Apple @ Work is solely delivered to 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 hundreds of thousands of Apple gadgets work-ready with no effort and at an inexpensive price. Request your EXTENDED TRIAL immediately and perceive why Mosyle is all the things you must work with Apple.
Earlier than the iPad, Apple noticed numerous success in Okay-12, however it was primarily round cart-based studying with MacBooks. Whereas a number of colleges had 1:1 applications, the iPad (and its $499 value level) kickstarted the mobility revolution. The iPad was successful 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. By way of his expertise deploying and managing firewalls, switches, a cellular system administration system, enterprise grade Wi-Fi, 1000s of Macs, and 1000s of iPads, Bradley will spotlight methods during which Apple IT managers deploy Apple gadgets, construct networks to help them, practice customers, tales from the trenches of IT administration, and methods Apple may 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, however it 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 colleges buy and distribute apps in bulk. On paper (pun meant), it appeared like a game-changer. In apply, 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. Keep 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 you then’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 actual fact, 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 we have now immediately, Apple Configurator was a lifeline for smaller colleges or one-off configurations. It was a lot sooner to setup gadgets in bulk in comparison with the iTunes strategy.
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 strategy to system administration from the bottom up. In 2014, they launched the Machine Enrollment Program (DEP), a serious foundational step ahead. DEP allowed colleges 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 primarily based 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 College 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 less complicated. It additionally tackled a major ache level for IT groups: licensing. Apple College Supervisor let directors assign, revoke, and reassign app licenses over the air primarily based 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 students/lecturers/staff. There have been no Managed Apple Accounts right now.
Zero contact and past
By the last decade’s finish, Apple had overhauled fully 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 College Supervisor—and its counterpart, Apple Enterprise Supervisor—grew into completely vital platforms for managing gadgets in colleges 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 Machine 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 greatest path for all the things.
It’s important to give Apple’s enterprise product and engineering groups numerous credit score for each iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and Mac offered immediately. With out the actually tedious work they did within the 2010s, Apple’s enterprise income progress wouldn’t have been potential.
Apple @ Work is solely delivered to 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 hundreds of thousands of Apple gadgets work-ready with no effort and at an inexpensive price. Request your EXTENDED TRIAL immediately and perceive why Mosyle is all the things you must work with Apple.
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