CES 2012: Trying to fit consumer tech into corporations

I've already talked about my meeting with Polycom and their possible solution for a small part of the consumer vs. IT dilemma.

There are other companies that are also looking at this issue, and coming up with some possible (although still tentative) solutions. Viewsonic, for example, and its ViewPhone 3, which is being introduced largely in Latin America but will also be available in the U.S. via the Viewsonic website. This is not a very impressive phone when you look at the specs -- it has a 3.5-in. 480 x 320 display running off a Qualcomm 800MHz processor, is running Android 2.3 and has a 5 megapixel camera. Not something that will turn heads -- although some buyers will like the fact that it's unlocked and will be available (probably this March) for a very reasonable $279.

But it has one interesting feature that most high-end mobile phones don't have: The ability to carry with it dual SIM cards, so that you can, for example, use one SIM for your Exchange work email and the second for your personal Gmail account, thus keeping the two apart.

I also talked to a representative at Verizon Wireless, who suggested that another solution would be to use a form of VMware to "divide" one's smartphone so that only the corporate apps would have to be secured by IT -- and would be the only thing wiped should the employee leave the company.

I'm sure there are many other companies out there trying to figure out how to let their employees use the favorite tech. The question is, what type of solutions will be out there -- and how practical will they be.

Barbara Krasnoff is reviews editor at Computerworld. When she isn't either editing or reviewing, she blogs at The Interesting Bits ... and Bytes; you can also follow her on Twitter (@BarbaraKrasnoff).