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IBM Division Investigates Corporate Mac Migration Feasibility

twoodcc said:
wow, i'm surprised at this, and glad to see it. i think it's good that they are trying linux also.

the Mac is growing. it's good to be a part of it.
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IBM sells AIX, their own version of UNIX and also Linux for their servers and Mainframes

So all NIX-es are important to IBM
 
EagerDragon said:
Some items big business wants:
1) Better management tools to be able to load a system remotely, monitor the system and remotely login and fix it. We are talking large scale here not 20 workstations. We are talking about thousands of workstations
2) Tools to build and deploy their own buld of the OS. They want to configure an image their own way and be able to build any system with that image.
3) Enforce rights via LDAP or AD
4) Integration with Microsoft tools, email and scheduling (like the iPhone will have in 2 months)
5) VPN specialy Cisco
6) Virus tools and enforcing that the workstation be up to date, If not up to date not allow it on the network.
7) Know what products are coming and the schedule for their release, and the feature set.
8) Time frame to roll out a product after a long Several monts to a year test
9) Preferential price for bulk purchases
19) Some input on future products and features
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With Apple growing, I say give it a few months to a year and it may just happen. oh and Cisco already has tools for mac, the below is taken right from Cisco's website (Note I did not read these in detail, however)

*Edited - the links did not post properly. He is just one link as an example:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/security/vpn5000/client/macosx/user/guide/Install.html
 
I am not the least bit surprised. I just started my new job at an engineering firm this week where there is a big push to migrate at least all of the laptops to Macs. IMO, it can't come soon enough.

This week has been a rude reminder to me about how much Windows sucks. Ugh. But the office manager promised me a brand new MBP this Summer after they get the next speed bump. Huzzah!
 
It's not just one division within IBM

What many posters seem to be missing is that the Mac population at IBM is increasing world-wide:

The company’s internal “Mac@IBM” website, cited in the pilot program document, also references an official group for Mac users within IBM, with over 930 members in 26 countries. It is described as “one of the largest and fastest growing communities within IBM.”
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I imagine there are many more Mac users who are not registered with the Mac@IBM internal site.
 
I work for a company where the primary mobile notebooks are thinkpad ( I use a thinkpad Z60 ) .Two months ago the directors and CEO migrated to mb pro and mb air ( of course I was so happy installing them :D ) and two more mb pro are coming for 2 managers :) .

I have my Imac at home and I hope they gime me a mb pro for my work :D .


:apple:
 
I really wish IBM would bring Rational Rose to the Mac. There's really no excuse...it's already available on Unix & Linux. The market is there...especially in academia.

Are they afraid of making money?
 
Im still waiting for Microsoft to start the Vista commercials with it being booted on a Mac :)

thatll actually sell more copies.

Vista is just fine, i have no problem using it. But since i dont need all included stuff, i run a simple xp bootcamp, for my games and programming.
 
MacRumors said:


IBM's Research Information Services division is investigating the possibility of moving a significant numbers of employees to Apple's Macintosh platform according to a report acquired by RoughlyDrafted.


Some Comments:
- "When presenting at customer or external meetings, I have been greeted with the 'wow factor.' 'Where's the ThinkPad, IBM uses Apples now?'"
- "This can free us from the Windows stranglehold."
- "It has been easier learning the Mac than learning Vista."
- "The ability to run Windows XP in a VM under Parallels is a great feature."
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I feel like I am in that alternate universe on Star Trek where Spock has a beard and Kirk refuses to get it on with his personal wench.

I will be the first to point out the obvious. They could have done this a long time ago with sensational results, and at minimum, in anticipation of the switch to Mactel.

This to me just proves how slow and bureaucratic IBM is.

The Mac has been truly OS agnostic and a superior citizen the moment the first Intel Core CPU was released in a Mac.

Rocketman
 
Rocketman said:
This to me just proves how slow and bureaucratic IBM is.

The Mac has been truly OS agnostic and a superior citizen the moment the first Intel Core CPU was released in a Mac.

Rocketman
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Can you really expect anything the size of IBM to make a change this big, that fast? Single people were waiting to see OS X on x86 hardware, imagine how much watching IBM had to do. Plus IBM would need a large range of hardware(possible), so they couldn't jump to Apple until the whole line was Intel. So they could only consider Apple once the whole PPC->x86 was done. And there was the software issue.

This is pretty good timing all thing considered.
 
this is good news! :D also very surprising news... not surprising that new people are using Macs, but IBM is using Macs... (that's a good thing of course :cool:)
:apple:
 
irun5k said:
But, for whatever reason, I don't think Apple takes corporate customers very seriously.
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Yeah, that's why iPhone 2.0 is focusing almost exclusively on enterprise features. I think they're starting to take corporate customers seriously now. Given that they've licensed ActiveSync for the iPhone, they'd be seriously stupid if they didn't work that into Mail.app and iCal.app as well.
 
Well, it has been a might chill here in S.W. Florida, so yeah, maybe hell did finally freeze over.

MS "blow-back" indeed... heh heh heh... Oh, I should like to see the look on Steve "Monkey Boy" Balmer's face when he hears this...

Ah, to be a fly on the wall...
 
This just makes sense for IBM. And it looks like they're just exploring right now, working on providing Mac solutions to companies that may want them.

They're still doing linux and windows. I'd be more interested in hearing about the cost of entry for mac change over or when starting out, which would be of more value.
 
I think it makes perfect sense. I worked for IBM myself and everyone was having a Mac somehow at his home there. Unfortunately only one was allowed to use it as his primary computer.
But it makes perfect sense. The quality of the Lenovo computers are declining and IBM needs to investigate other options. Plus they are not religious about using either system.
Remember they were the first to run ads on TV to advertise Linux. I was pretty amazed by that. They were also the first to adopt to AMD Opterons.
 
As I walk around the hallways at work. I come across those big carts the janitors use to empty the waste cans. Every day almost, I notice a black Macbook Pro box in one of the carts. (I also notice HP and Sun boxes.) It seems a lot of people are getting MBP issued to them by the company. Employes do have several choices when they are hired and also when it comes time to replace their computer. Macs seem to be very popular just by my informal trash census. I work at an aerospace company that has about 5,000 employees.
 
The biggest problem I see with Apple and corporate customers is price. Most corporations simply are not going to shell out for Apple computers for all their drones when they can get a DELL that runs MS Office just fine for 400 bucks. I think Apple will continue to make inroads with companies and/or divisions of companies involved in software development, simply because you can test on all platforms with one Mac. But in mainstream corporate and government sectors (office workers, law firms, accountants, etc) I just don't see the transition happening due to price. That's not to say that some higher ups who want Macs won't get them - but in middle management in below, in most big companies, I think Windows is here to stay for a lonnng time.
 
jahutch said:
The biggest problem I see with Apple and corporate customers is price. Most corporations simply are not going to shell out for Apple computers for all their drones when they can get a DELL that runs MS Office just fine for 400 bucks. I think Apple will continue to make inroads with companies and/or divisions of companies involved in software development, simply because you can test on all platforms with one Mac. But in mainstream corporate and government sectors (office workers, law firms, accountants, etc) I just don't see the transition happening due to price. That's not to say that some higher ups who want Macs won't get them - but in middle management in below, in most big companies, I think Windows is here to stay for a lonnng time.
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I think you are missing the shift towards notebooks for all higher level employees. Those employees need highly reliable notebooks. Most of them already have an IBM notebook that comes with an increased price tag already. And in relation to their other monthly expenses those differences do not matter too much.

Talking about the lowest secretary or persons that have a low income are not those that are targeted at.
 
i think apple or most any other computer company would be insane not to allow interest from IBM. IBM has been around the block before there was a block, and they consistently do well in their quarterly earning. not to mention the fact that IBM is one of the few companies that actually creates new architectures.

i find it very interesting that IBM said that OSX was easier to learn than vista and that an apple venture would help release the stranglehold of microsoft. well maybe not so much interesting as it is funny
 
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