Apple @ Work

Apple’s growth in the enterprise for the past few years caught many IT experts off guard. Windows had been the dominant platform for decades while Apple products were usually only for people using design software. As the iPhone and iPad became popular, the Mac benefited from a halo effect. A common question I am asked by other IT professionals is if AppleCare is a worthy investment for bulk enterprise purchases.

In this episode of the Apple @ Work podcast, Bradley is joined by Patrick Wardle and Josh Stein from Jamf to discuss a recent IT survey about Mac and PC security in the enterprise.

In this episode of the Apple @ Work podcast, Bradley is joined by Reilly Chase from HostiFi to talk about the new Ubiquiti Access product, UniFi Protect, and more.

Microsoft’s Active Directory was the centerpiece of every enterprise’s IT strategy for many years. From Exchange to the shared drive, to a centralized login system, AD was everything. We’ve all of a sudden realized in 2020 that AD is not everything. It’s still a crucial part of IT strategy for many organizations, but it’s no longer the only strategy. For cloud-first companies, many of them aren’t even deploying an active directory infrastructure. Apple is, indirectly, the cause of active directory moving from a requirement to a choice.

In this episode of the Apple @ Work podcast, Bradley is joined by DataJAR to talk about trends in the enterprise relating to macOS and iOS updates.

Device supervision is a crucial aspect of managing Apple in the enterprise, but it’s essential to understand what it’s good for, what its limits are, and how to ensure you get a deployment started on the right foot.

Now that the dust has settled on Apple’s acquisition of Fleetsmith, I want to discuss their removal of the Fleetsmith app store and why I think Apple should bring it back in a different way (as a Mac App Library), even as a possible API for third party device management systems to tie into as well.

In this episode of the Apple @ Work podcast, Bradley is joined by Sam Johnson from Jamf to discuss the 2020 virtual Jamf Nation User Conference.

In this episode of the Apple @ Work podcast, Bradley is joined by Sunil Patro from SignEasy to talk about how the digital signature industry has evolved in the last decade.

Sponsored by iMazing: The popular iOS device manager which gives you unparalleled control over iOS and iPadOS data. Request your free trial now.

In my decade of working in IT, the one area I’ve struggled to find a great cost-effective solution is internal cameras for the enterprise. There are plenty of advanced options, but they usually break the budget. After years of searching, I finally landed on UniFi Protect from Ubiquiti with its new Network Video Recorder (NVR).

In this episode of the Apple @ Work podcast, Bradley is joined by Jason Dettbarn of Addigy to talk about what’s new with mobile device management with iOS 14 and macOS Big Sur.

Sponsored by iMazing: The popular iOS device manager which gives you unparalleled control over iOS and iPadOS data. Request your free trial now.

In this episode of the Apple @ Work podcast, Bradley is joined by Andrew Shikiar from the FIDO Alliance to discuss the history of the FIDO Alliance and what iOS 14 and macOS Big Sur are doing for password management.

Sponsored by iMazing: The popular iOS device manager which gives you unparalleled control over iOS and iPadOS data. Request your free trial now.

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I’ve become a big fan of Reddit this year as I finally took the plunge to subscribe to a few subreddits, and one I’ve enjoyed is r/AmpliFi. A common question that is starting to be asked on the subreddit is about Wi-Fi 6e. If you aren’t familiar with Wi-Fi 6e, I suggest that you go and listen to a recent episode of Apple @ Work where I discuss it in depth with Perry Correll from Extreme Networks. Since the new technology is being considered in the open, many people are beginning to wonder if they should just skip Wi-Fi 6 and wait for Wi-Fi 6e.
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In this episode of the Apple @ Work podcast, Bradley is joined by Kevin Kuluvar from LocknCharge to discuss Apple device storage, keeping devices charged, and a new iPad sanitation production for K-12.

Sponsored by iMazing: The popular iOS device manager which gives you unparalleled control over iOS and iPadOS data. Request your free trial now.

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For enterprise customers who use Apple, the week of WWDC brought some rather shocking news. Late in the week, first-party mobile device management (MDM) solution Fleetsmith announced Apple had purchased them for an undisclosed sum. There was a bit of controversy with the purchase, as Apple immediately discontinued Fleetsmith’s App Catalog without warning. This left a lot of customers in a bind as soon as they woke up that morning.

While the controversy has died off, I know many customers of Fleetsmith, Jamf, and others are wondering what Apple’s plans are now. Since the announcement, I’ve been thinking about what Apple might do in the future now that they own an MDM. Here are some ideas I came up with on what might happen in the future.
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It seems like every article I’ve written in the past few months has started regarding COVID–19. While I hate that I keep mentioning it, it is informing a lot of how I am thinking about business operations going forward. I recently did a deep dive into the Addigy mobile device management system, and I think it could be beneficial for companies moving to permanent work from home.
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In this episode of the Apple @ Work podcast, Bradley is joined by Scott Reed and Greg Keller from JumpCloud to discuss why they chose to launch an MDM in 2020, and how device management intersects with identity management.

Sponsored by iMazing: The popular iOS device manager which gives you unparalleled control over iOS and iPadOS data. Request your free trial now.

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WWDC 2020 has come and gone, and while there is a lot to unpack for the consumer side, there is a considerable amount to unpack on the enterprise side as well. One of my favorite slides of the entire keynote is where they show the grab bag features that didn’t make air time but are often very important. This year, one of the key things I noticed for enterprise and K–12 customers was the ability to set default email and browsers on iPad and iPhone. What does this mean for enterprise and K–12 customers as they look ahead to iOS 14?
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A few weeks ago, I wrote about how Apple killing the Xserve was step one in their plan to dominate the enterprise. Outside of the retired Xserve, they haven’t had any other enterprise networking products servers, they’ve never had an enterprise networking product, though. You might be interested to know that an ex-Apple employee went on to found a company that currently sells enterprise networking gear. Robert Pera, the founder of Ubiquiti, Incworked for Apple in the early 2000s as a Wi-Fi engineer.
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One of my favorite sessions from WWDC each year is the “What’s New in Apple Device Management” session that details the upcoming enhancements to Apple’s MDM APIs and other features that system administrators can use to more efficiently manage Apple devices in the enterprise. So what’s new for 2020 with Apple device management? Let’s take a look.
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In this episode of the Apple @ Work podcast, Bradley is joined by Andrew von Nagy of Celona to discuss CBRS and private LTE for the Apple-focused enterprise.

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