The partnership is a strategic one designed to help both companies explore "bring your own device" (BYOD) computing models, according to Srinivas Krishnamurti, senior director for mobile solutions at VMware.

Under BYOD, employees use devices of their own choosing - iPads, iPhones, Android devices - and IT integrates them into the application and security infrastructure of the business.

"There are pretty clear studies showing people are more productive on their device of choice," according to Chris Wolf, research vice president for Gartner's IT Professionals service. "Some people really want that choice; I may want to travel with my iPad and have access to my applications. IT just wants to make sure that access is secure."

Under the plan announced by LG and VMware, IT would install a VMware hypervisor on an LG smartphone and create a secure work profile that would run on top of the native operating system. The "work" part of the phone would remain separate from the personal data, applications and settings, but users could switch over by rebooting.

They would have separate numbers for the work and personal versions of the phone, Krishnamurti says.