Microsoft Makes It Official: System Center Configuration Manager vNext Hits GA

Last week the bits for System Center Configuration Manager vNext hit MSDN. And, despite what we knew was that this represented a full release of the promised product, several people (MVPs primarily) said that that wasn’t entirely accurate. As we’ve come to understand, a product isn’t truly released until the announcement exists on Microsoft blog site somewhere.

Well, today, that official blog post has gone live. System Center Configuration Manager and Endpoint Protection (version 1511 – notice how it follows the Windows 10 build naming?) is now available from MSDN, from the Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC), and the Microsoft Evaluation Center.

Remember, as we reported from Microsoft Ignite this year, System Center Configuration Manager will deliver a couple times. The version released this month is intended as support for managing Windows 10. The next release will come sometime in 2016 (probably around the Microsoft Ignite time frame) and developed to support Windows Server 2016.

Want to know about everything included in this version of System Center Configuration Manager? Popular community liaison and MVP, Kent Agerlund, gives a session on this next week (December 15^th). Find more here: What's New in System Center Configuration Manager vNext

Additionally, while Microsoft will use its keynote events to make announcements, IT/Dev Connections 2016 will provide in-depth, technical education later in 2016. Official dates for IT/Dev Connections 2016 are October 10-13, 2016. Registration will go live soon, but watch http://devconnections.com for more information.

In the interim, here’s an overview of what you can find in the latest System Center Configuration Manager release: