Windows Intune was originally launched to the sound of silence. This was because it was too expensive and it didn’t really do what it needed to in the market that Microsoft was pushing it to.
How the market originally reacted to Windows Intune
The product gained features as a mobile device management (MDM) solution that is integrated into your on-premise network. The packaging and pricing were also restructured to make Intune much more attractive.
But one problem remained. Intune was sold only directly to customers, and not through the channel. This is a huge deal breaker for partners … the people who actually implement Microsoft solutions in the majority of cases for small, medium, and large customers.
Today is the first day that you can buy Windows Intune through volume licensing. That means a partner can buy the software/service from a distributor (at a reduced price) and sell it to their customer (at the regular price). Now the partner has a reason to care about Intune (cold reality: sales people sell toasters at a profit and don’t give a flying monkey’s you-know-what about solutions).
Will availability help Intune? In my opinion: yes. We have been getting calls from partners over the past few weeks about this. History (Office 365) tells us that availability through VL not only gave MSFT a new VL sales income, but it increased MOSPA (direct) sales – that’s because the partners were invested in the ecosystem and sometimes a direct sale is best for a customer scenario.
Learn about Windows Intune now:
BTW, this is another product I expect will be renamed to Microsoft Intune. It does cover Windows, Windows RT, Windows Phone, but also iOS (phone and tablet) and Android (phone and tablet). And long term, it would make sense if it merged or consumed System Center Configuration Manager with just proxy/auditing/distribution points placed on-site.
If only Intune would work for the Server OS’s then I would be willing to invest in it. I don’t want to have to maintain 2 separate AV environments – one for clients and one for servers.