News
Microsoft Rolling Out Intune Updates, Including Name Change
- By Kurt Mackie
- November 18, 2014
Microsoft is currently rolling out the latest updates to its Intune device management service, a three-day process that began on Monday.
As part of the changes, the product will be renamed from "Windows Intune" to "Microsoft Intune." Microsoft announced in October that it would rebrand the service in its next update release. The name change was made, in part, because Microsoft conceives of Intune as a management tool for Android and iOS devices, as well as for Windows-based devices.
Some of the main improvements in this week's Intune updates include the ability to bulk enroll devices, the ability to use device groups to set policies and control apps, and the ability to deploy profiles for "certificates, email, VPN and WiFi." In addition, administrator access can be restricted to "a specific set of users and device groups."
The update allows IT pros to set up multifactor authentication for Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 devices when those devices get enrolled. It's also possible to perform a remote reset of a personal identification numbers for Windows Phone 8.1 devices.
Microsoft added some administrative console user interface improvements. In addition, Samsung KNOX (PDF), a mobile management platform that uses container technology to provide security for business applications, is supported with this update for locking down iOS devices.
The full list of improvements can be found in Microsoft's announcement here.
Microsoft warns Intune subscribers that, during the update period, they "may not be able to login to the Intune administration console." It seems you have to wait for the update to conclude.
The range of times for the Microsoft Intune updates to take place for each service area is located at this Intune status page. It's not clear how long it will take to update the service.
About the Author
Kurt Mackie is senior news producer for 1105 Media's Converge360 group.