WIRELESS AND MOBILE NEWS

AT&T  announced that the Microsoft System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 (MDM) is now available to AT&T business customers who use smartphones running Windows Mobile 6.1.

AT&T also announced today the availability of the MDM Early Adopter QuickStart Program that was developed cooperatively by AT&T and Enterprise Mobile and is an exclusive offering designed to assist AT&T customers with deploying the Microsoft mobility solution.  <>

Mobile Device Manager is an enterprise-grade mobile device management solution that also provides security, mobile Virtual Private Network (VPN) and software distribution for Windows Mobile devices. Mobile Device Manager is natively supported by the latest version of the Windows Mobile operating system, Windows Mobile 6.1. Windows Mobile 6.1 is now available for free download to AT&T Tilt and MOTO Q Global smartphones from AT&T, which has the broadest portfolio of Windows Mobile devices of any U.S. carrier. Additional new smartphones launched by AT&T later this year will feature Windows Mobile 6.1 with support for Mobile Device Manager. With Mobile Device Manager, AT&T customers using Windows Mobile 6.1 smartphones now have secured access to applications, files, corporate data and other information that is located on the corporate network and previously inaccessible without a secure VPN connection. For example, customers can now access information such as price sheets, marketing collateral and legal documents on the corporate network -- items that were often previously available only through PCs or laptops.  <>

Mobile Device Manager also gives the corporate information technology (IT) departments of AT&T customers that use Microsoft software's new security and management tools that work well with existing infrastructure investments, such as Active Directory and SQL Server. Mobile Device Manager's tight integration into Active Directory extends group policy management capabilities to Windows Mobile smartphones. This integration allows IT managers to manage smartphones similar to the way they manage desktop computers, making them first-class citizens on the corporate network.  <>

The MDM Early Adopter QuickStart Program enables enterprises to try Mobile Device Manager's unique abilities to manage mobile devices, define access rights, provide additional security features for data transmissions, coordinate over-the-air software updates and protect the corporate network from unauthorized access. Using the program, customers can define their mobility management and security requirements and build a "test" scenario as well as deploy a proof of concept for evaluating and testing within their environment.  

<>Microsoft System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 is available through Microsoft resellers. The MDM Early Adopter QuickStart Program is available through a co-sale arrangement between AT&T and Enterprise Mobile.