“When the Macworld Conference & Expo kicks off next week, attendees can expect the usual buzz around consumer products – Steve Jobs is expected to formally unveil iTV, a video streaming device, during his keynote address on Tuesday and there is speculation that a new iPod and perhaps even an iPhone will be introduced. But there also will be a heightened focus on enterprise customers as Apple has in the past couple years bolstered its standing as a viable server alternative in corporate data centers,” Jennifer Mears reports for Network World.
“In line with Apple’s growing enterprise focus, Macworld attendees will find an enhanced MacIT Conference, three days of training sessions designed for corporate Apple customers. The conference runs Wednesday through Friday and is aimed at educating IT executives about a range of issues, including integrating Macs into heterogeneous environments, imaging and deploying Mac systems and securing Mac environments,” Mears reports.
Mears reports, “About 40,000 people are expected to attend Macworld, which runs Monday through Friday at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, compared with some 38,000 attendees last year, according to show organizer IDG World Expo, a sister company of Network World. As for the MacIT Conference, about 750 attendees are expected, compared with 375 who showed up for the debut conference in 2003. About 400 exhibitors, with more than 100 first-timers, will pack both the north and south halls of the convention center, says Paul Kent, vice president of MacWorld.”
Mears reports, “‘The impact of Apple’s migration to Intel is really very large,’ Dan O’Donnell, collaboration coordinator and Macintosh administrator at RAND, a nonprofit research organization based in Santa Monica says. ‘It allows running Windows on Apple hardware either native or virtualized, and this is good for users, systems administrators, Apple and Microsoft. Everybody wins and nobody loses. More than anything I think we’ll see this increase the usage of Macs in enterprise space.’ As a result, IT executives who may be taking a first serious look at Macs should consider Macworld a testing ground, O’Donnell says.”
Mears reports, “‘A lot of my peers in IT or systems administration are really Windows people and when someone mentions Macs to them, they remember way back when, when they were in college. It’s all different now,’ he says. ‘They need to be cognizant that [Mac OS X] is a much more robust operating system and works better with Windows. They need to keep an open mind.'”
Full article here.
More info about Apple Macs and business here: http://www.apple.com/business/
Mac business and vertical markets software: http://guide.apple.com/uscategories/business.lasso
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Computerworld: Enterprise decision-makers should consider migrating to Mac OS X and Apple hardware – December 21, 2006
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InfoWorld: Apple’s Mac OS X platform deserves good, hard look by enterprise – September 22, 2006
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