During the opening keynote of TechEd Europe today, news was unveiled around Microsoft making a mobile device management components of Microsoft Intune available for free as part of an Office 365 subscription.
Customers using Office 365 will be able to take advantage of MDM capabilities for iOS, Android and Windows Phone devices directly in the Office 365 dashboard.
These capabilities include:
- Policy-driven device management (examples: passcode lock and jailbreak detection)
- Selective remote wipe to remove corporate data from personal devices, while keeping personal data intact.
- Track, monitor, and secure Office 365 documents
- Prevent unauthorized users from accessing corporate email and data when a device is lost or stolen
These new capabilities will be available in the first quarter of 2015 and provided as part of any Office 365 subscription.
P.S. I spoke with Brad Anderson last night about this prior to the TechEd Europe announcement, and that conversation is embargoed until later today. I'll have the full discussion and commentary on this huge announcement posted this afternoon – so check back.
On the surface this seems like big news, but it's really HUGE news that will have a resounding effect on the entire MDM industry. I outlay all of that in my coming post.
