VMware Adds Motorola to List of Smartphone Makers Using Horizon Mobile

VMware says Motorola has joined Samsung and LG in producing devices that will include VMware's Horizon Mobile service. The service allows corporate employees to securely embed a virtual instance of their work phone on their personal smartphones.

VMware said it is working with Motorola Mobility to ship smartphones running VMware’s Horizon Mobile service through Softbank Telecom, a wireless carrier in Japan.

Horizon Mobile is VMware’s solution to the problem of how companies can accommodate employees who want to bring their own devices to work, but let the company secure corporate data on them. Horizon works by running a work phone as a virtual instance on the employee’s personal smartphone.

The Motorola Razr 201M will be the first Motorola smartphone to be enabled for Horizon Mobile, which will be offered as a managed service with a trial period beginning Dec. 10 in Japan, VMware said.

At VMworld 2012 in August, VMware announced that Horizon would be available on Samsung and LG smartphones and that its product road map calls for the service to be added in the near future to Apple iPhones and iPads running the iOS operating system.