IT Departments Warm Up To Apple

Network World, in its March 5, 2007 issue, notes Apple Mac OS X is making inroads within IT departments. Previously IT departments were largely committed to the Windows platform.

According to the article, several factors are fueling Apple's newfound corporate popularity, including:

• Directory services native within Mac OS X Server.
• Elegant dual-boot support.
• Strong clustering and storage technologies.
• Well-performing third-party virtualization software.
• Migration to better performing Intel CPUs.

A Gartner analyst states, "Because of the switch to Intel, success of the Mac OS X, the stability and elegance of the platform, the Mac is a very viable alternative." He notes, however, that Apple's market strategy still doesn't favor the enterprise market.

But even blue chip companies such as Ford are now turning to Macs. Former Windows- or UNIX-only shops are now trusting Apple-powered Macs to power everything from assembly line production to massive backend backup operations. Anytime you see such adoption (independent of dedicated enterprise sales organizations) it's a sign someone's building a technology others want.