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Blue Dot Focuses on Application Management in upcoming mCORE!® Command Center release!
This Mobile Minute introduces the new 'Application Management' focus of the mCORE!® Command Center v7.2 release and describes how Blue Dot's response to customer feedback and internal research has resulted in a product that departs from the traditional hardware focus of device management products.
With the release of the mCORE!® Command Center in September 2007, Blue Dot added mobile device monitoring, management and support capabilities to the already comprehensive mNOW!® Mobile Framework 2008. Over the past year, Blue Dot has worked closely with several key customers and business partners to enhance and refine the Command Center and to provide even better support of critical administrative tasks for remote device communities.
The upcoming v7.2 release of the Command Center takes this pursuit of device management excellence further by introducing a new paradigm for managing applications and application updates. A new 'Applications' node on the Device Management module replaces the Deployment Package Builder and provides several new features improving usability, efficiency and oversight for managing applications and application updates for remote devices.
Some of these new features are summarized below:
- The 'Applications' node supports the creation of custom Application Folders
analogous to Device Groups.
- New applications can be added to any Application Folder by simply dragging and dropping the corresponding installer file (MSI for Win32, CAB for Windows Mobile) on the Work Area for the currently selected Application Folder. The Command Center inspects the installer and automatically retrieves and displays the relevant information (e.g. application name, version, Product Code, etc.) pertaining to the application.
- A comprehensive list of applications are automatically retrieved from every managed device and compared against the list of known applications. Unknown applications are automatically added to the 'Device Originated' Application Group and, in most cases, can be managed just like other applications.
- Applications can consist of multiple installers and multiple versions. A specific version can be selected as the default for any Application Group, and this default can be overridden in any Device Group. This provides maximum flexibility for rolling out (or rolling back) versions of applications across the enterprise.
- Applications can be 'pinned' to devices so that they stay on a device whether the containing Device Group has that application or not.
- Device Groups can contain applications for both Win32 and Windows Mobile devices. The Command Center automatically ensures that the appropriate applications are deployed to the appropriate devices.
- Device Commands (e.g. Move to New Environment, Soft Reset, Send Alert) can be sent to individual devices or to all devices within a Device Group.
- Previously available features such as application deployment scheduling, monitoring of application installation status and automatic provision of newly added (or moved) devices will continue to be supported in the v7.2 release.
With the v7.2 release, Blue Dot has leveraged the feedback from its customers to significantly enhance the Command Center by providing increasingly powerful device and application management capabilities in an efficient and intuitive manner.
Please contact Blue Dot at 866.303.8324 x127 for a free demo of the mCORE!® Command Center.
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