Windows Intune Review

David M Williams
Friday, 11 November 2011 13:23

What is Windows Intune?
Today an increasing number of employees are mobile – and need to be able to work effectively anywhere. And that means their PCs need to be always up to date and protected. To vastly simplify this task for businesses of all sizes, Microsoft has introduced a new cloud-based solution called Windows Intune™.

As part of what Microsoft calls its ‘Flexible Workstyle’ story, Windows Intune leverages the cloud and the Windows 7 operating system to take PC management to a whole new level of simplicity.

Whether your employees are in the office or on the road, Windows Intune allows them to have the same up-to-date Windows experience without compromising the essentials – such as cost, control, security and compliance.

How does it benefit my business?
As a cloud-based service with zero server infrastructure requirements, Windows Intune offers a simple, management solution that delivers an up to date and highly secure Windows 7 PC experience to end-users working nearly anywhere. Even better, Windows Intune can also extend to cover PCs and tablets brought into the organisation by contract workers, or personal PCs and tablets that are used for work purposes, helping to help ensure risks aren’t brought into the business network.

Windows Intune fits the needs of small to medium businesses by giving them big tech results with a small tech investment. Microsoft hosts and manages the infrastructure for you—alleviating the burden on your IT staff while still keeping them in control of your IT infrastructure.

Typically, a business-grade anti-malware and security product necessitates a centralised server to which all client PCs duly report their definition, status and any problems. This model suffers in several scenarios that are becoming more and more common. For one, if you have highly mobile staff – salespeople for example – they can go for long periods without checking into an office. This almost guarantees their anti-malware definitions will go out-of-date, making their PCs more susceptible.

With Windows Intune, so long as your users’ PCs have an active Internet connection, these problems are managed. Your business no longer requires a server of its own to run an anti-malware product. It also no longer matters if your users’ machines are on the same WAN, different WANs or even no WAN at all. As long as they can reach the Internet, they can be monitored and administered via the cloud.

This is where Windows Intune really distances itself from competing products: it is, truly, a “Windows” tuning product, providing the administrator tools to remotely deploy and manage software from Microsoft and from 3rd parties. With Windows Intune you can centrally manage and secure your PCs through a simple, web-based console—whether your IT staff and employees are in the main office, a branch office, or on the road.

This administration console also provides a raft of other useful features: Windows Remote Assistance is tied in; policies can be created and deployed to manage the Windows Firewall and Windows Intune client on targeted PCs or laptops; and software can even be uploaded to, and deployed from, the cloud space that comes with Windows Intune.

Deployment is also a cinch, with the simple Windows Intune client available to be installed on each computer or pushed out via Active Directory group policy, or even downloaded directly by sending a mass e-mail to all staff. And once the client is installed, it fetches any additional components it requires and makes contact with the Windows Intune console.

With your subscription to Windows Intune you can also upgrade to Windows 7 Enterprise and future editions of Windows. By standardising all your PCs you can provide a better experience for your employees – not to mention an easier environment for you to manage.

Big tech results. Small tech investment.
Microsoft has established itself as a strong contender in the endpoint protection space. With Windows Intune you get more than “regular” endpoint protection, providing a level of support and care for major apps like the Office suite that is unprecedented in any similar system.

Best of all, with Windows Intune cloud services you don’t have the overhead of maintaining on-site PC management servers and software—so you get “big tech” results with a small tech investment.

Lastly, because it’s a subscription-based service, you also enjoy the benefit of a predictable, monthly payment cycle. And you can even try out Windows Intune for your business for 30 days.

Windows Intune comes with 20GB of cloud storage with the option to purchase more, and can support up to 20,000 client PCs with a single account, to enable the flexible workstyles modern workers demand. While relieving the pressure on overtaxed IT departments – and budgets.

Need more information on Microsoft’s Windows Intune – www.windowsintune.com.au