The Window Intune July 2011 Beta will shut down a month later

Sep 7, 2011 09:27 GMT  ·  By

The next release of Windows Intune is right on track to hit general availability on October 17, 2011, Microsoft confirmed officially. Launched worldwide earlier this year, Windows Intune packs an impressive collection of PC management and security services tailored to Windows machines, with Windows 7 Enterprise upgrades as an added bonus, all for $11 per computer per month.

The “price tag” will not change as the latest release of Windows Intune goes live in a little over a month from now, even though it sports new features.

It’s important to underline that the software giant does not provide numbered Windows Intune versions, and the upcoming release should not be referred to as v2.0.

Instead of worrying about such details, customers should instead focus on understanding the model of upgrades for Windows Intune.

The suite of Cloud-based PC management and security offerings will evolve continually, with new features and capabilities added at a rapid pace, and the upcoming release is an illustrative example in this regard.

Microsoft’s Alex Heaton highlighted some of the new features included in the next version of Windows Intune:

“• Software Distribution: With this release, administrators can deploy most Microsoft and third-party updates or applications to PCs nearly anywhere over the Internet.

• Remote Tasks: IT can remotely perform the following tasks on Windows Intune managed PCs from the administration console: Full scan, Quick scan, Update Malware Definition, and Restart.

• Read-Only Access: IT pros and partners can give select administrators read-only access to the administration console so they can view PC information as needed, but not perform any configuration tasks.

• Enhanced Reporting: Create hardware reports based on new hardware filters for common hardware characteristics. Additionally, you can now create and save report parameters to make it easy and efficient to run a report again in the future.”

According to Microsoft, customers that have already subscribed to Windows Intune, or that will do so prior to October 17, will automatically be upgraded to the latest release.

A direct consequence will be the shutdown of the Window Intune July 2011 Beta one month after the GA deadline, so early adopters need to start planning the migration to the RTW version.