Altiris, Inc. today announced the first-ever release of the Altiris® Handheld Management Suite™ to help IT organizations track, secure and manage a growing number of business-critical mobile devices. The new suite includes products for software delivery, device discovery and asset tracking, and on-device data security with support for Windows Mobile-based PocketPCs, Palm OS and BlackBerry handhelds.
Handheld Management Suite can be used standalone or utilized as part of a natively integrated Altiris IT lifecycle management solution to help reduce the cost and complexity of heterogeneous device management, while helping to secure sensitive corporate data, through a single, Web-based console and infrastructure.
According to Canalys, worldwide shipments of mobile devices are up 45 percent from Q2 2003 to Q2 2004.* The mobile device management market is also rapidly growing. IDC expects the market to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 44.9 percent to $911.4 million by 2008.**
Developed for IT professionals who manage an increasingly heterogeneous computing environment, the suite enables administrators to remotely manage handheld devices from the same console as used for desktop, laptop and IT asset management. The new suite:
*Offers comprehensive assessment of handheld technology on multiple platforms
– Speed software audits while identifying unauthorized applications that increase exposure to system incompatibilities and security threats
– Reduce troubleshooting and problem analysis costs by making handheld inventory instantaneously available to help desk and IT support staff
– Eliminate the unknown by consolidating handheld asset data within a comprehensive IT asset management system
*Reduces cost and complexity associated with software application rollouts and updates
– Accurately target enterprise application rollouts and updates
– Custom management of intermittently connected users with checkpoint restart and dynamic bandwidth throttling via sync or HTTP/S communications
– Quickly and easily identify hardware requiring upgrade or replacement
*Provides multi-layered on-device security to protect sensitive corporate information and ensure data integrity
– Enforce strong password authentication – Encrypt sensitive data with industry standard encryption algorithms
– Lock down or bit wipe lost or stolen devices
*Now supports PocketPC 2002, Windows Mobile 2003, RIM 800/900 and BlackBerry 5000-7000 series handhelds, and will support Palm OS later this year
According to Gartner research, “It does not look like handheld device integration is a passing fad, especially as technologies like smartphones gain popularity. The initial reaction to ignore handheld device integration into the enterprise will not be an intelligent business decision in the months and years to come.”***
Steve Morton, Altiris VP of product management, said, “Our customers have diverse requirements for managing a variety of devices. Altiris Handheld Management Suite extends Altiris remote management to address the rapidly growing presence of mobile devices in the enterprise. The suite is an easy to use set of solutions designed to reduce device ownership costs, strengthen corporate data security and increase productivity for the mobile workforce. Altiris now provides one management system for the most IT assets including servers, desktops, laptops, network devices and handheld devices to help businesses realize rapid return on investment.”
Altiris Client Management Suite™ and Wise Package Studio® offer additional support for handheld devices such as application packaging, file copy, configuration management and remote control.
Licensing and availability
Altiris Handheld Management Suite is available now with Palm support to be added in Q4 2004. The suite is available for a MSRP of $35 per node with volume discounts available and no charge for the server infrastructure. For more information or to contact a local Altiris sales representative, please visit www.altiris.com/sales
