While it won’t be officially launched until October 18, current Windows Intune users will start receiving updates according to the following schedule.

Europe:
Europe 2-05:                   (UTC) 9/23/2013 4:30:00 PM – 9/24/2013 2:30:00 AM
Europe 2-03:                   (UTC) 10/12/2013 4:30:00 PM – 10/13/2013 2:30:00 AM
Europe 2-01:                   (UTC) 10/14/2013 4:30:00 PM – 10/15/2013 2:30:00 AM
Europe 2-02:                   (UTC) 10/14/2013 4:30:00 PM – 10/15/2013 2:30:00 AM

North America:
North America 2-05:       (UTC) 9/25/2013 4:30:00 PM – 9/26/2013 2:30:00 AM
North America 2-01:       (UTC) 10/3/2013 4:30:00 PM – 10/4/2013 2:30:00 AM
North America 2-02:       (UTC) 10/3/2013 4:30:00 PM – 10/4/2013 2:30:00 AM
North America 2-04:       (UTC) 10/6/2013 4:30:00 PM – 10/7/2013 2:30:00 AM

APAC:
Asia 2-01:                        (UTC) 9/25/2013 4:30:00 PM – 9/26/2013 2:30:00 AM
Asia 2-02:                        (UTC) 9/30/2013 4:30:00 PM – 10/1/2013 2:30:00 AM
Asia 2-03:                        (UTC) 9/30/2013 4:30:00 PM – 10/1/2013 2:30:00 AM
Asia 2-05:                        (UTC) 10/16/2013 4:30:00 PM – 10/17/2013 2:30:00 AM

The main improvements in this update are as follows

  1. Support for Windows 8.1 enrollment
    This functionality will allow for 8.1 clients to enroll via the Windows Intune client software (Enrollment Package), as well as the OMA-DM agent.
  2. Ungrouped Devices Group added back to identify newly enrolled machines
    With the January 2013 release of Windows Intune, the ‘Ungrouped Devices’ group was changed and no longer functioned as it had previously. This created a lot of confusion and hardship for our customers as they were no longer able to easily identify newly enrolled machines to the service. We are bringing this group and its functionality back.
  3. New Agent Policy Settings
    Two new agent policy settings. Here’s a brief description of each:
    1. Windows Intune client agent mandatory updates installation schedule
      Currently, client agent updates can’t be controlled as they flow down to all machines shortly after being released through the service. This creates a poor user experience as most agent updates can require reboots. This new policy gives the IT Pro the ability to control when mandatory updates are installed on devices across their environment.
    • Install Endpoint Protection
      This policy gives finer control to IT Pro’s that wish to use, or not use, the Windows Intune Endpoint Protection client on their devices. Currently, when selecting “No”, Windows Intune Endpoint Protection will still be installed if a 3rd party AV/AM solution is not detected.  After it’s installed, Intune Endpoint Protection will be disabled. This new setting prevents Intune Endpoint Protection from installing when the option is set to ”No”.

For more details, check out the blog post from the Windows Intune team at http://blogs.technet.com/b/windowsintune/archive/2013/09/10/intune-service-upgrade.aspx