Oct/Nov 2007

The latest version 1.7 of the mprodigy mobile management suite from B2M Solutions ushers in a new range of capabilities that have been designed to appeal to a more demanding logistics market, the company says.

Among key features is one called Device Kiosk, which allows users who want to run 'line of business' applications to restrict or 'lock down' access to applications and settings on the devices. They can for instance specify whether a user can switch between different applications, turn different networks on/off, and control the GPRS wireless data connection (available on phone edition devices).

mprodigy 1.7 also has a range of new filtering and search facilities to make it far easier to scale up a mobile operation. The device list filters can be defined to control which devices are displayed, working on the basis of cues such as location, group, last seen location, device manufacturer and device type.

Searching for devices can be based on asset tag, serial number or device label, and any of the last ten devices to be viewed can easily be found within the sticky devices list.

 

The latest version is said to support many new types of ruggedised and non-ruggedised device, including Motorola (Symbol) and Intermec handhelds and devices from new manufacturers that are now appearing in the European market such as Mobile Compia.

According to managing director Julie Purves: 'The logistics industry is expanding from traditional line of business applications like proof of delivery to more general usage such as job scheduling, route planning and optimisation.' She says the new software has been developed with this in mind.