Apple at Work: Deployment and Management

 

Simple to deploy. At any scale.

Apple makes it easy for IT teams to administer devices, manage their configuration, distribute apps and content, and secure corporate data. With Apple Business Manager, devices can be distributed directly to employees and used right out of the box, all without manual configuration. And with flexible deployment models across all Apple platforms, IT can get employees up and running faster than ever with the best tools for the job.

 

Management made easy

Apple devices have a built-in mobile device management (MDM) framework, making it easy for IT to deploy devices, distribute apps and books, configure settings, and ensure the security of each device. Paired with a third-party MDM tool, IT teams can remotely manage and update devices over the air. And if devices ever go missing, IT teams can even remotely and securely erase them.

 

MDM supports configuration for apps, accounts, and data on each device. This includes integrated features such as password and policy enforcement. Controls remain transparent to employees while ensuring their personal information stays private. And IT maintains necessary oversight without disrupting the productivity employees need to succeed.

 

Whether a business uses a cloud-based or on-premise server, MDM solutions are available from a wide range of vendors with a variety of features and pricing for ultimate flexibility. And each solution utilizes the Apple management framework in iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, and macOS to manage features and settings for each platform.

 

Zero-touch deployment

Apple Business Manager is a web-based portal for IT administrators to deploy iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple TV, and Mac, all from one place. Working seamlessly with a mobile device management solution, Apple Business Manager makes it easy to automate device deployment, purchase apps and distribute content, and create Managed Apple IDs for employees.

 

With Apple Business Manager, every iPhone, iPad, and Mac can be set up and configured automatically—eliminating the need for IT teams to handle each device individually. IT can also purchase and distribute apps for employees and enable employees to use Apple services with a Managed Apple ID.

 

Flexible deployment models

iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and tvOS support flexible security policies and configurations that are easy to enforce and manage. Through them, organizations can protect corporate information and ensure that employees meet enterprise requirements, even if they are using devices they’ve provided themselves—for example, as part of a bring your own device (BYOD) program.

 

With iOS 13, iPadOS 13.1, and macOS 10.15, Apple devices support a new user enrollment option specifically designed for BYOD programs. User enrollments provide more autonomy for users on their own devices while increasing the security of enterprise data by storing it on a separate, cryptographically protected APFS volume. This provides a better balance of security, privacy, and user experience for BYOD programs.

 

IT teams can also choose to establish a higher level of control on organization-owned devices with supervision and device enrollment, which is available when an organization purchases devices from Apple or a participating Apple Authorized Reseller or carrier.

 

This enrollment method provides additional device management controls that are not available for other deployment models, including advanced security features and non-removable MDM. And IT can enforce or defer software updates across supervised devices to ensure compatibility with internal applications.

 

Organization-owned devices can be provided to a single user, shared among employees for common tasks, or configured as a purpose-built device for a specific use or for a single app.

Q1 Apple at Work T2 Email header

 

For a long, while organizations have searched for a very large visual solution that could show large groups of people multimedia content for business, digital signage, events, education, command and control, house of worship, and a variety of other applications. While several options have surfaced over the years, each had its own challenges, limiting its effectiveness.

 

Projection

As recently as 15 years ago high-end digital projectors were just about the only way to get massive bezel-free imagery to large groups of people. They were ideal for darker environments like theaters and dimmed lecture halls, but other applications struggled with projectors for multiple reasons:

  • Lamp burnout and replacement costs
  • Shadows from objects and people
  • Color saturation and lack of black
  • Fading brightness over time
  • Challenging installation

While projected images look great in the right circumstances and filled the need for a large image many people sought to overcome its hurdles.

 

Large Format LCD

For environments with more ambient light, LCD displays work really well, and still flourish today in smaller areas like huddle spaces, lobbies, and small to mid-size conference rooms. But they too have challenges, primarily not being quite physically big enough for events. For example, the 100" Planar® UltraRes™ X Series 4K HDR display is really large and looks magnificent, if you're sitting in the first three rows at a keynote talk. While very large displays are popular, transporting and handling them is also difficult.

 

LCD Video Walls

Planar has thrived for decades with tiled LCD video walls, including our current Clarity® Matrix® G3 LCD Video Wall System, enabling organizations to show huge, bright content. These video walls are comprised of several large LCD displays professionally combined to showcase one large or many different content sources simultaneously. They remain very popular in certain applications such as control rooms where ultra-high resolution is essential.

The challenge with tiled LCD video walls has always been the bezels. Each tiled display has a narrow bezel, creating tic-tac-toe lines that some people find distracting, especially if they want to use the wall for one large content source. Bezels have been shrinking for years, but even with the smallest tiled bezels in the industry at less than 1mm, some people just can't unsee the lines.

That's where LED came in…

 

Seamless, Shine & Size

Fine pixel pitch, direct view LED video walls entered the market about 11 years ago. They were huge, bright, offered no visible seams or shadows, and featured LEDs close enough together to look good from nominally close viewing distances. Their construction baffled viewers, who wondered how the on-screen image could remain when someone literally took out a portion of the display, called a module. The light from the LEDs wasn't reflected off a wall and when someone walked by no shadow was cast, like a projector. There were no lines on the screen to distract viewers like LCD video walls. And they could be as big as you wanted them to be. LED video walls drew eyes and “oohs" as people realized this technology might just solve their most challenging AV needs that existing technology simply could not.

 

The Cost of Early Adoption

The first consumer car phones were essentially reserved for those who regularly traveled in limousines or high-end convertibles. Similarly, in the early 1980s parents everywhere spent entire paychecks for middle-of-the-road, carry-on-your-shoulder VHS camcorders to record their children's birthday parties. Now, most people carry better, and less costly, phones and video cameras around in their pockets. When those seemingly ancient technologies were new, they cost a lot more than they did as the technology matured. Why? Being an early adopter is a high-risk, high reward proposal. They get to have the latest, greatest thing to use and show off, but the technology doesn't always pan out. Newer technologies take time to prove their viability and not everyone is brave enough to make the financial commitments required to be an early adopter. Instead many people, and the organizations they run, wait to see if the technology sticks, because some don't; just ask the folks who invested in LaserDisc, MiniDisc, and Zune players.

As new technologies prove they're here to stay, demand and production increases, and costs come down, making them more accessible to those who couldn't afford to spend on something that might end up a bust.

Like other technology, this trend has continued with direct view LED video walls. While people recognized LED as the future a decade ago, it has taken some time for LED video walls to become mainstream due to a variety of design and manufacturing challenges when working with LEDs the size of pinheads. And let's face it, they've been costly, often attainable only for mission-critical organizations or those with big budgets who wanted to make a big impact on viewers who may not have seen content in such a way before. Not anymore.

 

Unveiling Planar MGP Series

The fine pitch LED video wall market, of which Planar has been the leader for several years running according to Futuresource, and LED products have matured to the point that we've worked out the kinks. With strong, award-winning, proven LED video wall products like Planar® TVF Series, and long-established manufacturing processes, local professional services, and support, extended warranties, and service plans, the early adoption time is over and we're bringing fine pitch LED to the masses. Planar is making it more attainable with the new Planar® MGP Series and its pre-packaged counterpart Planar® MGP Complete™, entry-level LED video walls in 1.2, 1.5, and 1.8-millimeter pixel pitches that cost about the same as tiled LCD video walls. They are ideal for the historically budget-conscious organizations in markets such as higher education, House of Worship, and SMB that can't afford to miss the shift to direct-view LED.

Planar MGP Series is designed for viewing from as close as 7' and has a slim, ADA-Compliant mounted profile of less than 4", making them great options for use in retail signage and lobby art. Its 16:9 aspect ratio means it's perfect for popular resolution Full HD and 4K content, which is common in churches, conference rooms, and classrooms. They look great on camera, making them a solid option for smaller-market broadcast TV station sets.

Fine pitch LED isn't going anywhere. It's now a proven technology that is only getting better with enhancements and innovations happening regularly. And now, you can afford it, too.