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iPads have been a buzzword recently around the offices I support. All the software vendors recently have been doing demos on iPads and showing off their remote abilities and ease of use. It seems everyone is going to budget for them in place of BlackBerry’s and laptops this coming year. I have asked all the managers to find out exactly what their employee’s plan to use the iPads for as well as let them know that we will be putting in place some sort of MDM in order to keep them managed/maintained. Since they will be work devices, we will probably end up locking down the app store, games, etc. I’m hoping that knowledge of this will bring down the device count a bit.

We will most likely be ordering our iPads from Verizon and work with Verizon to create a vpn tunnel into an internal subnet of their own. That will make it easy to get them into our windows network.

Where I need some guidance is on the MDM setup and managing the ios devices like I do my active directory devices. Are most MDM platforms pretty lightweight in terms of server resources? Would it be safe to say I could build a new BES and load the MDM software on it? I forsee us picking up between 20 and 50 iPad’s in the next year. From what I have gathered, using the MDM to manage the devices (config profiles) is sort of like applying group policies to windows devices. Some users will be using the devices for simple e-mail and internet. Others will be wanting to connect to our network shares to open and edit documents (MS office), and use internal web based applications. Cost for the server and software is important to keep as low as possible (duh). What mdm vendor is recommended for maintaining the ios devices? I would rather not have a mixed environment with android devices as I suspect that some sort of hybrid software to manage both would be more costly and it would be much easier for me to set a standard than to allow any devices. Is it possible to accomplish this with a single server and with relatively cheap (or free) mdm software cost?

This is all new to me and my basic Google searches on MDM have been helping me understand that what I want is possible. I would just like to hear from people that have done this and see what is recommended.

I appreciate any input.
Thanks,
Matt

@ManageEngine

8 Spice ups
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You should start here for MDM product comparisons:

http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/171483-mobile-device-management-product-comparisons

4 Spice ups
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Mobile Iron is pretty nice with a light architecture, though I believe minimum requirement is 50 devices.

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Thanks for the link. That is the only price comparison that I have seen and it gives me a good idea of what to expect $ wise. I have looked at Mobileiron and Maas360 demo’s (short ones) and am starting to get a feel for what the MDM solutions offer.

Does anyone know of any Top 10 lists or a website that may have some un-biased product reviews from the masses?

Thanks again!

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Matt697 wrote:

Thanks for the link. That is the only price comparison that I have seen and it gives me a good idea of what to expect $ wise. I have looked at Mobileiron and Maas360 demo’s (short ones) and am starting to get a feel for what the MDM solutions offer.

Does anyone know of any Top 10 lists or a website that may have some un-biased product reviews from the masses?

Thanks again!

Honestly, I would trust the Spiceheads here on their opinion for the most complete and un-biased reviews. There is a lot of detail and honesty in this community.

If you are looking for something for management, someone did post a Gartner Magic Quadrant in the discussion, which has a ranking, pros and cons.

http://community.spiceworks.com/attachments/post/0007/0159/Magic_Quadrant_MDM.docx

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I couldn’t figure out how to open it. Once I open the .zip, I just see a few folders and a handful of misc. .xml files. How do I view the MQ?

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Are you saving the file as a DOCX to be opened in MS Word?

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It only allows me to save it as a .zip file.

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I made a pdf from it:

Magic_Quadrant_MDM-1.pdf (393 KB)

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I`m comparing Maas360 with AirWatch now …

Not sure what will make the race. Maybe I have to test both :wink:

2 Spice ups
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Matt697 wrote:

Thanks for the link. That is the only price comparison that I have seen and it gives me a good idea of what to expect $ wise. I have looked at Mobileiron and Maas360 demo’s (short ones) and am starting to get a feel for what the MDM solutions offer.

Does anyone know of any Top 10 lists or a website that may have some un-biased product reviews from the masses?

Thanks again!

Hello Matt. Glad to hear you looked at a MaaS360 demo. I’m available here in the community if you ever need anything… just shoot me a quick note.

As Russell mentioned, I think your fellow Spiceheads are the best source of comparative information. JRob’s product comparison’s post is a great source of information and includes both vendors you are looking at.

Also, I wanted to point your to our reviews page in Spiceworks.

1 Spice up
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Desktop Central now supports MDM for all the iOS devices. You can check the below link for more details :

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Meraki’s MDM solution is free and it’s an excellent product.

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But not the easiest one to configure! Unfortunately, only needing to manage 4 devices means we have to go for something which is free.

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Actually, once you have an understanding of it, it’s very simple to administer.

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We offer a zero touch, zero config solution to BYOD problem in the enterprises. We use web and data virtualization techniques to make sure no data resides on the device, which obviates the need for an MDM solution.

Try our free demo site, by registering at

http://admin.armor5.com/register