TECH chiefs are struggling with Apple's iPad as more and more senior managers turn up with the device at work.
The problem is that the iPad was developed as a consumer gadget and not for corporate networks and their rigorous security and application protocols.
Nonetheless, when the boss lugs in an iPad and asks for a log-on to the corporate intranet, it's hard to say no.
"This is the first time a device has come in at the top of the food chain and been pushed down," said Gartner analyst Robin Simpson, speaking at the Gartner Symposium 2010 in Sydney today.
"What's happening with the iPad is senior executives are buying the things themselves and saying do it," said Mr Simpson. "For the first time senior executives have finally found a computer they can use -- the user interface is obvious -- you turn it on and it works."
But there are problems with the iPad.
Gartner's Nick Jones believes enthusiasm with iPad deployments is often running ahead of corporate security requirements.
"The pressure to allow choice is so great people are getting ahead of themselves," he said and included the latest Google Android tablet PCs in the too-fast basket.
"Android is like the CIO's worst nightmare -- it's fragmented, it's immature and it's popular -- how bad can it get," he joked.
"We are going to see some interesting and alarming data losses with these devices which will push people to manage them better," said Mr Jones.
Despite the risks, two CIOs at the Symposium Event today were keen on the iPads and other tablets PCs appearing in their organisations.
Corporate Express CIO Garry Whatley said about a dozen staff so far had iPads but expected that within 12 months tablets could be in use with a majority of the firm's 600 sales staff. Tablets were fine for running the cloud-based Salesforce.com application, he said, although he cautioned against using them just yet for security sensitive areas such as legal.
At Curtin University, CIO Peter Nikoletatos has more than 200 staff with iPads and the number is growing rapidly. Within 18 months he believes about a third of the university's 6000 staff could be using tablets.
The gadgets were used as document viewers in place of printing on paper and for less compute intensive tasks such as browsing and social networking and some corporate apps. Mr Nikoletatos saw a strong future for tablets hosting web-based applications where the heavy compute tasks were carried out in the cloud. "These are conduits to the cloud," he said.
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