"What network administrators desperately need is a consistent management platform capable of addressing the idiosyncrasies of each mobile platform.
It is only recently, however, that such a platform seems to be even close to realisation.
One major step in this direction came when HP recently bought mobility management vendor Bitfone... Bitfone's Enterprise Mobility Suite currently provides remote management of around two dozen devices, with the majority being Windows Mobile-based and just four models -- the Nokia E61, E62, E70 and 9500 -- based on Symbian OS.
Whether HP will expand the device compatibility of EMS remains to be seen, but its interest in Bitfone reflects the growing imperative for mobile devices to be brought into the fold. Other standalone tools -- such as BlackBerry management tools from BoxTone, multi-platform solutions like Sybase's Afaria and InnoPath's iMDM Device Suite -- so far don't integrate tightly with mainstream enterprise platforms."
