A consortium of five companies has announced the creation of the Enterprise Desktop Alliance (EDA) to promote the deployment of Macs in the enterprise. The five founding companies -- Centrify, LANrev, Atempo, GroupLogic, and Parallels -- are all focused on integrating the Mac operating system and infrastructure with Windows and PC-based network infrastructure for enterprise-level companies.

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With Apple’s introduction of the iPhone and iPod Touch, along with enterprise tools for these devices, Apple is capturing more market adoption in business, making the creation of an organization like EDA very timely, says Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research.

A recent survey from the Yankee Group found that eight in 10 business people now use a Mac in the office, double the number from 2006.

While EDA’s immediate goal, says Peter Frankl, COO at LANrev, is to make IT departments in the enterprise aware of the tools the consortium offers, Gottheil says the organization can also serve to raise mindshare in IT departments about Macs.

"Enterprise IT departments have always had to tolerate Macs and probably have to tolerate more now,” said Gottheil, so there would be a benefit to IT if the EDA offered thought leadership, white papers, and software tools dealing with IT's Mac concerns.

According to Frankl, as EDA grows in numbers it hopes to become an organization that will create a community of IT professionals and a resource to share best practices around Mac in the enterprise.