System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 Available for Volume Licensees

Well now, I don't remember this getting announced officially at the CTIA keynote. According to Jason Langridge Microsoft System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 is now available for the big enterprise shops that will want it most. MSCMDM (we pronounce it “Misckumdum) is the permission-managin', RIM-killin', rootin-tootin' server software that adds most of the device management features necessary to make Windows Mobile viably competitive to companies with large bases of devices and even larger needs for securing them. To wit:

• Self-enrollment - users can simply log into the MSCMDM server from their new device for full set up
• Full management including info on device status, history, lists of blocked devices, pending enrollments, device wipes and wipe history, and more
• Full permissions and policy management via the exact same interface that Exchange admins use to administer the desktops on their networks.
• Ability to pre-configure ”software packages“ that can get pushed out to devices
• Full mobile VPN and ability to force use of strong passwords, remotely force devices to use encryption (both for phone data and expansion card).

Yeah, it does a lot for you crazy enterprise folks. It was announced back in October and we weren't expecting availability until this summer. Two reasons for that: 1) that's what Microsoft told us, and 2) it requires Windows Mobile 6.1.

So 6.1 isn't out on devices yet (though, get this, you can get a device emulator for testing right now), but since MSCMDM is a relatively hefty hunk o' server software, it makes perfect sense that Microsoft would be trying to get corporate customers to start thinking about installing it. If you're thinking about it, you'll want to take a look at Jason's to-read list