A mobile device management solution (MDM) is key when any school is looking to deploy a number of iPads into a school environment. MDM allows staff members to securely enrol devices, update and configure settings, set restrictions and install apps onto the iPads from a central location.
iOS and OS X share a built‑in Mobile Device Management structure. This allows Apple and LightSpeed Mobile Device Managements to wirelessly interact with iOS devices and a Mac server.
How Mobile Device Management Works:
When SchoolCare deploys iPads into a school we use the following structure. Lightspeed MDM ties in with Apple Volume Purchasing Program. This allows schools to log in and purchase apps in bulk and deploy them to all devices. In order for the Mobile Device Management solution to work correctly, Apple configurator is installed onto an Apple Mac server. Apple Configurator is then used to put the iPads into supervisor mode. Supervisor mode allows free Apps to be silently installed onto the Apple iPads. The Apple Mac server is used for App caching which means that each iPad doesn’t need to go out to the internet to fetch each individual App. The iPad will fetch the Apps from the Mac server and download through the schools network which only happens once. This is very important given that some applications are over 600MB in size. Downloading the same application multiple times will vastly increase the strain on the schools internet connection and take a great deal of time.
SchoolCare is able to put together the whole package. SchoolCare is able to provide the iPad hardware, cases for the iPads, charge and sync trolleys, Mac Server, Lightspeed Licensing, OS X License and Installation.
All we need from the school prior to the installation is the following:
- Apple Volume Purchasing Program login details (Email address and Password)
- Quantity of iPads to be enrolled onto MDM. This is so we can create all the Apple IDs prior to the installation date
- List of different groups of iPads to be managed. For example, Student iPad Group, Staff iPad Group, Class 1 iPad Group. This could be just one big group
- List of Free and paid apps that the school would like to be deployed
