Companies Join Forces to Promote Macs in Enterprise

A number of Enterprise focused Mac companies have joined forces to form the Enterprise Desktop Alliance (EDA), a new group whose goal it is to facilitate the acceptance of Macs in a Windows dominated Enterprise world.

The founding members of the group include Atempo, Centrify, Group Logic, LANrev and Parallels. Together the companies believe they can show organizations how to integrate Macs into their Windows-based environment, while reducing the total cost of ownership.

"We all heard from our customers that we should be working together," Peter Frankl, Founder of LANrev, told Macworld. "Once we started talking we realized that all of our customers were saying the same thing."

While bringing Mac-focused companies together will certainly help the group show organizations that Mac and Windows can coexist, there are still some hurdles to overcome.

"Interest in the Mac at large organizations is growing along with Apple's market share," said Bob O'Donnell, vice president at IDC. "The challenge has been overcoming objections surrounding managing Macs within these corporate environments."

Frankl said that more companies these days are allowing employees to choose the computer they want to use. With the popularity of the Mac, it is a growing choice, which forces executives to find a way to integrate them into the corporate environment.

But it's not just Macs that have brought this issue to the fore in recent months. Adoption of the iPhone by employees and executives alike has put pressure on IT to find a workable solution for integration.

One way the group plans to help is through education. The EDA will host a series of events, including webcasts and seminars, and will provide white papers, product information and other resources on the EDA website.

"Efforts that can make life easier for the IT professional and help the Mac become a more appealing and realistic alternative within the enterprise could help turn that interest into a stronger Mac presence," said O'Donnell.