* Got Apple?
I’m curious: how many of you readers run Apple hardware in your organizations? During the time I was covering servers for Network World I wrote a handful of stories about Apple and no matter what I wrote about, one thing stayed the same. I got tons of e-mails from die-hard Apple devotees thanking me for writing the article, but complaining that we at Network World didn’t write enough about Apple.
The issue is that Apple just isn’t a big enough force in enterprise data centers. Is that starting to change? VMware even has a product for Apple, after all.
My colleague and former Server Newsletter author, Deni Connor, wrote an interesting article in last week’s Network World that tries to answer the is-Apple-ready-for-the-enterprise question.
It was a great piece not only because it addresses an important issue, but also because Deni collected anecdotes from real-world users about their experiences with Apple. The long and short of it is that users seem to think Apple is ready to handle enterprise-workloads, in part because of the new support of Intel, support for directory services making it easier to integrate with Windows and other advances. Downsides include the need for better virtualization technology and vendor lock-in, according to individuals quoted in Deni’s article.
You can read Deni’s full story here.
Deni says she didn’t hear from a ton of users, which may say something, but that most of those she did hear from said, yes, Apple is ready. In fact, a poll Network World ran on its Web site earlier this year found that 80% of almost 900 respondents believe that Apple servers and desktops are ready for prime-time in corporate settings. Check out that poll here.
Also earlier this year, Network World Lab Alliance tester Tom Henderson tried out Apple’s new Xserve and gave it some pretty high marks. Read his report here [free registration required].
So now it’s your turn. Do you think Apple is enterprise-ready? Let me know.
