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Enterprise Desktop Alliance Formed by Software Developers to Ease Integration of Macs in Windows Environments
PALO ALTO, Calif. --(Business Wire)-- Five enterprise software companies today announced the creation of the Enterprise Desktop Alliance (EDA) to facilitate the acceptance of the Mac in environments managed with Microsoft Windows. The alliance will validate and promote the availability of solutions that make it easy to deploy, integrate and manage Macs using Microsoft Windows-based solutions, thereby increasing user productivity, reducing total cost of ownership and increasing IT acceptance of Macs in the enterprise. Founding members include Atempo, Centrify, Group Logic, LANrev and Parallels.
By leveraging the suite of capabilities that EDA solutions offer, enterprises can easily integrate Macs and achieve the same level of control, security, policy compliance and service that they currently have with their Windows platforms.
"Interest in the Mac at large organizations is growing along with Apple's market share," said Bob O'Donnell, Vice President, IDC. "The challenge has been overcoming objections surrounding managing Macs within these corporate environments. Efforts that can make life easier for the IT professional and help the Mac become a more appealing and realistic alternative within the enterprise could help turn that interest into a stronger Mac presence."
To further this initiative, EDA will be hosting a series of events, including webcasts and seminars, and will provide white papers, product information and other resources on the EDA website (www.enterprisedesktopalliance.com).
"The popularity of the Mac among corporate end-users does not mean that there have to be headaches for IT administrators," said Peter Frankl, Founder and Chief Operating Officer of LANrev, one of the founding companies. "We are determined to help companies integrate Macs into their enterprise environments by reducing total cost of ownership and increasing IT acceptance of Macs in the enterprise."
About the Enterprise Desktop Alliance
EDA solutions are specifically designed to maintain the Mac experience for established users when interfacing with the Windows infrastructure. At the same time, by extending the standard Windows-based management environment, EDA solutions enable the Mac to be viewed and to act as a peer to Windows in an enterprise.
EDA cross-platform solutions address:
-- Enterprise Data Protection - Atempo
-- Identity & Access Management - Centrify
-- File & Print Services - Group Logic
-- Systems Lifecycle Management - LANrev
-- Virtualization - Parallels
For IT Management - The EDA suite of solutions enables IT departments to deploy, integrate and manage Macs throughout the enterprise by applying the same standard Windows-based management tools to support Macs as they do Windows. By leveraging a centralized, uniform management platform, administrators can deliver identical services and exercise the same controls for both Macs and Windows.
Administrators can deliver the same standards of service, maintain uniform client configuration, enforce the same security controls, make the same sharepoints and print queues available, deliver the same disaster recovery, and enforce the same compliance policies for both Mac and Windows systems. And those same capabilities can be applied to the virtual version of Windows that runs on the Mac.
For the Mac User - With the integration of the Mac into the Windows managed environment, Mac users are unaware that they are using Windows infrastructure. In fact, EDA improves the user experience by increasing system performance, providing single sign-on, delivering transparent update and patch management, and letting users retrieve lost files or their entire system without administrator intervention. EDA solutions extend the capabilities of the Mac through system virtualization, allowing the Mac to streamline access to Windows-only applications and productivity tools. IT professionals acquire the same management control of the virtual Windows system as the underlying Mac OS.
The EDA solutions make it easier for Mac and Windows users to share files. By providing identical views of files on the same Windows server for both platforms, users avoid revision control problems so they can collaborate effortlessly. Users, regardless of platform, can be at the same revision level of Microsoft Office software, ensuring easy file exchange and further enhancing cross platform collaboration.
Whether using a Mac or Windows on a Mac, access privileges and audit trails are all controlled by Microsoft Active Directory providing the users with a consistent network experience, without surprises or confusion.
In file and print access, identity management, client management, disaster recovery, backup and virtualization, EDA ensures that administrators can extend their current control to the Mac. The Mac user reaps the benefits of tight integration and the organization saves in operational overhead while increasing security and user productivity.
The Enterprise Desktop Alliance is a collaboration among enterprise-class software developers to make it easy to deploy, integrate and manage Macs in a sophisticated Windows-managed IT environment. By leveraging the suite of capabilities that EDA offers, an enterprise can easily achieve the same level of control, security, policy compliance, data protection and services that they exercise across Windows platforms. The cross-platform solutions available address Enterprise Data Protection - Atempo; Identity & Access Management - Centrify; File & Print Services - Group Logic; Systems Lifecycle Management - LANrev; and Virtualization - Parallels.
For more information, visit www.enterprisedesktopalliance.com.
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