More New Microsoft Intune Updates Rolling Out

New updates are rolling out for Microsoft Intune, delivering better separation of consumer and corporate data and apps.

Rod Trent

December 9, 2014

3 Min Read
More New Microsoft Intune Updates Rolling Out

Just a short while ago, our IdeaXchange expert and Microsoftie, Jeff Gilbert laid out recent updates that delivered for Microsoft Intune. He also submitted a tidbit to give you a location to find Microsoft Intune update information. The location that Jeff gave is updated once a month, but there are even more, new Microsoft Intune updates rolling out today that might not make the online update resource until next month. The updates being delivered right now are pretty significant and fulfills promises made by Microsoft VP, Brad Anderson, over the past couple months.

If you are a Microsoft Intune subscriber, today's updates represent a change in how and when new features can be rolled out. I talked with Brad at IT/Dev Connections this past year and he told me about infrastructure changes coming in the product that would make updating easier and quicker. In the past, Intune would be updated in waves on a specific quarterly schedule. Customers could expect new features only a few times a year. Brad said that for Microsoft to be successful as an Enterprise Mobility vendor (Mobile First), updates and new features needed to be delivered at a much faster pace. With the last round of updates just delivering in November, today's new features delivery shows that Microsoft Intune is becoming more agile and follows more closely with how updates are delivered for other Microsoft products and services like Azure and Office 365 – all without service interruption. The newly christened Intune architecture is now a full, native Azure service. So, you can expect new updates on a much more rapid cadence.

Today's updates focus heavily on separating corporate and consumer information on personal devices, particularly for iOS and Android.

Here's what Microsoft Intune subscribers can expect in the latest updates:

  • Containers. Consumer and corporate apps are separated into their own containers to ensure data and apps are always segregated.

  • Restrictive access to Exchange Online. This new feature allows administrators to limit access to corporate email only to those devices that are enrolled for management.

  • Office Mobile app management. Available for iOS and Android, you can now totally manage the behavior of Office apps through the use of the Container technology mentioned above. Using this feature, administrators can restrict features for each app to keep corporate data safe.

  • Managed Internet browser. Administrators can fully manage iOS and Android browsing activity, limiting access to specific web sites.

  • PDF, AV, and Image management. In addition to being able to manage Office apps and the embedded Internet browser, Microsoft Intune can now also restrict the capabilities for PDF, video, and image viewing. This feature has been added specifically for Android devices, while relying on the installed viewers for iOS.

  • Apple Configurator Integration. Microsoft Intune now integrates with Apple Configurator giving administrators the ability to bulk enroll iOS devices and import configuration files for customizing iOS policies.

Incidentally, Brad is kicking off a new series of webcasts today, called the Enterprise Mobility Webcast series. In each episode he'll be joined by a guest from a specific Microsoft team who will help him educate customers on the new Microsoft Intune features and Microsoft's overall vision for Mobile First/Cloud First. You can sign up here:  Success with Enterprise Mobility

 

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