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Enterprise Device Alliance Members Deliver Mac OS X Mountain Lion Support
[July 31, 2012]

Enterprise Device Alliance Members Deliver Mac OS X Mountain Lion Support


The Enterprise Device Alliance (EDA) today announced support for Mac OS® X Mountain Lion operating system software in enterprise environments by the EDA member companies. The cross-platform solutions available from the Enterprise Device Alliance members will deliver services for the latest version of Mac OS X and help organizations transition from current and previous versions of Mac OS X to Mountain Lion.



Each member of the Enterprise Device Alliance provides products that allow organizations to leverage their existing investment in Windows management and administration infrastructure to manage both Mac and iOS systems. EDA members provide additional integration and functionality in key areas of the business that are important to deployments in enterprise environments. These solutions address issues such as endpoint management Absolute Software; identity & access management Centrify; laptop backup Code42 Software; multi-platform file access and integration Group Logic; and desktop virtualization Parallels.

“With the rapid growth of Macs in the enterprise, its more important than ever that organizations to be able to take advantage of the latest Mac OS X as soon as it’s available,” said T. Reid Lewis, president of the Enterprise Device Alliance. “All of the EDA members are committed to making sure that an environment of mixed PCs, Macs and mobile devices such as iPhones and iPads is both successful for the users and manageable for the IT administrators.” The individual member companies’ Mountain Lion support includes: Absolute Software Absolute Software will release a new version of its cross-platform client management solution, Absolute Manage, within 30 days of the Mountain Lion release. Absolute Manage, a "Visionary" in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Client Management Tools, supports all Mac and Windows desktop and laptops, as well as iOS, Android and Windows Phone mobile devices within a single management console. The update will include support for Mountain Lion clients and the Absolute Manage Server and admin console components for those organizations using a Mac as a management server. Absolute Software's Computrace, a cloud-based solution supporting security, governance, risk management and compliance (GRC), already includes a Mountain Lion-compatible client, available to existing customers through Customer Center. http://absolute.com/products/endpoint-management/absolute-manage Centrify Centrify’s DirectControl for Mac supports Apple Mac OS® X Mountain Lion with Active Directory-based authentication, access control and Group Policy for users. The solution, part of the Centrify Suite 2012, enables administrators to utilize Active Directory and Windows Group Policy to centrally control Mac systems, including systems running on Mountain Lion. Centrify extends Group Policy support to iOS systems with DirectControl for Mobile. Centrify also supports a number of new features introduced in Apple OS X Mountain Lion. For example, Centrify supports Apple’s new Gatekeeper feature by providing a signed installer package with Mountain Lion. Gatekeeper ensures safe downloads by protecting users from inadvertently installing malicious software. Using Group Policy, administrators can control which applications a user can install on their Mac by requiring that the application be digitally signed and validated by Gatekeeper. http://www.centrify.com/solutions/mac-os-desktop-management.asp Code42 Code42, a leading provider of high-performance hardware and easy-to-use software solutions that protect the enterprise's data, provides support for Mac OS X 10.8, Mountain Lion throughout its product lines. For enterprises, Code42 delivers CrashPlan PROe to provide continuous online backup protection, along with backup archive verification, plus alerting and reporting features to keep you in the know about the status of your backup. Users will appreciate that CrashPlan PRO automatically backs up (as often as every minute) without slowing down their laptop or desktop computers and that they can restore their own files. Administrators will appreciate the online management dashboard that makes it easy to manage backup settings for the Windows, Mac, Linux and Solaris computers in your company. http://www.crashplan.com/enterprise/ GroupLogic As GroupLogic announced on July 25, 2012, ExtremeZ-IP v8.0 and activEcho 2.5 have been certified by GroupLogic’s quality assurance engineers with Mac OS X 10.8, Mountain Lion. ExtremeZ-IP v8.0 delivers the complete Macintosh file server experience via AFP access to nearly any enterprise storage including Windows and NAS storage. activEcho 2.5 provides an enterprise managed alternative to consumer solutions such as Dropbox™ for file sharing and synching. http://www.grouplogic.com/ Parallels Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac, the No. 1-selling software for running Windows and Mac applications side-by-side on a Mac without rebooting* and Parallels Desktop for Mac Enterprise Edition have been updated to support Mac OS X Mountain Lion as of July 10. Whether at home, at work or on the go, Parallels gives Mountain Lion users the freedom to run the apps they need for maximum productivity regardless of operating system. Recent updates to Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac and Parallels Mobile, which lets people remotely access their Mac from an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch, also provide support for Apple’s crystal clear Retina Display–allowing users to experience razor-sharp text and richer colors across all their devices in both Windows and Mac environments. http://www.parallels.com/products/enterprise/desktop/ About The Enterprise Device Alliance The Enterprise Device Alliance is a non-profit technology group that serves as a resource for organizations deploying, integrating, and managing Macs, iPhones and iPads in Windows-managed environments. The EDA delivers free information, market data, and access to solutions that support heterogeneous environments. The EDA member companies are leading technology solution providers for cross-platform enterprises. Members of the Enterprise Device Alliance include Web Help Desk, GroupLogic, Parallels, Code 42 Software, Centrify and Absolute Software. For more information, visit http://www.enterprisedevicealliance.org.


*Mac desktop virtualization software, new unit U.S. retail sales according to NPD Research, 9/2011-6/2012

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