Tivoli gives helping hand to Palm Computing platform

Tivoli Systems has extended its IT management capability to handheld devices with the introduction of its new product, Tivoli Device Manager, for the Palm Computing platform.

Tivoli Systems has extended its IT management capability to hand-held devices with the introduction of its new product, Tivoli Device Manager, for the Palm Computing platform.

Tivoli introduced products last year for other hand-held devices, such as automated cash machines and point-of-sale terminals, under its Tivoli Manager for Retail.

Last week, Tivoli expanded on these inroads by announcing the launch of its handheld division in Rome.

Designed to meet the needs of firms using Palm products for everything from simple applications such as address books and email to more complex applications such as sales tracking, said Randy Bustos, director of worldwide sales for internet and pervasive management technologies at Tivoli. "There is a tremendous management opportunity for Tivoli. Many of our customers that have deployed Tivoli to manage IT assets have said it would be nice to be able to manage the devices."

The Palm management technology can be seamlessly incorporated into the same technology used for IT management, Bustos claimed.

The Device Manager is listed at $31 (£19) per client. However, Bustos said GartnerGroup estimates that it costs enterprises $2,600 per user per year to manage handheld devices.

The usefulness of the product far outweighs any price concerns, said Pedro Fernandez, vice-president of strategic initiatives at PSW Technologies, a firm using the beta version of Tivoli's Device Manager.

PSW, which has 300 users, needs the technology to transfer information such as billing rates and address books from palmtops to desktops.

"The biggest challenge is tracking down information about applications people use on their desktops. Phone books are not that trivial when you think about who has done what and where. What does it mean to us as a company? We are growing at a rate of 50 per cent a year," Fernandez said.

"The real challenge is trying to manage the different systems. It is a question of scalability. By using the tool, it lets us spend the time on the right activities rather than chasing 300 phone books and asking what they have on their desktops."