Virtual smartphones ready for prime time

LG and Samsung first to implement VMware’s mobile hypervisor on select models.

VMware (NYSE:VMW) has talked about its mobile hypervisor for Android the past year and now it is ready for prime time, VMware revealed during their VMworld conference here in Las Vegas.

The mobile hypervisor will initially be implemented by LG and Samsung on select models that will get a dual personality. The phones will ship in the coming months.

The idea behind the hypervisor is that the phone will have multiple – normally 2 – versions of Android running at the same time. One image will be for personal use while the other image will contain corporate applications and will be completely isolated from the personal image.

The advantages are numerous. First of all the programmers will be able to write applications to a standardized hardware interface. IT managers will be able to manage the corporate side of the phone. This management includes the ability to push new applications and updates from a central console. In case an employee leaves the company or loses the phone then the IT staff can also wipe the corporate image from the phone without affecting the rest of the functionality.

VMware is releasing tools to allow for centralized management of phones from a console just like traditional VMs can be managed.  A bit later the company will also release an SDK to aid developers in writing software for the mobile hypervisor.

Using a hypervisor means running 2 versions of the operating system, but according to VMware they have yet to see performance issues.S|A

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