by John Harrington, Fiberlink

In round one, we broke the two tablets out of their boxes and shared our initial impressions. In round two, our contenders showed us what they were made of as we cross-compared their tech specs. In round three, you learned what it would be like to use each of these tablets at home or the workplace. Now for the round you came to see: IT management capabilities! (if you haven’t already, I highly recommend you watch a recording of the event here)

Jon took a swing at the kindle fire early in round four, highlighting the iPad 2′s maturity in device management support. IT directors from all around will find this tablet easiest to support; it has been around the longest and has had more time to adapt. This tablet is comfortable with iOS versioning, supports encryption, and supports both US carriers (i.e. AT&T, Verizon) and those abroad (GSM). Unlike the kindle fire, Apple’s premier tablet offers best-in-class enterprise features, such as seamless Exchange support, adaptations to the MS Office Suite, VPN and Certification Support, and easy setup for enterprise app management.

Since its mid-November release, the kindle fire has begun showing its face in the enterprise, but has a while to go until it can reach the level of the iPad 2. There are some problems we recognized right off the bat. You’ll find that the remote enforcement of a passcode cannot be set. Since there is no fragmentation, some question marks do exist: What will we be able to do with it? And how will we manage it? There is no certainty surrounding the next OS update for the kindle fire, so these questions will remain on the tablet until then.

As mentioned in round three, the kindle fire requires a little extra effort to access corporate mail, but it can be done. Installation of a third party application makes this possible. Lotus Notes Traveler is currently unavailable on the kindle fire, but IBM is currently investigating how it could be supported in a future release. Most Exchange policies will however work on the device (Donna was able to test for passcode enforcement using TouchDown by NitroDesk). You can also block, approve, auto-quarantine, and perform a selective wipe on the Amazon kindle fire.

So at the conclusion of our match, how do you feel about the contenders? Has this brawl helped you determine which is right for you? If not, our panelists laid out a few suggestions to aid you with your selection…

-If you are in education: digital textbooks, educational apps, and media may be great on the kindle fire

-If you are in healthcare: wheeling in wire-dependent televisions and laptops may be a thing of the past. The kindle fire is easy enough to manage and afford that they could replace current means for assisting patients in their recovery periods.

-If you are in sales: the iPad 2 is great when you are on the go and need to prepare and edit corporate content for future presentations. It is also good for devices that require more robust and proven security features.

So who’s the winner? Evaluate your specific needs and use cases and consider buying a hybrid model. If you have the option to buy both devices, do it! As we’ve shared, you can find ways to fill your gaps with the more affordable kindle fire while using the iPad 2 in situations where there is no better alternative. Let us know what you’re thinking in the comments below.