IBM+Apple Partership...

It worries me too. I'd bet my bottom dollar that IBM is getting some sort of exclusive access. Time will tell.

I doubt that Apple would put all their eggs in the Casper basket. I happened to meet with our Apple reps yesterday, however, and they stressed the strength of their partnership with JAMF Software. I wouldn't worry about it too much just yet.

I'm curious about the "end to end" support they mention...and I can't help but wonder if it might be a prelude to OS X on IBM servers. It would certainly solve their lack-of-an-XServe problem, for one thing. The OS can run on the hardware with little to no adjustment, and give IT people the "real server" they always complained about lacking.

Total speculation on my part, of course - one can dream, anyway. :)

Give it a few days, folks.

Then talk to your Apple people. We're all getting up to speed on it too, but from where I sit, this is nothing but awesome.

well of course nothing will happen over night. it will take a while for IBM to put out a cohesive product. I just fear that once big fix gets a better handle on the macs that the company may push for the unified tool, but our BF environment is soooo badly messed up right now on the Windows side, I dread being forced to use it on the Macs.

@chris.kemp IBM is out of the server business, at least at the scale your average Casper admin would use.

Of course this is all conjecture; but, that article only mentions mobile/iOS... so there's that.

Also, JAMF's been in this game (uncontested) for what, 11 years? I expect Casper to remain the clear leader for quite some time...

I am generally a happy JAMF customer, but I welcome all and any real competition to the market. It is good for us as consumers.

@CasperSally You beat me to the punch; I've been thinking along those lines as well. IBM is capable of challenging JAMF where it matters for scale, and that's very interesting to me. In my last shop, Casper was a golden beacon of hope. Here, I feel like we're frequently working around its very serious limitations (and if I could only list patch management as an example, that would be enough).

That being said, we've worked closely with IBM on issues related to Sametime, and it has not been a pleasant experience. Hopefully, that's an isolated problem.

I think the focus is going after the remaining corporate Blackberry users and as to counter Samsung enterprise efforts.

http://9to5mac.com/2014/07/16/opinion-seven-reasons-why-the-ibm-partnership-could-be-a-pretty-big-deal-for-apple/#more-332208

Of course, Apple could buy IBM and still have plenty of change leftover ;)

Perhaps we'll see why 2014 won't be like 2014.

@JPDyson I don't know where you get the idea that IBM is out of the server business...

/url">@chris.kemp][/url As a long time IBM client and AIX admin, it has been pretty obvious to me that IBM has been repositioning themselves as a software and services company and shying away from hardware sales (see Lexmark and Lenovo). The writing has been on the wall for their System x (x86 class) servers for a while. [http://www.enterprisetech.com/2014/02/04/ibm-system-x-gm-talks-future-lenovo/ In my opinion, it is just a matter of time before their System p (POWER class) servers start fading into the sunset as well. All the other RISC-based, proprietary UNIX systems are dead or dying.

Interesting. Of course, according to the article they are still tightly partnered with Lenovo so it's still not inconceivable. Software has to run on something. ;-)

It would be a surprise if Apple intended to "transform" its market via Windows Server. There's still a lot to be said for the power of UNIX. Not saying it wouldn't happen - but it would be pretty wrong-headed, IMHO.

@chris.kemp There are no margins selling x86-based hardware. IBM realized that long ago and started focusing on software and services. There is still some money to be made on their high-end POWER servers but the end of that will come in time. Creating clusters and arrays of inexpensive x86 or ARM servers is much cheaper and more scalable. Windows Server has its uses, but that is not what is driving the death of the expensive, proprietary, RISC-based UNIX systems. Linux running on cheap hardware has commoditized Unix and it accounts for most of UNIX's market losses.

I'm not talking about RISC-based systems. OS X (aka BSD UNIX) runs on x86 hardware, and the margins would be Lenovo's problem.

@chris.kemp True. What I'm more curious to know is how the DEP and VPP programs will work for IT shops that work with IBM instead of Apple.

JAMF Software inks deal with IBM to help with Mac installations
The firm will help install Apple products into IT systems.
http://www.startribune.com/jamf-software-inks-deal-with-ibm-to-help-with-mac-installations/320823981/