Microsoft Says ‘Mom’ to MEM, and Just Call It ‘Intune’ — Redmondmag.com

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Ignite 2022: Microsoft Says ‘Mom’ to MEM, and Just Call It ‘Intune’

Microsoft Endpoint Management (MEM) appears to be the first casualty of the Microsoft Ignite name this week, as Microsoft announced that the MEM brand is being replaced by Microsoft Intune.

The branding change is now reflected on the landing page of Microsoft’s endpoint management product, which is now branded as “Microsoft Intune.” It further stated that “with the launch of our advanced capabilities, Microsoft Intune, formerly part of Microsoft Endpoint Manager, grows into a family of endpoint management products.”

Microsoft’s future endpoint management development efforts will focus on the cloud services side with Intune. Configuration Manager (which is sometimes called “Microsoft Endpoint Manager Configuration Manager”) will still exist, and its “Comanagement” capability that lets it integrate with Microsoft Intune will still exist. However, Microsoft’s overall endpoint management product branding and development efforts will be transferred to the Intune name, in the future. MEM name will be lost.

Here’s how the announcement presented those plans:

Today, we’re announcing that Microsoft Intune will be the name of a growing product family for all things endpoint management at Microsoft…. The name Microsoft Endpoint Manager will no longer be used. Going forward, we’ll refer to cloud management as Microsoft Intune and on-premises management as Microsoft Configuration Manager.

Intune originally started as a service for managing Windows PCs. Later, it became known as a mobile device management service. Microsoft has also added mobile application management capabilities to it.

Almost three years ago, Microsoft started its branding with MEM. It combines System Center Configuration Manager and Intune into one product offering.

Premium Add-Ons for Intune
The MEM name drop comes at the same time as Microsoft begins offering “Premium” management add-ons to Microsoft Intune licensees. Microsoft refers to these add-ons as “advanced endpoint management solutions.”

This change — selling add-ons on top of Intune licensing — was first described by Microsoft in April. Microsoft plans to sell premium add-ons individually and in bundles, with the first bundled offering expected to appear in March of 2023.

Some individual Premium add-ons have been released, such as a Remote Help Service add-on and an Android Open Source Project add-on.

Bundled Premium add-on offers will be more cost-effective than buying add-ons individually, Microsoft said. A requirement to use add-ons is having Microsoft 365 licenses that also include Intune.

Here’s how it’s explained in this Microsoft announcement:

We will offer the new cost-effective, premium plan to Microsoft 365 E3 and E5 subscribers or any plan that now includes licenses for Microsoft Intune. Individual solutions will continue to be available as standalone add-ons, but the new plan will be available for less than the sum of all add-ons; meaning you can do more with less.

Here are the Premium add-ons for Intune that Microsoft has already released, or is expected to release early next year or in March:

• Remote Help (commercially released in April for Windows devices). This is an add-on for troubleshooting remote user Windows devices in “real time”. A future release will add ServiceNow integration as well as Android device support.
• Android Open Source Project (AOSP) device management (commercially released in June for RealWear devices). This is for “special devices” that do not comply with the Google Mobile Services stipulations.
• Endpoint Privilege Management (currently in public preview). This allows IT pros to automate Windows admin privileges to end users temporarily, such as allowing them to install company-approved apps.
• Microsoft Tunnel for Mobile Application Management (available for Android and iOS devices in early 2023). It’s a virtual private network solution that allows organizations to tap into bring-your-own-device scenarios, where “corporate data can still be protected without the need for end-users to give IT control over their personal device.”
• Advanced Endpoint Analytics (release status unclear). It offers a dashboard view of endpoint health, with drill-down capabilities, using artificial intelligence and machine learning to automatically detect “anomalies.”

Microsoft also briefly described other Premium add-on advanced solutions it is working on. An app packaging add-on is in the works. A certificate management add-on is on the roadmap. An add-on to keep apps up to date is another product in the works. The Mobile Application Management add-on will gain the ability to support “multiple company, managed accounts on a single device.”

Microsoft plans to alert IT pros to upcoming Premium add-on capabilities for Intune through notifications in the “Endpoint Manager admin center.”

Cloud Attach
Microsoft is encouraging traditional Configuration Manager users who still cling to that approach to easily tap into cloud-based services through the “cloud attach” capability.

The cloud attach was described by Microsoft in July as follows:

Customers often ask us what cloud attach is and how it differs from more familiar terms like co-management or tenant attach? In simple terms, cloud attach means enabling both co-management and tenant attach. But, it’s more than just a feature. Cloud attach is the way for organizations using Configuration Manager to have more flexibility in managing endpoints without having to choose between security, compliance and supporting new work realities.

The July announcement also suggested that the cloud attach would enable “automated patching from the cloud using Microsoft Endpoint Manager.”