MINNEAPOLIS – Nov. 1, 2017 – Jamf, the management standard for the Apple ecosystem, concluded its eighth annual Jamf Nation User Conference (JNUC) with a record 1,500-plus Apple IT administrators in attendance and 2,300 visitors joining the keynote live streams. JNUC is the largest gathering of Apple IT administrators in the world.
“JNUC is truly unique and special – bringing together people passionate about Apple to help each other do their jobs better and delight Apple device users,” said Dean Hager, CEO, Jamf. “With new hands-on opportunities to use Jamf Pro 10 and learn from fellow attendees, more Apple IT members came together than ever before to learn and be inspired. This year, we saw seeds of years past with choice programs, healthcare transformation and personalized learning, go mainstream.”
JNUC 2017 Highlights at a Glance
The Management Standard for the Apple Ecosystem
The highly anticipated Jamf Pro 10 was announced and then made generally available on October 31. It includes an entirely new look and feel, a more robust Patch Management and a totally revamped Jamf Self Service for Mac. More than 1,000 organizations participated in the beta to ensure the highest quality of the newest Jamf Pro. Other announcements included a developer portal – a place with resources for anyone who wants to develop software that enhances Jamf’s solution, and the Jamf Marketplace – a central repository of integrations that extend the Jamf platform and the challenges it solves.
Microsoft
Announced at Microsoft Ignite, Brad Anderson, corporate vice president, Microsoft Corp., demonstrated Jamf’s integrated solution with Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security (EMS) that provides automated compliance management for Mac devices accessing applications set up with Azure AD authentication. Together, Jamf and EMS prevent an authorized user from using a personal Mac, an unmanaged Mac or a managed corporate Mac that is not compliant with security policies and therefore is more vulnerable to security threats.
“Every organization is going to have a mix of devices and operating systems; we need to accommodate them with modern management principles,” said Anderson. “This ultimately increases your end users, decreases your costs.”
Mac Choice Gains Adoption Among Fortune 500
Following in the footsteps of IBM, members of Apple, Microsoft, Walmart, Capital One and SAP collaborated on stage to talk about choice programs, and how offering Mac devices is not only expected by employees, but improves employee retention, satisfaction and reduces overall IT costs.
Transforming the Patient Experience at Scale
At JNUC 2016, UCSD Jacobs Medical Center unveiled a first-of-its-kind iPad implementation. This included having an iPad and Apple TV in each of the hospital’s 245 patient rooms, giving patients secure access to their medical information and apps, and control over their in-room experience. This year, members from Geisinger Health Systems, the Bungie Foundation and Orthology explained how they are leveraging Apple devices to reduce patient stress and improve the overall patient experience. With more than 357 iPads throughout 24 departments across six of the system’s facilities, Geisinger deploys over 100 apps for patient use on their iPads while Bungie estimates they have reached more than 123,000 kids since kicking off iPads for Kids at Seattle Children’s Hospital.
Education
In addition to Jamf Pro 10, the Jamf Developer Program and Marketplace, an exclusive MDM partnership with eSpark was also announced. By enrolling iPad devices with Jamf Pro, quality educational apps curated by eSpark are automatically distributed without teacher or IT interaction to individual students based on assessment data. Students then progress through content and master concepts at a pace that is right for them. Keynote panelists from Orchard STEM School and Pequea Valley School District demonstrated how this partnership is making a difference. Specifically, Pequea Valley’s Pennsylvania System of Schools Assessment (PSSA) scores went from 63 percent to 81 percent in math and 45 percent to 75 percent in reading.
Additional JNUC session speakers included leading enterprise and education organizations such as Apple, IBM, Cisco and Microsoft. A total of more than 80+ sessions, community and Jamf-led workshops and panel discussions were delivered, along with several ‘Mini Events’ over the course of the three-day event.
About Jamf
Since 2002, Jamf has been solely focused on helping organizations succeed with Apple. Jamf is committed to enabling IT to empower end users and bring the legendary Apple experience to businesses, education, and government organizations via its Jamf Pro and Jamf Now solutions, and the 53,000+ member Jamf Nation community. Today, more than 13,000 global customers rely on Jamf to manage over eight million Apple devices. To learn more, visit https://www.jamf.com.