Microsoft’s education-focused event saw new hardware and new software launched. The Surface Laptop and Windows 10 S launches stole the show. However, Microsoft also introduced some things that were oriented to IT Pros and System Administrators. Specifically, two new services were launched.
Both of the services will focus on improving educations services for IT Pros. The first is Intune for Education, which has been in preview since January. It has now been moved to being generally available.
As the name suggests, the new service is an expansion of Microsoft’s existing Intune solution, but with an education twist. If you are unfamiliar, Intune is cloud-based mobile device management service. Among the features of the service are mobile application management, and PC management.
The platform allows educators to setup and manage apps and devices in a shared learning environment.
Over 90 percent of schools now used a shared device environment. Managing these devices is important, especially as most schools lack a dedicated tech support department. This means teachers need an easy solution for setting up and managing devices.
comes with baked in default settings for quickly setting up devices. Educators can manage 150 core settings and apply them across hardware for all students. These granular settings can be customized for apps, browsers, Windows Defender, and more. Importantly, the settings work across devices with a single account sign in. Apps for the Windows Store for Business can also be synced across devices.
Set Up School PCs
At the event, Microsoft also showed a demo of its Set Up School PCs app. Again, this feature has already been released, so the demo was brief.
This service allows users to pre-configure a USB drive that can be set up with an organizations provisioning information. By doing this, it lets students quickly set up and run the USB on their classroom.
