ManageEngine Adds Apple Patch Management to Desktop Central
IT management platform company ManageEngine (a division of Zoho) is extending support for patch management to Apple Mac systems in the latest release of the company’s remote monitoring and management platform Desktop Central. The solution recognizes the growth of the Mac platform in business settings and the greater need that managed services providers (MSPs) have for managing them. Here’s the story.
ManageEngine Product Management Director Mathivanan Venkatachalam said in a prepared statement that Mac computers are growing steadily across all verticals. Managing Macs manually would cause a burden on MSPs. To overcome vulnerabilities caused by managing Macs manually, ManageEngine developed a patch that would enable administrators to provide the following:
- Mac OS and app support — includes Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), 10.7 (Lion) and 10.8 (Mountain Lion) as well as third-party applications such as Adobe, Java and others;
- On-demand patch scanning — performs scans of all systems running a supported version of Mac OS X and apps and then reports on the vulnerability status of the network;
- Bulk and scheduled patch deployment — enables administrators to execute deployments based on patch priority and on time, e.g., weekends and other off-peak hours;
- Severity-based patch management — allows administrators to create and configure severity levels for missing patches, which are then deployed based on severity;
- Patch approval mechanism — tests and approves patches in a controlled environment to ensure that they are error-free and stable, before they are rolled out to the entire network; and
- Aystem health status reports — provide granular-level details about system vulnerability level, missing and applicable patches, task status and more.
“To help enterprises manage the Mac desktops and laptops, we’re rolling out patch management support for Macs,” he said. “Going forward, we will add more features for Mac management including software deployment, remote control and more.”
Desktop Central 8 support for Mac patch management is available immediately. Prices start at $545 for 50 computers annually for the Professional Edition.
ManageEngine recently released its ServiceDesk Plus-MSP iPhone app, which, according to the company, is the first voice-enabled mobile app for MSPs running an IT help desk.
To learn more about the company’s partner program, visit the ManageEngine website.
