* The PDA has become a must-have tool for IT professionals
Once seen as a luxury to some, the PDA quickly became a must-have tool for people in many professions, including IT.
IT professionals turn to their Research in Motion (RIM) BlackBerry, if you want to talk name-brand PDAs, to stay on top of network performance and availability when they are on the move or at home. The tools could be seen as a bit of a burden considering it keeps people connected to their jobs 24/7 — that is why I continue to resist buying one myself — but more often than not IT managers say a PDA helps them do their jobs better.
“For me, my must-have tool is my BlackBerry. It really keeps me in close contact with the firm,” says Albert Ganzon, director of network services and engineering at international law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP in San Francisco. “We have monitoring tools for our infrastructure that sends e-mails to my BlackBerry about issues and that makes it possible for me to respond more quickly.”
Now IT managers are looking for ways to better manage the devices proliferating across their environments. And companies such as CA are looking to help. The management software maker recently released a product designed to work exclusively with RIM’s BlackBerry technology to give IT managers a view of how well the systems supporting the handheld devices are performing.
CA introduced its Mobile Device Management (CA MDM) software recently, which is designed to manage BlackBerry handhelds on an enterprise level. CA worked with RIM to integrate its management tools into RIM’s technology and make it possible to manage the systems supporting the devices and the distributed devices. The stand-alone technology does not require any other CA software in the environment and CA officials say they plan to support other handheld devices in the future.
CA MDM installs on a server and is non-intrusive into the RIM BlackBerry environment. CA MDM acts as a Web service that connects to BlackBerry APIs, which means if the CA software isn’t performing or the server on which it is installed goes down, BlackBerry service is uninterrupted. CA MDM includes a workflow and reporting server, which are options shipped with the software and not required to be installed. Priced at $65 per device, with volume discounts available, CA MDM is available now. Also that pricing is based on a one-time fee and not an annual license cost.
“The proliferation and rapid advancement of the devices is combining to cause performance problems and customers are worried about security as well considering the devices contain sensitive data in many cases,” says Allen Houpt, director of product management, CA Business Service Optimization (BSO) business unit. “CA MDM manages the entire lifecycle of the devices to make sure they are working as expected and that the enterprise is secure.”
