstrated the convergence of markets, with vendors hyping a blend of consumer and business electronics. An example was storage devices originally designed for the enterprise market now being targeted at the general consumer in response to the ever-increasing need for personal storage space for media files and other home office and small business computing needs. At CES, HP and Maxstor showed off high-capacity storage drives and servers that were geared to the home user and hence the small business operator.

Info-Tech Research Group advises that small businesses carefully assess the impact of using consumer-grade equipment, and that IT managers in all sizes of companies develop an enforceable 'acceptable business use of personal technology policy' related to devices connected to the network.

About Info-Tech Research Group

With a paid membership of over 21,000 worldwide, Info-Tech Research Group (http://www.infotech.com/) is the global leader in providing tactical, practical Information Technology research and analysis. Info-Tech has a ten-year history of delivering quality research and is one of North America's fastest growing full-service IT analyst firms.

Info-Tech Research Group

CONTACT: or for interviews with Info-Tech Research Group, contactInfo-Tech's PR team: Shelley Grandy at (905) 866-2656; or Andrew George at1-888-670-8889, Ext. 2957

Source: PRNewswire

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