MMS 2012: A World of Connected Devices

In his second keynote address at MMS 2012, Brad Anderson, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Management and Security Division, took the stage to discuss the world of cloud-connected devices. He highlighted how Microsoft’s latest enterprise client management solutions can help customers address the consumerization of IT. You can find a replay of this second keynote here.

“We’re no longer in a world of one user, one desktop,” said Anderson. “Power users now own five to seven Internet-connected devices. Just to put things in perspective, there are now more than 916 millions smart-connected devices in the world, and that figure will double by 2016.”

As Anderson began his discussion about System Center 2012 Configuration Manager and System Center 2012 Endpoint Protection, he pointed out that although organizations assume that about 34 percent of users are accessing business resources on their personal devices, in reality 69 percent of users say that they’re accessing those resources in that way. Today, there are more and more user-controlled devices at work—quite a stress for IT.

The challenge is to find a way to enable users to work how, when, and where they want. System Center 2012 tackles that challenge in a compelling way.

The key, according to Anderson, is to use an intelligent application infrastructure that delivers device-optimized applications. In an interesting announcement, Anderson revealed that System Center 2012 will offer “deep, deep integration with Windows, Apple iOS, and Google Android.” The demonstration of this integration (once some AV kinks were worked out) drew significant applause from the audience.

Anderson went on to demonstrate some key new features of the Windows Intune Pre-Release, Microsoft’s cloud-based management solution. Key features include mobile device management, people-centric management, and a self-service company portal.

Check out Jeff James's coverage of the keynote in MMS 2012: Windows InTune Gets Enhanced Mobile Device Support.