Jamf, an enterprise IT company based in Minneapolis but with roots and employees in Eau Claire, WI, said Wednesday that it has acquired Orchard & Grove, an Austin, TX-based software developer.
Jamf helps businesses set up and manage Apple (NASDAQ: [[ticker:AAPL]]) computers and mobile devices that employees use to do their jobs.
Orchard & Grove is the creator of Nomad, a set of products designed for systems administrators at organizations with employees who use Apple devices for work. Nomad includes a plugin that allows Mac computer users to access their e-mail accounts, work calendars, and other programs through Microsoft (NASDAQ: [[ticker:MSFT]]) Azure Active Directory, a digital identity-management service. Nomad can help users synchronize information across their employer-issued devices while maintaining network security, according to Orchard & Grove’s website.
Jamf did not disclose any financial terms in a news release announcing its acquisition of Orchard & Grove.
The deal marks another connection between Jamf and the capital city of Texas. Last October, Jamf sold a majority stake in the company to Austin-based Vista Equity Partners. Austin’s ecosystem of computer and IT businesses is anchored in part by Dell Technologies (NYSE: [[ticker:DVMT]]), which is headquartered in nearby Round Rock.
Two of Orchard & Grove’s full-time employees will join Jamf under the terms of the deal, and relocate to the Twin Cities, a spokesperson for Jamf said. One is Joel Rennich, who originally developed Nomad and released it as an open-source software application in 2016. The other is Josh Wisenbaker, who like Rennich spent more than a decade working for Apple in the company’s enterprise division.
Orchard & Grove offers an open-source version of the Nomad product line, as well as commercial versions. (“Open source” refers to software code that anyone across the globe can access and use to build other applications.) Jamf said it plans to combine the commercial versions of Nomad into a single product, and rebrand it as Jamf Connect. However, Nomad’s open-source version will retain its name and branding, Jamf said.
Jamf was founded in 2002 in Eau Claire, and still employs hundreds at its office there. The company has more than 800 employees worldwide, the Jamf spokesperson said.
Jamf said its software is used to manage about nine million devices across 15,000 organizations. Its customers include schools, healthcare providers, and government agencies.
