WHITE PAPER A First Look at How Windows Intune Can ... - Microsoft

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Keeping track of resources — who has what and what needs to be updated — can bea major chore as firms grow; the growth in the number of branch offices and remoteemployees just adds to the complexity of infrastructure management.Controlling the PCs of task workers is relatively easy when all the PCs are locatedinside the company office, protected by locked doors and corporate firewalls. But it's adifferent story when workers take their notebook PCs with them when they travel forwork or are working from home in the evening. Physical security is essential, and therisks of data being lost or falling into the wrong hands are certainly real. An evengreater threat can be the risk of a company network being compromised by theintroduction of malware, which can result in major operational outages and long-termpotential damage.The paradox is that the flexibility and the freedom made possible by major deploymentsof notebook PCs need to be balanced by enhanced management and securityprocedures to keep workers current and protected so that they can remain productivefrom virtually anywhere. While some IT departments err on the side of caution, toosevere a set of security constraints can impair worker productivity and agility, reducingthe benefits that prompted investment in mobile worker computing in the first place.With Microsoft cloud services, such as Windows Intune, IT staff can manage andprotect PCs without compromising flexibility and productivity, from both an ITstandpoint and an end-user standpoint.P R O D U C T O V E R V I E W : W I N D O W S I N T U N EC l o u d - B a s e d P C M a n a g e m e n t a n d S e c u r i t yWindows Intune takes advantage of the cloud to deliver the essentials of PCmanagement and protection without the need to deploy and maintain a server-basedinfrastructure. Windows Intune includes the following: Single, cloud-based management and security solution. Windows Intune canbe administered via a simple, Web-based administration console. Endpoint protection. Antivirus and antimalware are included in Windows Intuneand centrally managed from the administration console. Management of updates. The solution manages the deployment of all Microsoftsecurity, critical, and noncritical updates to keep systems performing at their best. Asset inventory functionality. This allows IT to inventory systems to identifythe operating system version, hardware status, and installed base of software. Policy-based configuration. Update, firewall, and malware protection policies canbe centrally managed, even on remote machines outside the corporate network. Remote assistance. This functionality allows an IT professional to remotelytroubleshoot and resolve problems. Health monitoring. The solution provides alerts and updates on the healthstatus of each PC in the inventory.4 #227158 ©2011 IDC
Windows Intune is built on the same underlying infrastructure as the Windows Updateservice. Given the deep experience that Microsoft has with the Windows Updateservice, the underlying platform for Windows Intune is built to scale and the long-termvision is for Windows Intune to meet the needs of businesses of all sizes over time.U p g r a d e R i g h t s t o W i n d o w s 7The Windows Intune offering includes subscription-based upgrade rights to Windows 7Enterprise and future versions of the Windows operating system. Customers interestedin achieving a well-managed PC infrastructure should recognize that one of the firststeps is to standardize on a single operating system and then ensure that the necessarytools are in place to keep the operating system current and highly secure.As mentioned, prior IDC research related to Windows 7 found that Windows 7 offeredlower operational costs, independent of the management infrastructure. Windows 7Enterprise offers new security features such as BitLocker drive encryption (to betterprotect confidential data) and AppLocker (manages software through Group Policy) andimproves the user experience with a new interface and advanced search capabilities.Further, Windows XP is quickly approaching the end of its useful life cycle (mainstreamsupport has already ended, and extended support expires in 2014), so customers shouldbegin or at least plan a movement to the most current Windows operating system.Windows Intune also includes the option to purchase the Microsoft DesktopOptimization Pack (MDOP), a suite of six on-premises software tools for moreadvanced management tasks. IDC notes that MDOP is compatible with Windows XPand Windows 7 (as well as Windows Vista), but for the latest features and benefits ofMDOP, Windows 7 is the recommended platform.T H E B U S I N E S S V A L U E O F W I N D O W S I N T U N ES t u d y B a c k g r o u n dIDC performed a study of early Windows Intune beta users in the second half ofCY10. The study was intended to measure the operational costs that companiesexperienced before using Windows Intune and then after using Windows Intune asthe primary management tool for a small sample of their PCs.This study was built around in-depth interviews with eight end-user organizationsparticipating in the beta release of Windows Intune. The organizations had a meannumber of 121 employees and an IT staff of three employees. These organizationswere slightly overrepresented in their use of Windows 7 (30% of current installedbase) and supported a mean of 127 PCs associated with the 121 employees. IDCconducted in-depth interviews to capture experiences before and after theimplementation of Windows Intune. This knowledge was used to generatecalculations used to determine the change in operational costs associated with theadoption of Windows Intune. (For more information, see the ROI Methodology andStudy Demographics sections in the Appendix.)©2011 IDC #227158 5
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