Dell KACE
AppDeploy

DELL KACE K1000

Management Appliance

The easy-to-use, comprehensive and affordable systems management solution.

 

iPhone Management

Centrally Deploy, Track and Report on iPhones Across the Organization

Apple's iPhone has entered today's business world as one of the fastest growing and most readily accepted new communications and computing platforms. In response, IT organizations need to ensure that the growing number of iPhones can be effectively deployed, managed and tracked seamlessly and securely and in a centralized fashion.

K1000 iPhone management is an integrated part of the comprehensive K1000 Management Appliance. As the industry's first iPhone management solution, it is designed to allow organizations to obtain the same comprehensive, easy-to-use, cost effective lifecycle management capabilities for their growing iPhone population as they currently enjoy for their laptops, desktops and servers already under K1000 management.

K1000 iPhone management helps IT organizations streamline iPhone provisioning through automated profile set ups, ensuring they don't waste precious time and resource by having to provide assistance to users on an individual basis. Additionally K1000 iPhone management can help to elevate the visibility of iPhone adoption and provide management with associated cost impacts through effective asset tracking and reporting.

Deploy and Configure iPhones

The new technology allows IT administrators to centrally assign and provision configuration setting for iPhones using the software distribution and self-service user portal capabilities of the K1000. The iPhone support complements Apple's iPhone Configuration Utility, providing easy management of multiple configuration profiles and tools to apply them based on policies across the organization.

The iPhone configuration profiles allow an organization to set up E-mail and secure access with VPNs, certificates and wireless settings for users' iPhones. The iPhones can then be used to access the K1000 self-service user portal to download their configuration profiles and for general K1000 user portal access. The self-service user portal allows users to access a flexible knowledge base, see hardware and software inventory information, install IT controlled software packages and access support tickets. Downloads of iPhone profiles can be tracked using custom reports to ensure users have the correct profiles in place and provide visibility into iPhone user's adoption of IT services.

The primary benefits are ease of use and the added flexibility and time provided to support the distributed iPhone needs of the organization. An administrator can manage iPhone profiles to define different access policies in a user-centric way, and provide for both e-mail and user portal distribution options, all through the familiar K1000 user interface. This helps reduce administrative effort and complexity, and provides the ability to respond to business requirements with rapid updates. Additionally, access to the K1000 self-service user portal from the iPhone adds a mobility option for users.

Managing iPhone Inventory

In conjunction with K1000 asset management, K1000 iPhone management enables added inventory control for iPhones, allowing administrators to automatically track and understand the associated organizational costs as these handheld mobile devices are adopted by the business. The iPhone assets can also be extended and mapped to associated cost center data such as carrier contract details and used to manage aspects such as contract renewal dates. Using the K1000, IT can manage the growth of iPhone assets from both a cost and support perspective.

iPhone Tracking and Reporting

iPhone assets can be automatically discovered and monitored using regular or custom reports and alert notifications. Administrators can now benefit from tracking iPhone users’ hardware and software versioning, monitoring the revisions of each iPhone in use, which applications they have installed, and how many RMAs the users have had. In conjunction with knowing user’s iPhone contact and location details this significantly eases the job of supporting these mobile users. On the cost control side, using custom reports can provide visibility into iPhone adoption for planning purposes, and allow for the creation of cost center reports based on location or organization (Boston Office, Finance, etc.). Alerts can be used to track changes, for example sending an e-mail notification of the appearance of a blacklisted application on a user’s iPhone.

K1000 iPhone Management Key Features

  • iPhone Configuration Profile Management
    • Assigning profiles to user groups, for example by function or geography
    • Distribution of profiles by e-mail
    • Profile downloads available from K1000 user portal
    • iPhone user access to the K1000 user portal
  • iPhone Asset Information, Tracking and Reporting
    • Tracks individual iPhone information
    • Tracks number of iPhone users
    • Tracks iPhone equipment versions
    • Tracks assigned serial numbers, including IMEI & ICCID identifiers
    • Monitors installed applications
    • Extensible to allow access to corresponding contracts
    • Tracks individual plans and renewal dates
    • Keeps asset data current via scheduled iPhone K-script refresh
    • Delivers e-mails alerts based on changes in the asset fields
    • Tracks related dependencies, i.e. carrier contracts and associated renewal dates