Sybase subsidiary iAnywhere offers one of the leading mobile device management tools on the market, Afaria. With version 5.4, for the first time, users can fully manage and secure Research In Motion (RIM) BlackBerry and Windows Mobile 5.0 PDAs and smartphones from a single console. Additional devices that can be managed with Afaria include Palm and Symbian devices as well as laptops.

New Afaria BlackBerry management components enable organizations to deploy, install and repair software applications on RIM devices. In addition, the Afaria Session Manager is now available for BlackBerry devices to allow administrators to customize system management tasks and support business processes.

Previously, Afaria could be used to perform some simple asset management, issue notifications and shutdown or completely erase data from a lost Blackberry device by sending out remote "kill command."

Administrators can also now leverage Microsoft's Systems Management Server (SMS) to manage all types of mobile devices - Symbian, Palm, BlackBerry - from within Afaria, not just Windows Mobile PDAs and smartphones.

“With Afaria 5.4, it’s easy for administrators to manage all of their mobile devices, including BlackBerry, Windows Mobile Pocket PC and Smartphone, Palm and Symbian devices, and even laptop computers from a single console,” said Joe Owen, vice president, engineering, iAnywhere.

Another new feature enables admins to re-identify mobile devices even after a power failure, device hard reset, or the loss or reinstallation of the Afaria client; keeping Afaria assignments and policies intact for that particular device. It does this instead of the network simply miss-identifying the device as a brand new PDA or smartphone on the network.

Key file management features back up key files on a device when the battery level drops below a critical level, while admins can monitor and enforce application installation and usage policies. There are also logs for when confidential files on mobile devices are written to external cards or sent to other devices.

With an improved inventory Manager, administrators can collect additional phone and connectivity information on handheld devices, including phone number, IMEI, IMSI, mobile operator, current network, and Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and IR configuration and status information. For laptop computers, new differencing scans transmit only inventory changes to the server, reducing communication time and costs, according to the company.

IT can protect lost or stolen devices by locking them down or removing data and applications remotely.

Owen added, “This is a huge advantage for companies who need to manage and secure a variety of devices. Now all of these devices can be easily managed and tracked through the Afaria Management console.”

The upgrade is set to ship on Friday.