While the session focused on the larger issue of IT folk capitalising on their existing skill sets to streamline cloud deployments, the technologies at the heart of the discussion were Windows Intune as the application and update delivery platform, and the Office 365 Professional Plus installable components as the bits being delivered.

The new Windows Intune user portal was highlighted for application deployment, with a real time download and installation kick off of Office Pro Plus which only took a few sessions due to the caching infrastructure I tend to promote during deployments.

Special thanks to those who attended, the room was at capacity, and there were plenty of great questions asked, many of them focused on some of the alternative solutions for getting PCs up to date with a minimum of fuss. Just to reiterate, the reasons why I like the Intune and TMG caching combination are as follows…

  • Not limited to the updates that Microsoft pushes via WU/MU/WSUS and derivative solutions, which means that additional MS hotfixes can be deployed easily.
  • Other applications can be installed, such as Office Pro Plus, the Office 365 sign in assistant, and Lync.
  • A single tool can be used for initial reporting of application inventory and required updates, and that tool is then used to deploy the required software, and provide ongoing reporting of what is currently running
  • I am biased

Once again, for those of you who attended, I extend my sincere thanks, it was great to be back out in front of an audience after a six month absence.