iOS firmware update proxy / cache (for enterprises)

Question

On a day where Apple releases a new version of iOS our whole company tries to download this new release simultaneously, there it is: a bandwidth shortage.

For desktop macs, there is a software update service in OS X server (and there exist even some scripts to do the same on any unix system), but I haven't any luck in finding this type of service for iOS firmware updates. Perhaps someone knows a solution for this (it doesn't need to be an official solution from Apple).

I've found TinyUmbrella, but they're only capable of proxying the signatures which are required if you want to install an older version of the firmware (iTunes checks with Apple servers to prevent downgrades to make jailbreaking a bit harder…)

Answer 1

Everyone is going to be required to contact Apple's server to initiate the update, but you can manually download the firmware and cache it somewhere on your servers. Then have people manually locate the firmware, using (on Windows) the Shift key (IIRC, it's Option on Mac OS) while clicking update. Then, users can browse to the downloaded firmware.

It's not elegant, but it does the trick.