IBM joins Enterprise Desktop Alliance

February 10 2010

A press release just went out announcing that IBM has joined the Enterprise Desktop Alliance, an organization committed to accelerating the adoption of Mac desktops in the enterprise:

The Enterprise Desktop Alliance (EDA) today announced that IBM has joined the collaborative of software developers that help further the deployment and management of Macs in the enterprise. By joining the EDA, IBM has broadened the categories of cross-platform integration which the EDA represents to include collaborative and social software from Lotus, software delivery automation capabilities from Rational and database software from Informix.  ...

"We have supported the Mac in the enterprise for over 15 years with our Notes and Domino offering," said Kevin Cavanaugh, IBM vice president of messaging and collaboration. "'The usage of Macs in the enterprise is expanding beyond line of business to a mainstream option for all, and our cross-platform collaboration solutions make the usage of Macs a natural fit within IT deployments."
IBM will be at MacWorld Expo this week at booth #1284, right next to the Enterprise Desktop Alliance at #1384.  This is another positive step in demonstrating the ability, as in my daily work, that one can operate a business desktop in the Mac environment.  I run a Microsoft-free (not even Parallels) Mac, and there are now thousands of IBMers like me.  Joining the EDA is a move to signal how serious we are about growing this footprint in the market.

Link: Enterprise Desktop Alliance: "IBM Joins Enterprise Desktop Alliance" >

Ed Brill | Highland Park, IL USA Category:  Machead  Add/View Comments [14]

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  1. 1  Stuart McIntyre http://blog.collaborationmatters.com | 2/10/2010 10:52:22 AM

    An excellent step forward Ed. IBM is to be congratulated for making this commitment to client choice.

  1. 2  Alex Kassabov http://kassabov.wordpress.com | 2/10/2010 11:12:50 AM

    That's pretty cool actually. Congrats! And you've got better booth neighbours this time around.

    I long for the days when I'll be able to run a Windows-free Mac. Keep the movement going.

  1. 3  Declan Lynch http://www.qtzar.com | 2/10/2010 11:34:20 AM

    If only you did notes development or admin. There would be a bigger push to get a Mac version of the Designer Client :-)

    But seriously this is a great move and hopefully as the mac mved into the enterprise a lot more companies will start releasing mac products as quickly as they do their windows counterparts, for example I have a windows 7 VPN client but I'm still waiting for a OS X 10.6 VPN client from one vendor.

    The VPN client and Domino Designer are the only things I have left running on Windows now.

  1. 4  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 2/10/2010 12:04:17 PM

    @3 maybe time to consider Lotus Mobile Connect for VPN :-)

  1. 5  Henry Ferlauto  | 2/10/2010 1:02:32 PM

    Good to see.

    You can update the posting, the IBM Press Release is on the site.

  1. 6  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 2/10/2010 1:39:50 PM

    @5 thanks!

  1. 7  Brandon Klein http://collaborationking.com | 2/10/2010 2:17:55 PM

    This is great news. We had noticed IBM employees sporting MacBook Pros around town. A pleasure to see that they are officially endorsing the platform.

    Ironically the next announcement will be in support of cloud only desktops.

    At Collaboration King we try to foster enhanced collaboration, and it is always good to see organizations like the Enterprise Desktop Alliance that promote collaboration between partners, desktops, people and companies.

  1. 8  Henry Ferlauto  | 2/10/2010 3:30:17 PM

    @6 - Always welcome.

    The IBM PR machine should get this news to the Mac news & rumor sites. (e.g. Apple Insider, Maccast, Mac Rumors, etc.).

    If presented as "you may not have to suffer with Windows machine at work much longer" it might get some good buzz. Just the simple fact that IBM is promoting Mac is a profound statement by itself; never mind trying to actually promote as part of its enterprise sales strategy.

  1. 9  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 2/10/2010 4:04:19 PM

    @8 check back tomorrow :-)

  1. 10  Bill Geimer  | 2/10/2010 11:36:00 PM

    Okay, jealous, very jealous.

  1. 11  Rob Sullivan  | 2/11/2010 4:21:34 AM

    I'd love to run my Mac at work without having to run VMWare Fusion, which I have for the Domino Admin client and web applications that only run in Internet Explorer. Any chance of a Mac Admin or Developer client??

  1. 12  Carlos Hernandez  | 2/11/2010 7:13:05 AM

    This is great news, more opportunities for IT folks in the future....

  1. 13  dale cybela  | 2/11/2010 7:53:53 AM

    This is just on the ironic side that your article and this one from ComputerWorld come out together:

    Why Apple won't let the Mac and iPhone succeed in business

    { Link }

  1. 14  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 2/11/2010 9:22:53 AM

    @13, yes, ironic - there's some truth in that article but I think Apple has come a long way. The real question is yes, whether they are serious about the enterprise or not. I think it depends on who you talk to.