Access control system and method for wireless application provisioning

1. A method for controlling access by a mobile device to content on a network, the method comprising:

provisioning the mobile device with an access information including a role data identifying one or more roles assigned to a user of the mobile device within a corporate network; wherein the role data is pushed to the mobile device as part of a service book;

associating access credentials with a published content for download;

receiving a content download request from the mobile device, the content download request including access information;

matching the access credentials with the access information received from the mobile device to permit access to the published content; and

allowing content to be downloaded by the mobile device for which the access information matches the access credentials.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the service book including the role data is pushed to the mobile device for updating when the user roles changes.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the role data is stored on the mobile device and the role data is un-editable by the user.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising updating the role data stored on the mobile device when the one or more roles change within the corporate network.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the content includes wireless applications.

6. A system for controlling access to content on a network, via a mobile device, comprising:

a content registry for publishing content for download from the network, the content having access credentials associated therewith;

a provisioning system for pushing an access information to the mobile device, the access information including a role data identifying one or more roles assigned to a user of the mobile device within a corporate network; and

a discovery service for:

receiving a content download request from the mobile device, the content download request including an access information; and

permitting access by the mobile device to the published content having access credentials matching the received access information.

7. A system as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the content registry comprises:

descriptors for the content; and

the access credentials.

8. A system as claimed in claim 7 , further comprising a content repository for storing the content and the descriptors in the registry being associated with respective content in the repository.

9. A system as claimed in claim 6 , further comprising a provisioning service being configured to allow the permitted content to be downloaded by the mobile device.

10. A system as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the provisioning service downloads content from the content repository upon receipt of a request for selected permitted content from the mobile device.

11. A system as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the provisioning service is for downloading the content over the air (OTA) to the mobile device.