iTunes not allowed in the Enterprise!

Not allowing iTunes is a company policy as you say. What they mean is that the iPad is able to connect to Enterprise server to sync e-mails, contacts, calendar etc.. It's like my BBerry it is an enterprise device despite me having no BBerry software on my company machine as it never physically links to it, however, it's a mirror of it.

a1000 has a point, you can use the iPad off of Exchange akin to a Blackberry connected to a Blackberry Enterprise Server.

Your specific organization disallowing iTunes limits a few facets of the iPad but this is a policy choice and not a limitation of the device.

iTunes may be managed by managed policy (MCX), would there be specific functions that if unavailable, would cause the powers that be to reconsider iTunes?

Some of these concerns you have are fairly easily addressed if you refer to the iPhone/iPad security whitepaper. You can lock and/or erase an iPad/iPhone like a Blackberry... you can also disable certain facets of iTunes such as bonjour sharing and the store if you like.. it's easy to do with management and what I do here.

I work for a Fortune 500 company who has to protect sensitive health information; I understand your concerns but know that many of them are easily addressed if you read up on the tools available to you.

You don't need iTunes for an iPad to work in an enterprise environment.

It appears you are simply searching for confirmation of your opinion that the iPad is not feasible in the enterprise. While there is certainly room for improvement, taking into account third party solutions such as MobileIron or Good, with the proper planning you can secure and modestly manage your deployment.

iTunes can be paired down to the bare minimum of enabled features to do just what you are asking for. If you simply want data then Exchange might fit your needs sans iTunes. If you want to load content and sync locally but are concerned about security you can cut iTunes down to what you need with policy and make sure local backups are encrypted (a feature of iTunes).

I hope you found this discussion useful at least in pointing you in the right direction to manage iPads in the current situation. Have an open mind about the possibilities of a highly portable, long battery life, touch screen device, that as far as enterprise/business software is in its infancy.

Have a great day!

Sure, you could possible pair down iTunes for installation.

My company (having a globally installed base of 35,000+ workstations) will install and support BB software on a specific employee’s assigned desktop/laptop and is willing to do the same for iTunes to support the iPhone.

Our mobile phone users don’t create content on their phones. The BBs and such are generally only used for voice, email, calendars, notes, contacts.

Because of the way these devices are used, we're not required to install and support BB software on every workstation through-out the enterprise that a BB user may come into contact with throughout their business day.

However, the iPad is much more that a Black Berry/Smart Phone/iPhone.
Our employees that are asking for iPads are looking to eliminate the need to carry a laptop to access Intranet web sites, deliver presentations, check and compose email, create simple documents (Word, Excel, PowerPoint compatible).

Any content that is created on the iPad needs to be accessible and shareable via USB and not just over 3G and WiFi. The vast majority of our global operation does not have WiFi coverage (and won’t anytime in the near future). 3G coverage is not always available or may be spotty (many locations only have the Edge network available and or no cell coverage due to the buildings structure).

As such, the inability to mount the iPad as a USB storage device to share content without iTunes severely restricts the device.

Apple, yourself and others chime in and say just install iTunes.

There is a very significant cost in deploying, supporting and maintaining iTunes on all of the workstations that iPad users may (or may not) need to connect to across a large enterprise - security, lifecycle, and deployment planning; QA and Certification the current and future application versions on each of the various workstation models (images) and environments (physical & virtual); deploy the application (tech and push installs); etc.

Is Apple, you or they going to pay for all of this this?

Quite frankly, there is no valid technical reason that the iPad cannot be plugged in and mounted as a generic USB flash drive to enable the sharing or files (other than Apples possible business desire to force us to us iTunes).

Until this is corrected and broad support for SSL VPN is available, we will not seriously consider the iPad for anything but very small well defined installations having a limited business scope.

wpociengel is absolutely correct.

And ahem to not allowing employees to transfer company confidential information to any of the clouds supported by the applications hosted on these devices (Mobile Me iDisk, Google Docs, Box.net, Dropbox, SugarSync). I won't even trust my own personal data to them let alone my companies.

With the tight lipped nature of Apple, I’d surprised if they were to trust putting their own company confidential information (like new product development plans) into any of the public clouds supported by the device, including the public version of its own Mobile Me iDisk.

Do you know who is accessing and viewing at it. Can you guarantee its security and that it won’t be harvested or stolen?

Apple still has a lot to learn about the enterprise business environment before they will be taken seriously. There are sound business reasons why the enterprise market has been elusive for Apple. All of the proclamations from Fanboys about how great Apple and its products are won’t change that. It may change if Apple starts to listen to, understand and addresses the concerns of business. There is a huge gap between the requirements and need of home and business customers. Quite frankly, I’m tired of hearing that Apple doesn’t think I need this or won’t allow that (Apple knows best).

A prime example of this is the debate about flash. Our corporate enterprise learning environment has several hundred training modules developed in flash to address everything from sexual harassment and discrimination to airline pilot and mechanic training. I’m positive, that over time, these will be updated to incorporate changes and may ultimately be developed in a non-flash format. However, until then, we are not going to spend capital to redevelop something that works today. Instead, Apple and its fan boys rant about how flash is proprietary and only used for useless advertising and we’re all better off without it. We’ll if apple want to cut me a check for the tens of millions that it will take to redevelop our learning content so that we can use an apple product that doesn’t support flash, I’m all ears. Frankly if Steve cared about enterprise customers, he’d embrace flash and provide those that don’t want to use it and easy way to turn it off (wow – a workable solution that satisfies both).

Either way, I purchased two of iPad 64 3G for hands on testing and have decided to return them due to WiFi problem (both home and corporate networks) and the issues describe in this thread. They are back in the boxes and will be returned to Best Buy tomorrow. I guess I'll have to wait for the HP Slate due out later this year http://www.hpslatevsipad.com/compare.html.

I doubt this public forum is the best place to explain your business needs to Apple. My guess is that if you call 1-800-854-3680 (Apple's Business Specialists) and tell them that you want to buy ten thousand iPads for your employees, but you have this particular concern, then they will try to address it.

Unfortunately, I also guess Apple has enough customers already without doing targeted development for small businesses.