Microsoft releases cloud-based Intune PC management suite

Cloud-based desktop management through Intune will offer businesses significant savings, says Microsoft

Microsoft released its Windows Intune cloud-based PC management suite today at the Microsoft Management Summit in Las Vegas.

Intune allows SMEs to move PC management and security to the cloud, the theory being that firms could save on both IT personnel and back-end infrastructure in managing their desktops.

In a recent blog post, Microsoft UK Intune product manager James Lockyer said, "With Intune, the management and security of your PCs is all handled via Windows Cloud Services through a web-based console. Simply install a [software] agent on each PC, and Intune will cut your IT manager’s troubles in half."

Firms can sign up for the monthly service straight from Microsoft, which could disquiet Microsoft's partners who currently provide firms with PC management services.

There are three core parts to Intune. The management console, which will run in browsers supporting Microsoft's rich media browser technology Silverlight, upgrade licences to the Windows Client Enterprise License plus an upgrade option for Microsoft desktop optimisation pack (MDOP), according to Lockyer.

Lockyer said Intune will cost £7.25 + VAT per user per month, with an extra £0.60 tacked on if users deploy MDOP.

Firms will need to be running a business version of Windows 7, with MDOP likely only being an option for medium-sized firms running virtualised desktop infrastructure.

Intune has built-in group policy management, a system for dealing with user accounts, but has fewer options than Microsoft's Active Directory (AD) group policy management tool.

Lockyer said where firms were running AD, Intune's group policy management settings would defer to AD group policy settings.

He added that Intune could scale to 20,000 desktops, making it suitable for firms wanting to offer Intune services to SMEs, through a multi-tenanted architecture located in a datacentre.