As the ICT industry shifts from single to multiple operating system platforms, it opens up new challenges as well as new opportunities.

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He then indirectly uses this analogy to announce that virtualization, today, replaces the hardware and that the application platforms replace the operating system.

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In August, F-Secure released the first-ever distributed antivirus product, for mobile devices running Symbian's EPOC operating system, and expects to follow with other wireless platforms.

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The more interesting story in the coming year might be Google's rise to dominate all mobile platforms, not just its own Android operating system.

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Having used Windows 8 on a number of hardware platforms, I do believe that if the operating system has a chance of success, Microsoft needs to be working with hardware partners to get as many touchscreen devices out to market as possible.

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Issues to consider include ease of deployment, managing backup and data access, support, security, network complexity, device management, operating system diversity, total cost of ownership and integration of various tablet platforms at the application, mobile device management process and system level.

FORBES: Written by Mitch Cline