JAMF Pushes Apple Device Management into the Cloud

Mobile Security 2015: The Enterprise at Risk

To further simplify and secure the management of Apple devices, JAMF Software this week launched its Bushel cloud service.

Charles Edge, product manager for Bushel at JAMF Software, says that by making a software-as-a-service (SaaS) application available, all the infrastructure requirements previously required to deploy IT management software are now eliminated.

Bushel itself runs on Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Edge says it takes about five minutes to register an Apple device on Bushel. Bushel is free to use for up to three devices, and paid accounts begin at two dollars a month for four devices, and two dollars per device per month for each additional device.

JAMF is no stranger to the nuances of managing Apple devices in the enterprise. But by moving IT management into the cloud, Edge says JAMF software becomes more accessible to small to midsize businesses (SMBs) as well.

Of course, the biggest challenge may be the simple fact that many SMB organizations don’t really do much in terms of managing their devices, so getting them to sign up for a service might prove to be a challenge. In fact, enterprise IT organizations might be inclined to use Bushel as a means to essentially outsource the management of Apple devices that frequently are seen as some “alien” form of technology.

Regardless of how organizations view Apple devices, though, it’s clear that the management of those devices is starting to move into the cloud along with everything else.