Company Offers Smartphone Deployment Manager

Businesses of all sizes increasingly are using smartphones to boost the productivity of their mobile workforce. But without proper implementation and management, these productivity gains can be wiped out by the headaches the handsets cause an IT department.

With this in mind, InterNoded on Monday released the latest version of its mobile device management product. The IMDM 4.0 On Demand is a subscription-based mobile device and wireless server management service that supports BlackBerry Enterprise Server, Good Mobile Messaging, and Microsoft's ActiveSync for Windows Mobile and iPhone handsets.

The service enables IT departments to push applications to the fleet of handsets, as well as upgrade, activate, or wipe handsets. There's also a rules-based framework that makes it easier for IT departments to enforce security policies and application distribution.

"Businesses must adapt to the evolving mobile workforce within their organizations faster than ever before, including support for a wider variety of handsets, new applications, and a constant recognition of security threats both internally and externally," InterNoded CEO Julie Palen said in a statement. "Given this climate, mobile device management is now more important than ever, and with our on-site or on-demand options, businesses of any size can deploy mobile devices enterprise-wide hassle free."

Additionally, businesses can have InterNoded remotely manage all mobile device servers, host portions of the wireless infrastructure, or fully host the entire mobile infrastructure. The company said it can increase the stability and scalability of wireless servers with automated system optimization and load balancing.

There's also a 24-hour "Help Desk" option for support, and the service can be blended with the corporate intranet for user interface branding. IMDM 4.0 On Demand is available from the company's Web site, and the monthly fees vary on a per-user or per-server basis.

To give InterNoded's deployment manager some perspective, InformationWeek has published a report that highlights how companies are implementing smartphones, PDAs, and pocket PCs to access business applications. The report can be downloaded here (registration required).