Oct. 19--Watch out, BlackBerry. The iPhone is creeping into the workplace -- and that's a good thing for BoxTone.

The Columbia-based software firm has built a growing business on helping corporations monitor their employees' use of BlackBerry smart phones over the past four years. But the Apple iPhone has been a runaway hit among consumers, who are increasingly using these smart phones on the job -- and putting pressure on their corporate I.T. departments to support the devices.

Up to one-fifth of BoxTone's 240 corporate customers across the country -- many with thousands of BlackBerrys already in the hands of their workers -- are now interested in adding support for other types of smart phones, including iPhone, Palm Pre and Windows Mobile phones, BoxTone officials said. That's why Boxtone announced Monday that they've upgraded their software offerings to support not just BlackBerrys, but iPhone and most other smart phones on the market.

"The reason we expanded to iPhone and Palm Pre? Our large enterprise partners have said, 'We can no longer enforce corporate standardization. We're having to say yes to personal devices,'" said Brian Reed, BoxTone's chief marketing officer, in a recent interview. "I think what's happened is that people have figured out the value to their life of being continuously connected. People have figured out that if I have this smart phone, I can stay better connected with my wife, my kids, my customers."

Corporate I.T. departments have typically dictated to employees which devices would be corporate-issued and allowed on the network. But technology leaders at companies now are feeling pressured to support the connectivity of employees' various personal devices. Companies are torn between wanting to limit the different types of devices on their networks, mainly for security reasons, while giving employees access with their personal device, which can be a money-saver for the company.

"The users are placing the demand on choosing what device they want to use," Reed said. "You've got [corporate] I.T. wondering how they're going to support you."

Ted Schadler, a technology analyst with Forrester Research, said the mobile device market remains chaotic, with different companies pushing their own operating systems and platforms -- similar to the early stages of the personal computer market in the 1970s and 1980s.

"The question for IT becomes, how do I support all these personal mobile devices? And the answer is with a lot of trepidation," Schadler said. "It's this bottom up phenomenon.