Quest Software Makes Unified Endpoint Management Play -

The advent of mobile technology has made life easier for IT professionals in many ways. Remote management and system alerts are just a few of the tools that make the job less strenuous. But mobile devices can also pose a threat to business.

To that end, Quest Software today announced a new addition to its KACE division, launching KACE Cloud Mobile Device Manager and updating its KACE Systems Management Appliance (SMA).

The cloud-hosted offering is meant to help IT administrators manage, inventory, and secure mobile devices accessing the network, simplifying password and location management, device enrollment and provisioning, as well as making it easier to erase and reset mobile endpoints from anywhere. the company says.

KACE SMA can also be accessed through the new KACE GO Mobile App, which works for Android or iOS.

All of these tools come together to allow IT admins increased visibility over devices accessing the corporate network, the company asserts. There are a number of key components, including faster implementation, enrollment, and provisioning that allows admins to set up a new device in a matter of hours.

IT professionals will also have extended control over devices, allowing them to inventory, lock, unlock, erase, reset passwords, or reset to factory settings remotely. User lists can be filtered by device attributes or user attributes to help manage multi-device users.

Quest was previously owned by Dell, but the larger company sold off the IT Management business last year to Francisco Partners and Elliott Management. Vertafore and Attachmate veteran Jeff Hawn was named CEO at the time of the sale, with the company announcing it would focus on expanding its IT and cloud management portfolio solutions. The KACE endpoint systems management suite was listed as one of its core focus areas at the time.

At the time of the sale, sources said the company was looking at MSP-centric opportunities, trying to find its way into the next generation IT monitoring and management tool sector, ChannelE2E reported at the time.

More recently, the company has evangelized Quest Partner Circle -- a multi-level program that offers committed Quest partners the chance to earn rewards based on a partner's level of commitment. It also includes free, online instruction as well as high-value, low-cost courses and certifications, the company claims.

Bringing together traditional endpoint management and mobile device management has become a cause celebre in the IT world, earning the moniker Unified Endpoint Management (UEM). Dell itself recently integrated its desktop and mobile management tools for a UEM play.