Microsoft to Retire the Intune Portal, Merge it into Office 365

Don't tell me you didn't see this coming…

Later this year, you can expect to see deeper integration for Intune and RMS inside Windows 10 (PC and mobile), but for now, centrally managing devices is done through Microsoft Intune. Microsoft Intune, of course, is Microsoft's cloud-based system that supports cross-platform device management (iOS, Android, Windows Phone).

A few months back, Microsoft made pieces of Microsoft Intune available to Office 365 customers. And, customers then wanted full device management beyond the minor features Office 365 offered, they could sign-up for a full Microsoft Intune subscription.

Today Microsoft is announcing a change that will have a big impact on both Microsoft Intune and Office 365 customers. Starting now, the Office 365 management portal will include subscription management and license assignment for Intune and the Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS). But, then later this month Microsoft will retire the Intune portal completely, making the Office 365 portal the one-stop managing subscriptions and assigning licenses for Intune. Microsoft hasn't exactly set a hard date for the retirement, but has said that it will happen on or after September 28.

Microsoft has provided a FAQ for those customers unsure of what this change might mean. It's located at the bottom of this post:  Intune and EMS subscriptions now available in the Office 365 portal, and includes information about what existing customers can expect.

It's important to note that the Intune Admin console is not part of the change. Device administrators can still use that to continue managing devices – for now. It's hard to imagine that Microsoft will stop here and that this is just an initial step in a fully combined service.