Apple's iPhone is now supported by an enterprise-grade management system that allows administrators to configure key settings for staff using the devices.

Kace, a firm specialising in systems management appliances, has added iPhone support to its KBOX family of products. This enables IT departments to centrally configure iPhones to access company infrastructure such as the VPN and Wi-Fi access points, according to the firm.

"With the iPhone's excellent web browser, people are going to be using it to access corporate applications," said Daniel Power, sales director for Kace in EMEA. The solution is currently in beta, with full support expected by the end of September.

KBOX support for the iPhone is client-less, according to Power, so does not require a software agent to be deployed to a company's iPhone devices. Instead, administrators create a configuration file and use KBOX to push it out to users via email or put it on an intranet page for users to find. The system can then track which users have downloaded the configuration file and generate a report.

While this falls short of the capabilities offered by some mobile management tools, such as RIM's BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), Power claimed that Kace's iPhone support "is as broad as anyone else's at the moment."

Kace is a relatively young company that is seeking to take-on the established management tool vendors, according to Power.

"The traditional vendors are not innovating, and their products are becoming too big and expensive to deploy. Kace decided to deliver management through an appliance that removes the need for complex setup and expensive consultants," he said.

The KBOX family of products is aimed chiefly at small-to-medium enterprises, and can be used to manage systems running Windows, Linux, Mac OS X and Solaris. Prices start at £5,000 for the appliance and the first 100 managed devices. Additional devices cost £16 each for the next 500.