Your IT workers likely have in-place to remotely control a PC, even from a smartphone. And different servers have their own management tools that work with smartphones. But offers a remote-management tool that centralizes everything, letting your IT staff control more than 500 tasks across dozens of different server types.

Rove Mobile Admin works as a client/server combination. On the client side, IT workers access tools through , Windows Mobile, and Symbian S60 smartphones, or a generic web interface for iPhones and other devices. They'll also install Mobile Admin on a Windows Server to communicate with those clients.

Mobile Admin lets IT workers respond to monitoring systems, including those from BMC, System Center, and Nagios. The tool also interfaces with many platforms, including Citrix, Lotus Domino, Novell, Windows, and UNIX/Linux. And many services are supported, connecting to SQL Server, VMware installations, BlackBerry Enterprise Server, .

From a smartphone, your IT staff could edit DHCP IP reservations, start a backup, remotely wipe systems, set IT policies for a user's BlackBerry, and handle other tasks. They'll be able to control urgent, time-sensitive issues or just have another, potentially more convenient way to work.

The connection is encrypted to the abilities of the client device; BlackBerry Server allows those handhelds to encrypt with TDES or AES, for example. Other devices encrypt with the VPN connection, while all can connect with HTTPS/TLS. And various authentication protocols--including RSA SecurID--help protect from intrusion.