Apple @ Work is solely dropped at you by Mosyle, the one Apple Unified Platform. Mosyle is the one answer that integrates in a single professional-grade platform all of the options essential to seamlessly and mechanically deploy, handle & defend Apple gadgets at work. Over 45,000 organizations belief Mosyle to make tens of millions of Apple gadgets work-ready with no effort and at an inexpensive price. Request your EXTENDED TRIAL right now and perceive why Mosyle is all the things it’s worthwhile to work with Apple.
Earlier than the iPad, Apple noticed quite a lot of success in Ok-12, but it surely was primarily round cart-based studying with MacBooks. Whereas a number of faculties had 1:1 applications, the iPad (and its $499 value level) kickstarted the mobility revolution. The iPad was a success with college students and lecturers alike, however managing iPads at scale was, to place it mildly, a logistical nightmare for IT groups.
About Apple @ Work: Bradley Chambers managed an enterprise IT community from 2009 to 2021. Via his expertise deploying and managing firewalls, switches, a cell system administration system, enterprise grade Wi-Fi, 1000s of Macs, and 1000s of iPads, Bradley will spotlight methods through which Apple IT managers deploy Apple gadgets, construct networks to help them, practice customers, tales from the trenches of IT administration, and methods Apple might enhance its merchandise for IT departments.
Apple’s system administration infrastructure was on the coronary heart of this early chaos. In some methods, Apple didn’t know what to construct till they noticed how the gadgets can be used. Till then, the iPhone was rising, but it surely was nonetheless in its early days. The App Retailer was nonetheless an toddler as effectively. In 2011, Apple launched the Quantity Buy Program (VPP) to assist faculties buy and distribute apps in bulk. On paper (pun supposed), it seemed like a game-changer. In follow, it was solely scalable for smaller deployments.
The method for putting in apps was clunky, requiring IT groups to distribute codes from a spreadsheet to load them onto gadgets. You would technically purchase one copy of an app from iTunes and cargo it on a whole lot of gadgets. Sure, we we have been syncing gadgets via iTunes in bulk. Sure, it’s as painful because it sounds. Upgrading iOS was an absolute nightmare and took days, if not weeks. Bear in mind, on the time, there have been no over-the-air updates.
Apple took one other step ahead in 2012 with the discharge of Apple Configurator. This macOS app allowed IT directors to configure a number of iPads concurrently, streamlining duties like putting in apps, setting restrictions, and managing profiles. We have been nonetheless shopping for apps in bulk from the VPP retailer, however then you definitely’d take the primary code to redeem the app from iTunes after which load the app and the spreadsheet into Apple Configurator. Sure, it’s as clunky because it sounds. In truth, I needed to file quite a few help tickets as among the purchases marked the primary code as redeemed in order that it couldn’t be used.
Whereas it wasn’t a super answer for large-scale deployments in comparison with what now we have right now, Apple Configurator was a lifeline for smaller faculties or one-off configurations. It was a lot quicker to setup gadgets in bulk in comparison with the iTunes method.
The subsequent steps
This time interval is when Apple had a choice to make: rebuild all the things for a world the place everyone seems to be utilizing an Apple system always or proceed on the present path. Recognizing the necessity for a stronger answer, Apple spent the following a number of years bettering its method to system administration from the bottom up. In 2014, they launched the System Enrollment Program (DEP), a serious foundational step ahead. DEP allowed faculties and companies to automate the setup of iPads and Macs, making certain they have been enrolled in a tool administration answer straight out of the field based mostly on the serial quantity.
Over the following few years, Apple beefed up its enterprise instruments with some low-hanging fruit, corresponding to Managed ‘Open In,’ new macOS system administration instructions, Consumer Enrollment, and expanded configuration profile settings.
By 2018, Apple had actually outlined its imaginative and prescient for system administration with the launch of Apple Faculty Supervisor and Apple Enterprise Supervisor. This platform unified the options of VPP and DEP, making a single interface that made managing gadgets, apps, and Apple IDs a lot easier. It additionally tackled a big ache level for IT groups: licensing. Apple Faculty Supervisor let directors assign, revoke, and reassign app licenses over the air based mostly on the gadgets, fixing the complications that got here with VPP’s early implementation. Early OTA app licenses have been tied to Apple/iTunes IDs, which have been tough to create in bulk for college kids/lecturers/workers. There have been no Managed Apple Accounts right now.
Zero contact and past
By the last decade’s finish, Apple had overhauled solely its system administration instruments in flight. What had as soon as been a serious frustration for IT groups turned an environment friendly and dependable system. Apple Faculty Supervisor—and its counterpart, Apple Enterprise Supervisor—grew into completely important platforms for managing gadgets in faculties and within the enterprise.
Zero-touch deployments have been simple to configure and roll out. Whereas there was some technical debt across the underlying code (that Apple largely addressed with Declarative System Administration), the entire recognized issues have been solved. Right now, I instructed numerous folks that the entire “hacks” round managing and deploying Apple gadgets at scale had largely been solved. There was a recognized finest path for all the things.
You need to give Apple’s enterprise product and engineering groups quite a lot of credit score for each iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and Mac offered right now. With out the actually tedious work they did within the 2010s, Apple’s enterprise income development wouldn’t have been attainable.
Apple @ Work is solely dropped at you by Mosyle, the one Apple Unified Platform. Mosyle is the one answer that integrates in a single professional-grade platform all of the options essential to seamlessly and mechanically deploy, handle & defend Apple gadgets at work. Over 45,000 organizations belief Mosyle to make tens of millions of Apple gadgets work-ready with no effort and at an inexpensive price. Request your EXTENDED TRIAL right now and perceive why Mosyle is all the things it’s worthwhile to work with Apple.
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