Overall Benefit

• Many government organizations have chosen the Mac for its industry-leading security, manageability, interoperability, and ease of use.
• Apple offers innovative solutions to meet the demands of government organizations— providing highly secure, compliant systems that are easy to use, manage, and integrate into your existing environment.
• Mac OS X is built on a proven, fully certified UNIX foundation—giving your organization out-of-the-box security that’s easy to maintain and configure.

• Highly secure and compliant. The Mac comes with robust security capabilities built in, making it easier for your organization to readily comply with government security requirements and ideal for deployments in which security is not optional.
• Built-in data-at-rest encryption. FileVault and the underlying encrypted container technology built into Mac OS X provide strong AES encryption, so Mac computers protect your data at rest without requiring third-party software or encrypted storage devices.
• Out-of-the-box security. Apple offers a cost-effective way to protect data and systems with highly secure solutions right out of the box, such as FileVault and encrypted containers built into Mac OS X—providing strong AES encryption to protect your data at rest.
• Tried and tested. Your organization can deploy the Mac with confidence knowing that Apple supports government security standards such as Common Criteria certification and FIPS 140-2 validation. Together with third-party solutions, the Mac makes it easier to comply with OMB and NIST requirements and to establish security policies using published security guides approved by the National Security Agency.

• Interoperable. The Mac is designed to fit into your organization’s existing Active Directory environment via a plug-in built into Mac OS X. So IT staff can provide centralized administration and scalability to both Mac and PC systems on the network, helping to keep costs low.
• Easy integration. The Mac can plug into Active Directory–only environments in much the same way as Windows clients do, enabling IT staff to manage both Mac and PC computers seamlessly using existing tools.
• Cost-effective scalability. Mac systems can integrate into an Active Directory environment without third-party software, minimizing costs that can strain the IT budget.
• Single sign-on. By providing single sign-on access to the Active Directory network through Kerberos, the Mac offers IT staff the ability to create network-based home directories, local home directories, or a combina­tion of the two.

• Easy to manage and support. The Mac enables IT administrators to upgrade, patch, and secure Mac computers with the user-friendly tools built into Mac OS X, as well as with solutions from third-party vendors.
• Simplified administration. Apple offers proven client management tools, such as Apple Remote Desktop and the advanced services in Mac OS X, that enable your IT staff to support Mac computers with minimal IT resources.
• Integrated services. With Mac OS X, built in capabilities that let IT staff create and implement access controls, set password policies and preferences, and personalize work environments help increase IT efficiency by eliminating the need to manage client systems individually.
• Minimal IT resources. Your existing IT staff can easily support the Mac on a heterogeneous network with current business processes—using existing tools or other innovative client management tools for the Mac.