Mobile User Management Solution Extends Support Beyond BlackBerry

PRESS RELEASE

Columbia, MD " October 19, 2009 " BoxTone', the company that developed the industry standard for the management, monitoring and support of the BlackBerry platform, today extended its mobile user management solution to manage, track and control iPhone, Palm Pre, Windows Mobile and other ActiveSync-based smartphones.

BoxTone v5.0 enables enterprises, governmental agencies and managed service providers (MSPs) to automatically discover and inventory all enterprise-connected smartphones, track utilization, identify threats and eliminate wasted spend. This comprehensive approach to mobility management is what IT organizations need to maximize the productivity of their cross-platform mobile workforce, while optimizing the balance of service quality, cost and risk.

"With the invasion of employee-owned smartphones running on multiple mobile platforms, organizations are experiencing a new set of mobile management, compliance and cost challenges," stated Alan Snyder, CEO, BoxTone. "Increasingly, BoxTone's more than 230 customers worldwide had been asking us to extend our best-in-class BlackBerry platform management solution to accommodate a variety of leading smartphones. Today we responded, with BoxTone v5.0."

Aberdeen's September 2009 research report "Mobility Management to Drive Compliance for Employee-Liable Smartphones and Lower TCO" noted that "many IT departments feel compelled to accommodate the influx of employee-liable devices because they must find some way to satisfy the insatiable hunger for mobility among users with organizational mandates to reduce capital expenditures." While cost savings can be had by shifting device procurement and data plan payment responsibilities from the enterprise to the employee, adding significant numbers of enterprise-enabled smartphones brings unique risks and challenges.

"The more smartphones connect to an enterprise, the higher the risk for lost or stolen sensitive information, and the potential for greater IT support costs," stated Snyder. "With enterprise-enabled smartphones expected to jump from 10-15 percent today to 70-80 percent by 2012, those risks and costs are set to significantly increase. Enterprises that fail to proactively address this challenge will be run over by the chaos, costs and complexity of mobile diversity."

BoxTone v5.0 starts by proactively discovering, in real-time, more than 40 critical mobile user data points including smartphone model, smartphone ID, ownership model (employee-liable versus corporate-liable), supporting infrastructure (Mobile Server, Mail Server and wireless carrier), synchronization history and whether a smartphone is BlackBerry Enterprise Server-attached or ActiveSync-attached.

Armed with full visibility to its enterprise-connected smartphones, the software's expanded Compliance Management capabilities take over tracking and auditing of all corporate-liable and employee-liable smartphones and user activity. Benefits include the ability to rapidly identify security policy violations or threats " such as rogue or unsecured smartphones " and to confirm devices are wiped before substantial financial loss or regulatory actions ensue or IT credibility is impaired.

In addition, BoxTone v5.0's enhanced Expense Management capabilities deliver visibility into real-time utilization " including activity before, during or after business hours or on weekends "and compute the actual value of off-hours mobile productivity gains in real financial terms. The software also enables enterprises to identify smartphone underutilization, roaming and waste, in order to adjust employees' wireless data plans or terminate a smartphone to lower the mobility total cost of ownership (TCO). By enabling an organization to both track real productivity gains and identify real cost savings for each mobile platform and ownership model, BoxTone v5.0 helps to optimize mobile spend, improve mobility planning and quantify mobility return on investment (ROI).

With its unique user-level approach to mobility management built on patented SmartMP technology, BoxTone's latest software addresses today's most pressing cross-platform, multi-smartphone mobility management challenges with the flexibility and scalability to address future needs.

"BoxTone v5.0 is just the latest step in BoxTone's commitment to providing innovative mobility management solutions for the smartphones and platforms that matter most to our customers. Most recently, we extended our User Self-Service Web portal to help enterprises maximize their investment in BlackBerry, enabling end users to easily check from a standard browser the real-time health of their end-to-end mobile service and, via simple instructions, resolve issues and take action 7 x 24, without having to call IT," concluded Snyder.

IT organizations interested in learning about how BoxTone v5.0 combined with industry best practices can help them to better manage mobile diversity should register now for the Webinar, "Managing the Risks: Drive Compliance of Employee-Owned Mobile Devices While Lowering TCO," on October 22 at 2:00 PM EDT. All attendees will also receive Aberdeen's latest research report on mobility management.

BoxTone 5.0 is available now for purchase by enterprises, governmental entities and MSPs. There are licensing packages to fit most needs and budgets, including starter packages for smaller organizations. For a price quote, call BoxTone at +1 410-910-3344.

About BoxTone

BoxTone software is trusted by more than 230 of the world's leading enterprises and government agencies, including 70 in the Global 2000, to manage, monitor and support multiple mobile platforms, including the BlackBerry, iPhone, Palm Pre and Windows Mobile platforms. Built on patented SmartMP(TM) technology and conforming to industry standard ITIL best practices, BoxTone's modular platform and role-specific consoles enable IT and services organizations to proactively improve mobile performance, reduce support costs and accommodate rapid smartphone growth, all while guaranteeing the high quality of service that mobile users demand. Learn more from the expert in mobile user management at www.boxtone.com, or call 1 410-910-3344.