Lightspeed

[Eudora931]

Looking into Lightspeed to replace Meraki MDM

 

Anybody using this and able to share pros and cons?

 

I also have an x server with profile manager , but not wanting to go down that route as heard it's not as reliable?

 

Thanks in advance

[Joanne]

I've been struggling to get profile manager to work, if you have other options definitely look into them!

 

Not used Lightspeed MDM I'm afraid. Are you moving away from Meraki because of the volume of iPads you are using?

[smithson83]

I have tried using both, went back to Meraki, I found the Lightspeed UI very convoluted, whether its any better or worse, I'll leave for someone else. Meraki worked, its free (for my <100 iPads), so it was a no brainer.

[Edu-IT]

We use the MDM and the interface has come on a lot. I would say it's very friendly to use now. When did you last use it @smithson83?

 

I think it depends on who you ask. Some people prefer to use the Apple tools, others won't. We've not had any major issues with Lightspeed MDM and changes we make online are pushed out to the devices very quickly.

 

A lot of it is reliant on the Apple backend, so the issues there have been with delays, have usually been as a result of Apple.

 

Happy to answer any specific questions you may have.

[smithson83]

@Edu-IT, in all honesty and fairness it was 1+ years ago...

[sted]

i tried it once (was over a year ago) with an android tablet following instructions and it wouldnt even find let alone install a single app including the one they showed in the documentation so gave up as even before that i wasnt exactly impressed

[smithson83]

@sted, using an MDM with android is a minefield, it all depends on the APIs the tablet manufacturer has included. Samsung was quite good with this, but many don't bother.

[sted]

@sted, using an MDM with android is a minefield, it all depends on the APIs the tablet manufacturer has included. Samsung was quite good with this, but many don't bother.

 

fair point but it cant even find an app on the web interface that the docs show you (nor could it find iplayer chrome anything else obvious i tried its to me not fit for purpose i dont think at that point id even installed oet on the tablet was just adding apps that i would want to install

[Eudora931]

I've been struggling to get profile manager to work, if you have other options definitely look into them!

 

Not used Lightspeed MDM I'm afraid. Are you moving away from Meraki because of the volume of iPads you are using?

 

We currently have close to 300 iPads and will be adding at least another 20 more. The thoughts around moving away from MERAKI has been made necessary due to a change in the support . The MDM is currently being managed centrally by an outsourced support team - but now that I am the internal network manager - we need to move away from that.

Issues that brings up :

Currently MERAKI allow us all our iPads and then some for free - if we move the MDM over (ie create a new one) we are now liable for the post 100 devices charges

 

So , as we will need to pay anyway - I'm looking into Lightspeed as another option as it allows more local management of iPads? I know the new iOs is (supposedly)going to allow that but as others have pointed out - not sure how practical that will be in real terms e.g with caching of profiles etc.

 

Also, we are currently using configurator - which as you can imagine takes almost forever to roll out changes / re image iPads etc as they have to be physically attached. Lightspeed, I have been told, does not require that .

 

So just a comparison thing at the moment - ie keep to MERAKI or move to Lightspeed as it may give us more flexibility and may be cheaper?

 

Side note - pain moving to managing our own MDM as whatever we decide 300 plus devices to re enroll- oh joy! lol

[Edu-IT]

You can enrol devices through a web URL but they need to be connected to configurator to supervise them? Without them being supervised a lot of the restrictions don't work.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by local management?

[Joanne]

I'm actually entitled to Lightspeed MDM for free through our LA broadband package. Might try it out too.

[Brimstone]

You can enrol devices through a web URL but they need to be connected to configurator to supervise them? Without them being supervised a lot of the restrictions don't work.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by local management?

 

No they don't, if the school enrol in DEP you can do away with Configurator altogether, just reset each iPad and it will be activated, enrolled with a non removable supervised MDM profile and ready for use.

[Edu-IT]

No they don't, if the school enrol in DEP you can do away with Configurator altogether, just reset each iPad and it will be activated, enrolled with a non removable supervised MDM profile and ready for use.

Let me clarify. Depends on where you buy the iPads from though as not all can offer DEP, at this point, was what I was told.

 

So you may still need to use configurator.

Edited January 13, 2016 by Edu-IT

[Brimstone]

We currently have close to 300 iPads and will be adding at least another 20 more. The thoughts around moving away from MERAKI has been made necessary due to a change in the support . The MDM is currently being managed centrally by an outsourced support team - but now that I am the internal network manager - we need to move away from that.

Issues that brings up :

Currently MERAKI allow us all our iPads and then some for free - if we move the MDM over (ie create a new one) we are now liable for the post 100 devices charges

 

So , as we will need to pay anyway - I'm looking into Lightspeed as another option as it allows more local management of iPads? I know the new iOs is (supposedly)going to allow that but as others have pointed out - not sure how practical that will be in real terms e.g with caching of profiles etc.

 

Also, we are currently using configurator - which as you can imagine takes almost forever to roll out changes / re image iPads etc as they have to be physically attached. Lightspeed, I have been told, does not require that .

 

So just a comparison thing at the moment - ie keep to MERAKI or move to Lightspeed as it may give us more flexibility and may be cheaper?

 

Side note - pain moving to managing our own MDM as whatever we decide 300 plus devices to re enroll- oh joy! lol

 

So if you have bought your iPads from an Apple Education Solutions Expert they should be part of DEP, if not then if the iPads are not supervised already they will need to be using AC2, Lightspeed can let you download a bulk enrol profile and import into AC2.

 

Meraki -

Pro's

Free of Charge, although not any longer for most, as your post in here.

Web Based

Cons

Virtual Zero support

No support for iBook or document upload to iPads

Older systems manager does support new restrictions or device assign ID

No classroom teacher tools

 

Lightspeed -

Pros

Web based, not local

Support from Lightspeed included in cost

Supports all newest iOS features and iBooks Store, document upload to iPads

Cons -

Chargeable

iPads require enrolment, either using DEP or via bulk enrolment download and import into AC2

[SchoolsBroadband]

We've loads of customers using Lightspeed MDM and include it FOC year 1 in all of our broadband contracts. It's a great tool and the latest version is really easy to use.

 

let me know if you'd like a quote.

 

Thanks

 

Dave

[Eudora931]

Some really good info to think about - thanks!

 

- - - Updated - - -

[Eudora931]

Lightspeed -

Cons -

Chargeable

iPads require enrolment, either using DEP or via bulk enrolment download and import into AC2

 

Hi,

 

With the cons of lightspeed - are you saying that I will still need Apple Configurator for the enrolment part ?

[RLR]

Lightspeed -

Cons -

Chargeable

iPads require enrolment, either using DEP or via bulk enrolment download and import into AC2

 

Hi,

 

With the cons of lightspeed - are you saying that I will still need Apple Configurator for the enrolment part ?

 

We use Casper but I'm sure lightspeed is very similar. You should have the option to enroll using a Enrollment URL. This is quite a manual process for shared iPads so it might just be easier to use Apple Configurator to enroll your iPads to your MDM.

 

DEP is the best option but if that isn't avaiable, I'd use a mix of Apple Configurator 2 and your chosen MDM. The Enrollment URL is a legacy method really for 1:1 deployment (in my opinion).

[Eudora931]

So, finally got round to putting this in action. I have an issue where I have Dep approved supplier id's for half of my iPads but not the other half - need to find out where they were bought etc ...

So , if I can't get the dep from supplier - what would be the best way to deploy the half that aren't dep enrolled? (That would equate to Around 140 iPads)

Thanks in advance

[snagrat]

Use AC to supervise them and install Any profiles and MDM