Companies Form Alliance for Macs in the Enterprise
Companies Form Alliance for Macs in the Enterprise
by , 11:30 AM EDT, June 30th, 2008
Atempo, Centrify, Group Logic, LANrev and Parallels announced on Monday that they have banded together to help facilitate the acceptance of the Mac in the enterprise business world. The Enterprise Desktop Alliance will offer solutions that make it easier to deploy Macs in a Windows-dominated work environment, and will also offer information that helps validate the Mac in the workplace.
The Enterprise Desktop Alliance plans to offer a suite of tools that let IT departments maintain uniform client configuration, enforce the same security controls, make the same sharepoints and print queues available, deliver the same disaster recovery, and enforce the same compliance policies for both Mac OS X and Windows-based workstations.
Atempo will be offering solutions for Enterprise Data Protection, Centrify will offer identity and access management, Group Logic will offer file and print services, LANrev will offer systems lifecycle management solutions, and Parallels will offer Virtualization options.
The organization is also offering a series of white papers, seminars and Webcasts with information about integrating Macs into Windows business environments. Additional information about the events is available at the EDA Web site.
Observer Comments
Mon Jun 30, 2008 11:58 am Subject: Sounds good, but...
As an office drone myself, I'm all for something that increases Macs in the enterprise, but mark my words: Some Windows zealot will point to the existence of this organization as "proof" that Macs are hard to integrate into the workplace. "You need a whole consortium just to get them to work!"
That's BS, of course, but that doesn't mean it won't be said.
Mon Jun 30, 2008 12:35 pm Subject: Doing the job for Apple
These guys seem to be doing the job that Apple should do. It is most likely self-serving, though, as they are all selling Mac-oriented, enterprise-level products.
In the end, it may provide an easy pitch for low- or mid-level, Mac-friendly IT managers to argue for Mac deployment. Oftentimes, in these situations, the most difficult part is not sweet-talking some senior IT suit (or CIO) into accepting an idea about a migration to Macs; it is preparation of a formalised proposal with actual solutions for standard enterprise IT problems and tasks.
As for the windows zealot, it doesn't even require an argument. The consortium offers a turn-key solution, so integration is a no-brainer.
Mon Jun 30, 2008 12:39 pm Subject: For that matter
Quotejimothy wrote:
...Some Windows zealot will point to the existence of this organization as "proof" that Macs are hard to integrate into the workplace. "You need a whole consortium just to get them to work!";
Do you mean a consortium to get the Macs to work or a consortium to get the Windows zealots to work?
I know what you mean and in the past I fought IT for the right to use my Apple II and later my Mac. I was lucky in that my supervisor backed me and we would both open up on the nerds when they would come slithering in the office.
It's a daily struggle here where I work: IT wants everyone to have the same setup on every desk. (Understandable, but not everyone does the same job, you know!) And management sees the Mac as just another "brand" of computer like Dell or HP, so they really don't get why the "Apples" are better.
So I'm all for any informational ammo I can use to keep the Macs we have, let alone adding any new ones.
The sole reason that many large businesses don't use Macs for their information workers is that there is only ONE supplier for hardware.
Who wants to be held hostage by one hardware supplier? Not me! If Dell can't deliver, I can always go to HP or any other number of "PC" suppliers.
Besides that, why overpay for Apple hardware when you're still going to need a Windows license to run all of those custom applications that will _never_ be ported to the Mac?
QuoteGuest wrote:
Apple is a brand, like Dell, or HP. You could take a Dell and run mac OS on it.
Not legally, mind you.
But this does bring up an interesting distinction. Are we talking about bringing Apple computers into enterprise, or the Mac OS into enterprise? There is a big difference.
Mon Jun 30, 2008 4:34 pm Subject: Locked in?
Mon Jun 30, 2008 6:43 pm Subject: ONE supplier
Tue Jul 01, 2008 11:28 am Subject: Ask, and ye might receive
Thu Jul 03, 2008 8:11 am Subject: and.. now Integrate enterprise windows apps with the Mac
It's OK to run windows apps on a Mac but copy and paste is typically the only way to integrate applications in each of the bubbles.
OpenSpan (www.openspan.com) creates API's into windows desktop applications on the windows side, then exposes those API's as web services and the MAC can integrate the windows applications in real-time as well...
I swtiched from PC to MAC 2 months ago after being with PC's since forever!! I'll never go back but love to run PC software in the virtualized bubble.
Thu Jul 03, 2008 9:44 am Subject:
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