New Trick: Managing Windows Servers Remotely With PDAs

Avocent, using technology acquired two years ago, has introduced a new product line to allow PDA users to manage Windows servers from afar.

SonicAdmin QR and SonicAdmin Pro come with different levels of features and functions, but both allow IT professionals to remotely manage any Windows server on a network, says Kyle Peterson, director of marketing for Avocent. The product line was developed in part using technology from the September 2004 acquisition of Sonic Mobility.

The software runs on a BlackBerry or any Windows Mobile 5-based device. Users of SonicAdmin QR can access servers by using their Active Directory profile and can view server statistics, shut down and reboot servers, view event logs, view and manage processes, manage user accounts, and run quick commands.

To that feature lineup, SonicAdmin Pro adds Windows services management, file explorer, file search, file and folder properties, file editor, and a command line interface. Exchange Server management extensions include viewing queue properties as well as freezing and unfreezing queues and forcing connection commands. Active Directory management adds user group management and mailbox properties.

Peterson sees a huge market for a PDA-enabled management tool.There are around 40 million Windows servers in the market and some 2.9 million Windows administrators, he says. "Our estimation is that only a few thousand are using anything like this technology."

Annual renewable licenses are $99 per user for SonicAdmin QR and $399 per user for SonicAdmin PRO.