iAnywhere Solutions, Inc., is introducing Afaria 5.3. The latest version of the company's frontline management and security solution includes enhanced support for wireless device platforms, adds significant security features for handhelds and converged devices, and improves the usability of the product's patch management capabilities.

In addition, a new integration component extends Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 management capabilities to a wide range of mobile operating systems including Windows Mobile-based Smartphone, RIM BlackBerry, Symbian and Palm, allowing enterprise-wide device management from a single console.

According to Gartner, a leading provider of research and analysis on the global information technology industry, smartphones and other popular wireless converged devices are the fastest growing segments of the mobile terminal market with sales expected to exceed 150 million units in 2008.

New features in Afaria 5.3 include added support for the newest version of mobile operating systems, including Windows Mobile 5 for Smartphone, Pocket PC and Pocket PC Phone, Symbian 7.0 with the UIQ and Series 80 shells, and ARM Thumb Processor devices.

With this new version administrators can notify a device or group of devices to connect for critical updates. Notification retries are automatically made when the initial notification is not successful.

The ability to centrally control device settings has been expanded to enable Microsoft ActiveSync configuration sessions, set up email accounts and rules, configure GPRS radio settings, and control which applications are allowed to run on mobile devices. New settings can be rapidly supported via XML-based configuration definitions.

The Afaria Security Manager improves end-user acceptance and usability of security settings with advanced security lock-down capabilities for administrators. The software allows power-on password management, data-on-device encryption and device lockdown.