Time To Upgrade SUS To WSUS

Microsoft will cease distributing Software Update Services (SUS) on August 24 and cease delivering updates via SUS on December 6, 2006, and the company will no longer support SUS after that date. For administrators who rely on SUS it's a great time to upgrade to Windows Software Update Services (WSUS).

WSUS (formerly named Windows Update Services, formerly named Software Update Services) is the current name for Microsoft's evolving patch management solution. Currently available for Windows 2000 Server with SP4 and Windows Server 2003, WSUS with Service Pack 1 is available as a free download at Microsoft's Web site.

On August 15 Microsoft released WSUS 3.0 Beta 2 into public beta testing. The public beta program is slated to end in February 2007 and the company intends to officially release WSUS 3.0 sometime later in 2007. The new version will include a new MMC-based interface, as well as improved performance and reporting along with a Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) pack.