Who Was The Biggest Winner In IBM/Apple Deal? It's Not Who You Think

Posted by Bob Garst - Owner (technical perspective) on Wed,Sep 02, 2015 @ 09:00 AM

4_3 

August 05, 2015 was a interesting day in the world of technology.

That’s when IBM announced that it would sell and support Apple Macintosh computers in the Enterprise.  This marked a milestone in the Apple/IBM partnership in that IBM was moving beyond it’s previously announced support of Apple’s iOS mobile devices and additionally endorsing and supporting the Apple Macintosh computer platform as well.

But arguably somewhat lost in that announcement was the fact that IBM chose solutions from JAMF Software as the key software component for these new services.  By incorporating the Casper Suite from JAMF Software, IBM will be able to optimally deploy, secure as well as manage these Apple Macintosh devices for their enterprise clients.

Needless to say, this announcement was a huge testament to JAMF Software and it’s industry-leading products by a long-time leader in enterprise IT management:  IBM.  But we don’t feel that the positive effects of this IBM endorsement will remain only within the realm of enterprise.  With the impending success of this IBM/JAMF Software partnership – fueled by the Apple/IBM alliance – it will be interesting to see the positive “trickle-down” effect of greater Macintosh adoption into companies of all sizes. 

Clearly any such “snowball” effect would benefit both Apple, Inc. and JAMF Software.  But, in turn, this growth would also potentially open new doors for other traditional Apple and JAMF Software IT consulting partners to offer their expertise to a greater number of companies.

Who JAMF Is and What They Do?

JAMF Software is a Minneapolis based company that helps commercial, education, and government organizations succeed with the Apple platform.

JAMF Software began by creating software to help IT administrators manage the Apple Macintosh platform and OS X operating system as early as 2002. With deep integration into OS X, JAMF Software’s Casper Suite quickly became the de-facto leader in all aspects of Macintosh management.

Here's a blast from the past: the 2002 Macintosh for all you nostalgic Mac lovers out there.

image-of-2002-macintosh-computer

 

Then in 2007, with the advent of Apple’s revolutionary iPhone and iOS operating system, JAMF Software was quick to additionally add iOS mobile management as a part of its offering.  Today, incorporating both OS X and iOS based management into JAMF Software’s Casper Suite has made JAMF Software the expert in the overall management of Apple and Apple related technologies and software.

To be clear, there are a literal plethora of software companies claiming to offer solutions for what has long been termed “Mobile Device Management” or MDM.

NOTE:  In 2014, The Gartner Group introduced the term “Enterprise Mobility Management” or EMM as they believed that it more appropriately reflected the fact that MDM software had moved well beyond management of just the device itself.

But as the words “mobile” and “mobility” imply, these EMM solutions were intended for modern-day mobile operating systems.  Along with iOS from Apple, these would include the Android OS from Google as well as Windows Mobile from Microsoft.

Over time, some clients started requesting that EMM software be adapted to also help manage corporate laptop computers.  (NOTE:  We’ll expand on this in a later post).  Again, however, the challenge remained that EMM solutions were simply not architected for computer operating systems. 

Microsoft Corp. and Apple, Inc. – makers of the top two computer OS’s – along with the major EMM vendors have made some progress in this area.  However, the fact remains that modern-day EMM software support of Macintosh and Windows-based computer platforms remains limited at best.

On the other hand, for Macintosh management, JAMF Software’s Casper Suite enjoys a long history dating back to 2002 and, more importantly, was specifically architected for the Macintosh OS computer operating system.  This serves to set the Casper Suite apart from all other solutions claiming to manage Apple Macintosh. 

Put simply, JAMF Software has no equal in the arena of deploying, securing, and managing the Apple Macintosh platform. <CLICK TO TWEET>

This is why BFA Technologies, Inc. has closely partnered with JAMF Software.

 

managing-apple-devices-with-jamf-software

 

Conclusion

IBM’s adoption of the Casper Suite was a huge milestone in the short history of JAMF Software.  But it’s clear that this selection by IBM was made based on JAMF Software’s dedication to Apple and its best-of-breed solutions for Apple’s iOS mobile OS as well as Macintosh OS X-based computer platforms.

Although perhaps overlooked in the series of announcements from this new Apple/IBM alliance, over time, we believe that JAMF Software will emerge from its relative quiet greatness into its well-deserved spotlight as a premier industry player.