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Dateline: Silicon Valley, CA
June 22nd, 2010
It seems that all of the big news these days has the letter ‘i’ in front of it — as in iPad and iPhone.
Quietly, over the past several years, Macs have been finding their way onto the desktops of people who work inside of corporations. The iPhone is partly responsible for this trend and the iPad is quickly making inroads onto the networks of corporate America.
But it is the Mac users who are bringing their own machines into their companies. Macs are now engaged across all major industries in the once PC-dominated enterprise environment. Mac users in companies started as a small trickle. Now corporations are seeing Mac users at increasing levels. Today, it is becoming a common trend for companies to offer a choice of either Mac or PC to incoming worker populations.
A fresh corporate worker and former student was a highly-recruited whiz-kid. Macintosh computing is what this person has known for their entire academic life. They have never worked on a PC and what’s more, they don’t want to. MacBook close at hand, rejecting the company sponsored PC in favor of using their own Mac (mostly because of the overwhelming consumer brand religion surrounding the intuitive Apple machines) the new worker carefully avoids giving up the Mac in the corporate workplace.
Having no complete solution, the IT department breaks company protocol and allows the new Mac user onto the network by implementing a few quick network patches.
Sound familiar? This is happening broadly, not just in corporate America, but all over the globe. A few short years ago this Mac user story was considered an anomaly, a rouge incident. It hasn’t taken long for the small trickle of Mac users to become a pretty strong flow inside companies of all sizes.
Has the influx of Macs created a systems integration problem?
The IT department warned the young Mac user that the company didn’t support Macs. Break/fix, updates and the unknown were the Mac user’s responsibility. But there are much bigger issues at stake for the company than just having the young employee’s computer break. IT departments have been having bad dreams regarding compatibility issues since the first Mac landed inside an enterprise company. What about file sharing, security and the integration of these Mac populations into the Microsoft world of Windows, Exchange, Active Directory and the other IT infrastructure of most companies?
There is a new generation of OS X software that solves many of the traditional Mac integration concerns. There are also many third-party virtual software developers too, working out new cross-platform products and solutions. Even Microsoft has engineered a version of OFFICE 2007 (including Outlook) for the Mac. And now, Apple Authorized System Integrator (AASI), Milestone Technologies, Inc. (MILESTONE) of Fremont, California is helping to bring Mac to the IT enterprise.
With the advent of software, even with virtualization and cloud computing, integrating any sized corporate population to Macintosh is not seamless.
MILESTONE, a well known IT service provider for many top corporations, recognized that companies who are considering expanding their Apple footprint need to do so in a very careful and calculated way. There are unique considerations within every company’s IT infrastructure. MILESTONE offers the Mac Systems Integration Program addressing clients’ unique IT infrastructure requirements. Requirements include system architecture concerns or engineering updates. There are system settings and software version controls to be managed. There are other protocols, user training, break/fix, and other ongoing user support issues required for the expanding Mac user populations in companies.
No problem. Enter the Apple Authorized Systems Integrator (AASI).
MILESTONE, based in California’s Silicon Valley, offers a whole range of Mac systems integration and support services.
MILESTONE integrated Macs
into their own IT infrastructure. Following is a sampling of the
Apple machines that are now up
and running alongside of and in harmony with MILESTONE’s IT infrastructure.
iMac desktops
MacBook laptops
MacBook Pro laptops
MacBook Air laptops
Mac Mini computers
iPhones – 3G and 4G
Wi-Fi enabled iPads
3G enabled iPads
MILESTONE Certifications:
Apple Certified System Administrators
Apple Certified Technical Coordinators
Apple Certified Support Professionals
Apple Certified Macintosh Technicians
“Developing our Apple Systems Integration business model was challenging,” states MILESTONE Vice President of Technology Jay Yu. “We decided to put our own company through our own Mac Proof-of-Concept process and integrated Macs, creating our current heterogeneous environment. With our proven results, we offer the right service offerings to our clients to provide a secure environment for Mac users and PC users alike.”
“First,” explains the MILESTONE executive “MILESTONE moved a very small percentage of our own end-user population to Macintosh machines, about 2%.” This part of the MILESTONE process is known as a Proof of Concept (PoC). During this initial stage, any company’s initial Mac users are identified through a combination of their job function and computing needs. A systematic approach of identifying the Apple equipment to best meet the user’s computing needs is determined. Software and network requirements are determined. Equipment is procured. Everything is tested. Then, the new Mac users are trained on the fundamentals of their new Macs by MILESTONE professional staff trainers.
MILESTONE is providing their PoC methodology to clients as a starting point for their own larger scale integrations. This scientific process is followed by other important steps that lead to total systems integration for any sized Mac user population. The PoC is the recommended starting point for any company who is serious about integrating Macs into their own operations.
“The Apple PoC was a very effective way for us to recognize that integration is not seamless. We ‘lived’ some of the same integration issues that clients will experience,” states Jay Yu.
Other than the Macs Proof of Concept, MILESTONE has also invested in setting up a strong team of Apple certified engineers (see certifications list on the side bar).
During the months of technical start-up on the Apple platform, the iPhone has also emerged as a valuable mobile computing device. This is the ‘go-to’ device that many of these same companies have chosen to deploy, empowering employees with mobile computing. MILESTONE has expanded their engineering engagement to offer iPhone and iPad app development. Not only does MILESTONE integrate Apple computers and servers into the IT infrastructure, the company also helps companies integrate iPhones and iPads as well.
MILESTONE has compiled a knowledge base and technical library of information on topics that are sure to stimulate even the most skeptical IT department heads on the topic of integrating Macs into the corporate enterprise environment. Milestonepowered.com hosts a do it yourself Mac Questionnaire and Assessment Worksheet, podcasts and white papers in addition to the Mac Practice service overview.
MILESTONE has rounded out systems integration with a full service approach. MILESTONE is an Apple Authorized Corporate Reseller and provides full service support as an Apple Authorized Service Provider.
Today it is not a question of how or why companies will welcome Mac as a full-fledged citizen on the corporate network, but rather a question of when.
For additional information please contact:
Milestone Technologies, Inc.
Chris Kloes, Vice President of Sales
3101 Skyway Court
Fremont, CA 94539
P – 510.651.2454
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