While yesterday"s news was all about the major updates for Windows 10 and Xbox One, Microsoft also made it clear that Windows 10 has now matured enough to be taken seriously in the Enterprise, with the release of a few new features for IT administrators that are ready to deploy Windows 10 in the workplace.
Microsoft"s Executive Vice President of the Windows and Devices Group, Terry Myerson posted on the Windows Blog that the company is introducing two free services, designed for IT to bridge from today’s complexity to the modern workplace, maintaining control and delivering reliable quality of services:
- Windows Update for Business provides IT controls over the deployment of updates within their organizations, while ensuring their devices are kept current and their security needs are met, at reduced management cost. Features include setting up device groups with staggered deployments and scaling deployments with network optimizations.
- Windows Store for Business provides IT a flexible way to find, acquire, manage and distribute apps to Windows 10 devices – both Windows Store apps and custom line of business apps. Organizations can choose their preferred distribution method by directly assigning apps, publishing apps to a private store, or connecting with management solutions.
The update also extends to device management and introduces two capabilities designed for IT to empower people to effectively, and securely, use multiple devices to get their work done:
- Mobile Device Management, empowers IT to use the full power of Enterprise Mobility Management to manage the entire family of Windows devices, including PCs, tablets, phones, and IOT. Windows 10 is the only platform that can manage BYOD scenarios from the device to the apps to the data on those devices – safely and securely. And of course, Windows 10 is fully compatible with the existing management infrastructure used with PCs, giving IT control over how they bridge between two capabilities.
- Azure Active Directory Join, empowers IT to maintain one directory, enabling people to have one login and securely roam their Windows settings and data across all of their Windows 10 devices. AAD Join also enables any machine to become enterprise ready with a few simple clicks by anyone in the organization.
No OS in the workplace is taken seriously without some sort of suite of security tools that IT administrators can impose on the users, and the November update does not fail in that regard, with the release or update of the following tools:
- Credential Guard safeguards credentials inside a hardware-based virtualized environment and breaks the popular “pass the hash” used in many major breaches.
- Device Guard uses Trusted Boot to prevent intruders from installing malware, helping to keep company devices secure.
- Windows Hello enables people to say goodbye to passwords with enterprise-grade biometrics including fingerprint and facial recognition.
- Windows Defender, our free anti-malware service protecting almost 300 million Windows devices every day.
Microsoft also stated in the post that enterprise data protection will arrive "soon" to help protect data by separating and containing corporate data from consumer data. The feature is currently in testing with a number of enterprise customers, with the feature becoming available to Windows Insiders soon.
And finally, Microsoft has committed to the option that will enable enterprise customers to turn off all telemetry data if they choose. Microsoft "strongly" recommends against this, citing that the data helps "deliver a secure, reliable, and more delightful personalized experience." Well, thankfully there"s always the 7M+ Windows Insiders for that data.
Via Windows Blog