Microsoft expanded the public beta of its Intune remote-management product on Monday, announcing that the offering will be priced at $11 per PC when it goes live in early 2011.
Microsoft originally announced the Intune beta in April, when Microsoft said that it would make the tool available in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico to 1,000 customers. On Monday, Microsoft expanded the region list to France, Germany, Ireland, Spain, the U.K., and Italy, and said that it would not support up to 10,000 customer beta accounts serving at least 5 PCs each.
Intune is a cloud-based remote management system, allowing IT administrators - or, now, partners - to remotely manage a number of client PCs.
"Businesses get a great deal with Windows Intune for several reasons. Because Windows Intune is built on a cloud service, customers and partners can realize the benefits of having a modern PC management and security system without the upfront software licenses, server hardware, and IT labor costs that are required to setup a traditional on-premise solutions," Alex Heaton wrote on the Microsoft blog.
Windows Intune will include the cloud management service with integrated antimalware (AV and antispyware) plus Windows 7 Enterprise upgrade rights, Microsoft said.
Microsoft made the announcement on the first day of its Worldside Partner Conference in Washington D.C., where the company made a number of enterprise-related announcements. However, Microsoft also slipped some consumer disclosures as well, including the first release of Windows 7 SP1 to businesses and the roadmap to future Windows 7 tablets.
Microsoft also announced an appliance based on Windows Azure, which the company will deploy this year in conjunction with eBay. The appliance will include "Windows Azure, Microsoft SQL Azure and a Microsoft-specified configuration of network, storage and server hardware," Microsoft said.
The new beta includes a "Multi-Account Console", which is designed to help partners manage multiple accounts through the single Web-based console, Microsoft said. Alerts, the health of the PC, and updates can all be monitored across all of the PCs a partner or an IT administrator manages, with the ability to filter for urgently needed upgrades or patches.
The Cisco CCNA network associate certification validates the ability to install, configure, operate, and troubleshoot medium-size routed and switched networks, more at http://www.certkingdom.com
