VA to Open its Doors to Wider Variety of Mobile Devices

On Oct. 1 the Veterans Affairs Department plans to allow employees access to a "particular set of very popular [mobile] devices," once they are secure and encrypted, said VA Chief Information Officer Roger Baker during a June 30 press call.

"As Vivek [Kundra] said here a few months ago: Bring your own viewer, and we'll have a list of what those can be and it's likely to be a moderately long list," said Baker.

A June 9 presentation by Charles De Sanno, VA's director for enterprise infrastructure engineering and enterprise operations/field development, revealed that IT controls permitting iPads to be used at the agency would be in place by Oct. 1. An iPad pilot has been underway at VA as well.

It's unclear whether expanded mobile device support at VA will translate to a large-scale procurement or a bring-your own device policy.