Addigy has filled a specific role in the market, providing multi-tenanted Mac management, but now, propelled by iPad demand, they have expanded that to all Apple devices with a new unified MacOS management platform.
Jason Dettbarn, Addigy’s CEO
Apple-focused Addigy, which has been providing multi-tenanted management software for Macs, has now broadened their capabilities to allow for the management of all things Apple. Their new MacOS Management platform adds mobile device management [MDM] capabilities, allowing them, for the first time, to manage iOS and even Apple TV from the same platform as they manage Macs.
“With this new platform, with its MDM capabilities, this is the first time that we can support iPads, iOS and Apple TV all under one roof,” said Jason Dettbarn, CEO of Miami-based Addigy. “Until now, it has always been just Apple Macs.”
Dettbarn, who cut his teeth in the industry with Kaseya after an earlier stint with CA, saw a void in the market providing management services for the Mac market – and the multi-tenanted part of that market in particular.
“Companies needed a platform for security and licensing, because the tools available to them were becoming harder and harder to use,” Dettbarn said. “They needed a better way.” Moreover, while the PC market was oversaturated, Macs got far less service.
“JAMF is pretty much it as far as Macs goes,” Dettbarn said. “Their platform, however, is meant for one single organization. They don’t have a multi-tenanted platform. That meant that we were able to come in and provide a turnkey solution, and have seen significant growth in the managed services space. Another differentiation for us in addition to the multitenancy is that we don’t have contracts. They create a lot of friction in the supply chain.”
While the Mac market has seen some rougher times recently in terms of shipment declines, Dettbarn said that the business of managing them remains very strong.
“We saw a global 25 per cent increase last year,” he said. “Macs have always been strong in the SMB, but we are seeing them getting into much larger accounts than ever before. Employees, given the choice, will often take Apple Macs, and double or triple asset counts. IBM now has 160,000 Macs. They offered it to their employees and had a majority using it in just over a year. A lot of universities and school districts use us. Many IT companies are 100 per cent Mac environments Every corporation out there has a good chunk of Macs. They haven’t had the infrastructure to support it.”
Expanding their platform’s Apple management capabilities with MDM allows organizations to manage employee smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices as well as Macs.
“MDM is something that we began doing at Kaseya 5-6 years ago because we saw the traction and growth,” Dettbarn said. ‘Until now, you haven’t had the same demand on the Mac side, because Apple phones are very personal. People would rather have two phones than have their personal phone be fully managed by their employer. However, the big impetus for Apple MDM has actually been the iPad. It has become the tablet of choice for business interface in the field, even though Android is cheaper, and has a little more capabilities for customization. You have had some very large organizations like Kraft Foods and Anheuser Busch standardize on iPads in the field.”
Accordingly. Dettbarn said that Addigy began work on the plumbing to add the MDM capabilities that would allow the management of non-Mac Apple devices. Their platform creates a database of all devices under management, tracks the assets, and enables the organization to set and enforce management policies for them, with date-stamped logs to provide an audit trail for compliance. It provides complete password management, WIFI configuration, and the ability to configure printers, set energy saving levels, and application locking for Kiosk, POS, and specialized mobile application needs in the field.
The cloud-based platform’s MDM capabilities will upgrade for users of the original platform.
“I’m really proud of the level of UI integration,” Dettbarn said.
Addigy works closely with the Apple Consultancy Network, principally, although not exclusively, with MSPs.
“I think we will finally see managed services providers make some money on the mobile side with this,” Dettbarn stated.
