Episode 390: Microsoft Ignite 2024: Windows 365 Link

December 05, 2024

Episode Transcript

Welcome to Episode 390 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast, live from Microsoft Ignite 2024! In this episode Ben sits down for a chat with Melissa Grant, head of product marketing for Windows 11 Enterprise, Windows 365, and Azure Virtual Desktop at Microsoft. Melissa discusses her tenure at Microsoft and the evolution of cloud-based Windows offerings, starting with the launch of Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) five years ago and transitioning into Windows 365. They also discuss Windows 365 Link, Microsoft’s new dedicated endpoint device, designed for seamless, secure connections Windows 365 Cloud PCs. This device reduces the need for extensive IT management and resources by simplifying deployment process, and providing security benefits based on feedback from some of Microsoft’s customers.

Melissa Grant
Melissa Grant leads product marketing for Windows Enterprise, Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop within Microsoft Modern Work. She and her team are dedicated to delivering secure, productive and efficient commercial solutions so customers can do their best work with Windows.
– Melissa on LinkedIn

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1 00:00:03,520 --> 00:00:07,040 Welcome to episode 390 of the Microsoft Cloud 2 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:10,660 IT Pro Podcast, recorded live from Microsoft Ignite 3 00:00:10,719 --> 00:00:11,219 2024. 4 00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:14,880 This is a show about Microsoft 365 and 5 00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:17,225 Azure from the perspective of IT pros and 6 00:00:17,225 --> 00:00:19,625 end users, where we discuss the topic or 7 00:00:19,625 --> 00:00:21,885 recent news and how it relates to you. 8 00:00:22,024 --> 00:00:23,004 In this episode, 9 00:00:23,464 --> 00:00:25,625 Ben sits down for a chat with Melissa 10 00:00:25,625 --> 00:00:28,585 Grand, head of product marketing for Windows 11 11 00:00:28,585 --> 00:00:30,364 Enterprise, Windows 365, 12 00:00:30,824 --> 00:00:33,380 and Azure Virtual Desktop at Microsoft. 13 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:35,780 They discussed Microsoft offerings, 14 00:00:36,159 --> 00:00:38,020 specifically around Windows 365 15 00:00:38,799 --> 00:00:43,060 and Microsoft's new endpoint device, Windows 365 link. 16 00:00:45,359 --> 00:00:47,265 This is Ben. I am here at 17 00:00:47,825 --> 00:00:51,504 Ignite again with Melissa Grant. Right? And make 18 00:00:51,504 --> 00:00:53,364 sure I get your right last name right. 19 00:00:53,825 --> 00:00:55,664 And do you wanna go ahead and give 20 00:00:55,664 --> 00:00:56,884 a quick introduction, 21 00:00:57,424 --> 00:00:58,945 who you are, how long you've been at 22 00:00:58,945 --> 00:01:01,184 Microsoft, what do you do at Microsoft? Sure. 23 00:01:01,504 --> 00:01:03,299 Anything like that? Great. Well, great to meet 24 00:01:03,299 --> 00:01:04,760 you. Thank you for having me. 25 00:01:05,140 --> 00:01:07,859 So I head up product marketing for Windows 26 00:01:07,859 --> 00:01:08,760 11 Enterprise, 27 00:01:09,219 --> 00:01:10,040 Windows 365, 28 00:01:10,500 --> 00:01:12,040 and Azure Virtual Desktop. 29 00:01:12,659 --> 00:01:15,400 I've been at Microsoft for about 14 years. 30 00:01:16,105 --> 00:01:18,104 Most of that time in and around the 31 00:01:18,104 --> 00:01:18,604 Windows 32 00:01:18,984 --> 00:01:21,484 world. Okay. So it's been a great experience 33 00:01:21,784 --> 00:01:24,025 most recently to bring Windows to the cloud. 34 00:01:24,025 --> 00:01:25,625 We kind of think of it as the 35 00:01:25,625 --> 00:01:28,504 last great workload to the cloud following Office 36 00:01:28,504 --> 00:01:29,244 and Azure. 37 00:01:29,900 --> 00:01:31,659 So that's been a lot of my focus 38 00:01:31,659 --> 00:01:34,060 the past couple of years. Okay. Very cool. 39 00:01:34,060 --> 00:01:36,299 And I've enjoyed it. So I did not 40 00:01:36,299 --> 00:01:37,900 tell you this. I'm a Mac guy. So 41 00:01:37,900 --> 00:01:40,700 I I like my Macs. I just switched 42 00:01:40,700 --> 00:01:43,615 over to the new Surface Arm Plus Copilot 43 00:01:43,915 --> 00:01:44,734 device. Excellent. 44 00:01:45,034 --> 00:01:45,534 Welcome. 45 00:01:45,835 --> 00:01:48,314 Thanks. But because of that, I've used Windows 46 00:01:48,314 --> 00:01:50,555 365 and Mac for a while. Yeah. I 47 00:01:50,555 --> 00:01:53,275 actually have customers that use ABD a lot. 48 00:01:53,275 --> 00:01:56,155 So it it'll be interesting to talk about 49 00:01:56,155 --> 00:01:57,674 some of the history because it sounds like 50 00:01:57,674 --> 00:02:00,180 you've been with it for a while now, 51 00:02:00,180 --> 00:02:01,959 like, from the launch of, 52 00:02:02,340 --> 00:02:04,340 I guess, ABD and then put it into 53 00:02:04,340 --> 00:02:05,239 Windows 365? 54 00:02:05,859 --> 00:02:08,199 That's right. Yeah. So we launched ABD 55 00:02:08,900 --> 00:02:11,765 actually 5 years ago at Ignite. Is my 56 00:02:11,765 --> 00:02:13,605 math right? Yeah. 5 years ago at Ignite 57 00:02:13,605 --> 00:02:16,405 2019. So our last really big Ignite in 58 00:02:16,405 --> 00:02:16,905 Orlando, 59 00:02:17,605 --> 00:02:19,625 that was the launch for ABD. 60 00:02:20,405 --> 00:02:23,385 And we're super excited. Cloud VDI, 61 00:02:23,765 --> 00:02:26,004 you know, great product with a lot of 62 00:02:26,004 --> 00:02:26,504 precision 63 00:02:27,629 --> 00:02:29,250 for Azure infra professionals, 64 00:02:30,110 --> 00:02:33,069 you know, great fidelity, great optionality to be 65 00:02:33,069 --> 00:02:34,930 able to have things like multi session. 66 00:02:35,709 --> 00:02:37,870 And with a great show, great launch, and 67 00:02:37,870 --> 00:02:39,330 then we all went home. 68 00:02:40,284 --> 00:02:43,344 And ABD took off as you could imagine 69 00:02:43,724 --> 00:02:45,724 because there was just such high demand for 70 00:02:45,724 --> 00:02:48,444 virtual machines between the supply chain issues for 71 00:02:48,444 --> 00:02:51,485 PCs and just literally the complexity of getting 72 00:02:51,485 --> 00:02:51,985 people 73 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:54,240 set up for work from home Yep. When 74 00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:56,719 the pandemic hit. And so the team started 75 00:02:56,719 --> 00:02:57,540 thinking about 76 00:02:58,240 --> 00:02:59,780 how can we scale? 77 00:03:00,319 --> 00:03:01,920 And one of the pieces of feedback that 78 00:03:01,920 --> 00:03:04,240 we got from our customers was we love 79 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:06,319 what this does and the quality of the 80 00:03:06,319 --> 00:03:09,664 Windows experience it delivers, but we literally don't 81 00:03:09,664 --> 00:03:12,865 have enough Azure infra IT people to stand 82 00:03:12,865 --> 00:03:15,425 up all these virtual machines. Okay. Can you 83 00:03:15,425 --> 00:03:15,925 please 84 00:03:16,305 --> 00:03:19,185 make a SaaSified version of this for endpoint 85 00:03:19,185 --> 00:03:19,685 managers 86 00:03:19,985 --> 00:03:22,360 and just make it work at Intune? So 87 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:24,840 I can literally just go into Intune, set 88 00:03:24,840 --> 00:03:27,000 up a Cloud PC, put the image on 89 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:29,000 it, push down the apps, and get it 90 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:30,759 out to, like, whoever needs it. And I 91 00:03:30,759 --> 00:03:32,439 need it to be fast and I need 92 00:03:32,439 --> 00:03:33,739 it to be really easy. 93 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:35,800 And so the team set to work and 94 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:39,264 we literally built this great hybrid work tool, 95 00:03:39,405 --> 00:03:39,905 hybridly, 96 00:03:40,365 --> 00:03:42,224 because the engineering team 97 00:03:42,764 --> 00:03:45,665 was pretty scattered. The dev teams in China, 98 00:03:46,205 --> 00:03:48,125 you know, the PM and product marketing teams 99 00:03:48,125 --> 00:03:50,385 were kind of all home, some in Redmond, 100 00:03:50,525 --> 00:03:51,745 some in Utah, 101 00:03:52,205 --> 00:03:54,500 and we built this, you you know, SaaS 102 00:03:54,500 --> 00:03:57,139 version of Windows really to respond to the 103 00:03:57,139 --> 00:03:57,639 moment. 104 00:03:58,340 --> 00:04:00,500 And customers really liked it because it gave 105 00:04:00,500 --> 00:04:02,259 them what they asked for, which is just 106 00:04:02,259 --> 00:04:03,400 really turnkey 107 00:04:04,259 --> 00:04:05,239 Windows experiences 108 00:04:05,935 --> 00:04:08,334 that looked and felt and acted just like 109 00:04:08,334 --> 00:04:08,834 Windows, 110 00:04:09,375 --> 00:04:11,775 but like yourself, could be used on any 111 00:04:11,775 --> 00:04:14,574 device, including, you know, a Mac or, you 112 00:04:14,574 --> 00:04:16,894 know, an older PC if but still use 113 00:04:16,894 --> 00:04:19,230 the latest OS. So that's kind of the 114 00:04:19,230 --> 00:04:21,470 history of it, and now we're 3 years 115 00:04:21,470 --> 00:04:23,710 on and have really seen it take off 116 00:04:23,710 --> 00:04:25,490 and especially in a number of areas. 117 00:04:26,029 --> 00:04:29,330 And today announcing our first purpose built endpoint 118 00:04:29,550 --> 00:04:31,310 for it. Yes. That was 119 00:04:31,949 --> 00:04:33,514 so I did wanna talk about that because 120 00:04:33,514 --> 00:04:36,495 that was exciting. I saw that Satya had 121 00:04:36,555 --> 00:04:38,394 went up on stage. Mhmm. And I was 122 00:04:38,394 --> 00:04:39,915 like, oh, I can't get one till April. 123 00:04:39,915 --> 00:04:42,634 Mhmm. But I am excited about them. So 124 00:04:42,634 --> 00:04:44,509 what how does this endpoint work? Because I 125 00:04:44,509 --> 00:04:46,269 know traditionally, like, a lot of people maybe 126 00:04:46,269 --> 00:04:48,670 use some other third party thin clients. Like 127 00:04:48,670 --> 00:04:50,509 you said, you could use Mac, you could 128 00:04:50,509 --> 00:04:53,250 use Windows, but this is like a dedicated 129 00:04:53,550 --> 00:04:54,769 Windows 365 130 00:04:55,949 --> 00:04:57,410 and the AVD 131 00:04:58,154 --> 00:05:00,235 device? I was curious about that too because 132 00:05:00,235 --> 00:05:02,654 I saw all the Windows 365. But Yeah. 133 00:05:02,795 --> 00:05:05,754 What is this new device? Yeah. Well, the 134 00:05:05,754 --> 00:05:07,675 name kind of says what it is. It 135 00:05:07,675 --> 00:05:10,074 links you to the Cloud PC. That's what 136 00:05:10,074 --> 00:05:10,654 it does. 137 00:05:11,300 --> 00:05:12,660 And so this is another thing that we 138 00:05:12,660 --> 00:05:15,079 built really in response to customer request. 139 00:05:15,860 --> 00:05:17,639 So we launched Windows 365 140 00:05:18,019 --> 00:05:19,779 boot a couple of years ago. So the 141 00:05:19,779 --> 00:05:22,819 ability to have an admin setting that says, 142 00:05:22,819 --> 00:05:24,420 when I log in, it's gonna take me 143 00:05:24,420 --> 00:05:26,024 directly to my Cloud PC. 144 00:05:26,425 --> 00:05:28,504 And customers wanted this because they had some 145 00:05:28,504 --> 00:05:30,425 scenarios where, like, they don't have people using 146 00:05:30,425 --> 00:05:32,185 local apps, they don't wanna have to manage 147 00:05:32,185 --> 00:05:33,944 the image locally, just take me to the 148 00:05:33,944 --> 00:05:34,444 Cloud. 149 00:05:34,904 --> 00:05:37,064 Really easy. And they said, hey, could you 150 00:05:37,064 --> 00:05:38,444 build an endpoint 151 00:05:38,985 --> 00:05:40,764 that just does this? 152 00:05:41,129 --> 00:05:43,689 Okay. Just make it as simple as that. 153 00:05:43,689 --> 00:05:46,569 Just that. We just want a link to 154 00:05:46,569 --> 00:05:48,330 the cloud, and we want it to be 155 00:05:48,330 --> 00:05:50,090 low cost. We want it to be super 156 00:05:50,090 --> 00:05:52,569 secure. Security was actually the big driver for 157 00:05:52,569 --> 00:05:53,069 this 158 00:05:53,834 --> 00:05:56,154 because we have certain use cases where we 159 00:05:56,154 --> 00:05:57,595 just need people to be able to log 160 00:05:57,595 --> 00:05:58,894 in to their cloud PC. 161 00:05:59,435 --> 00:06:01,595 And so, like, that was the challenge we 162 00:06:01,595 --> 00:06:04,394 took on. How simple and secure can we 163 00:06:04,394 --> 00:06:06,714 make this thing? Okay. And then we discovered 164 00:06:06,714 --> 00:06:08,975 a couple other affordances along the way. 165 00:06:09,339 --> 00:06:11,019 You know, we were able to design something 166 00:06:11,019 --> 00:06:12,079 that's very sustainable. 167 00:06:12,620 --> 00:06:13,759 It's very durable. 168 00:06:14,379 --> 00:06:17,180 It's very easy to set up. And so 169 00:06:17,180 --> 00:06:19,419 just we're able to tick some boxes that 170 00:06:19,419 --> 00:06:21,579 customers were really asking for for this kind 171 00:06:21,579 --> 00:06:22,240 of endpoint. 172 00:06:22,620 --> 00:06:24,764 Okay. And I'm I'm assuming too, and I 173 00:06:24,764 --> 00:06:26,845 know Satya talked about it, is one thing 174 00:06:26,845 --> 00:06:30,144 that I've had some customers struggle with is 175 00:06:30,605 --> 00:06:33,245 you get the endpoints out there and naturally, 176 00:06:33,245 --> 00:06:34,605 they have the 1 around Teams. They're doing 177 00:06:34,605 --> 00:06:37,404 Teams audio. They're doing video calls. They're doing 178 00:06:37,404 --> 00:06:39,079 all of that. And I know there's been 179 00:06:39,079 --> 00:06:41,240 some work there around even the clients and 180 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:43,879 trying to optimize media, but is there other 181 00:06:43,879 --> 00:06:45,399 stuff too in the link that then you 182 00:06:45,399 --> 00:06:47,419 were able to do to even optimize 183 00:06:48,120 --> 00:06:50,600 meeting experiences and some of those ops experiences 184 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:52,714 that I would say maybe with some of 185 00:06:52,714 --> 00:06:54,154 the hardware offloading and some of the way 186 00:06:54,154 --> 00:06:56,014 those work with thin clients, it can be 187 00:06:56,235 --> 00:06:56,735 unpredictable 188 00:06:57,115 --> 00:06:58,095 at best. 189 00:06:58,714 --> 00:07:00,154 Yeah. We kind of think of it as 190 00:07:00,154 --> 00:07:01,454 a as a 2 parter. 191 00:07:01,834 --> 00:07:04,394 So the 2 things obviously that, you know, 192 00:07:04,394 --> 00:07:07,730 slow down great video communication is either the 193 00:07:07,730 --> 00:07:10,930 connection Yep. Or the actual speed at which 194 00:07:10,930 --> 00:07:13,250 the the computing happens once you're there. Right? 195 00:07:13,250 --> 00:07:14,689 Yeah. So it's either I can't log on 196 00:07:14,689 --> 00:07:16,449 or now I'm here and it's choppy or 197 00:07:16,449 --> 00:07:18,310 the video is slow or whatever it is. 198 00:07:18,449 --> 00:07:19,810 And so we think of that as the 199 00:07:19,810 --> 00:07:22,205 partnership. The links job is to make the 200 00:07:22,205 --> 00:07:24,925 connection fast and secure. Okay. And then after 201 00:07:24,925 --> 00:07:27,324 that, it hands off everything else to the 202 00:07:27,324 --> 00:07:28,064 cloud PC. 203 00:07:28,764 --> 00:07:31,404 So it does its physical job and the 204 00:07:31,404 --> 00:07:33,345 cloud does its cloud job. 205 00:07:33,870 --> 00:07:35,710 And so all of the affordances that you 206 00:07:35,710 --> 00:07:37,889 have for teams and other video communication 207 00:07:38,430 --> 00:07:42,449 in the Windows 365 service Uh-huh. Things like, 208 00:07:43,069 --> 00:07:45,150 VDI 2 point o, things like, 209 00:07:45,550 --> 00:07:46,530 you know, redirection. 210 00:07:46,910 --> 00:07:48,689 All of that happens in the cloud, 211 00:07:49,085 --> 00:07:51,025 not on the device. So they're not competing 212 00:07:51,085 --> 00:07:53,965 for that experience. The the device's job is 213 00:07:53,965 --> 00:07:55,564 just to get you there. The cloud takes 214 00:07:55,564 --> 00:07:57,264 care of the rest. Got it. 215 00:08:00,764 --> 00:08:02,845 Do you feel overwhelmed by trying to manage 216 00:08:02,845 --> 00:08:03,824 your Office 365 217 00:08:04,205 --> 00:08:07,300 environment? Are you facing unexpected issues that disrupt 218 00:08:07,300 --> 00:08:10,019 your company's productivity? Intelligent is here to help. 219 00:08:10,019 --> 00:08:11,539 Much like you take your car to the 220 00:08:11,539 --> 00:08:14,019 mechanic that has specialized knowledge on how to 221 00:08:14,019 --> 00:08:16,660 best keep your car running, Intelligent helps you 222 00:08:16,660 --> 00:08:19,545 with your Microsoft cloud environment, because that's their 223 00:08:19,705 --> 00:08:22,504 expertise. Intelligent keeps up with the latest updates 224 00:08:22,504 --> 00:08:24,425 in the Microsoft cloud to help keep your 225 00:08:24,425 --> 00:08:26,824 business running smoothly and ahead of the curve. 226 00:08:26,824 --> 00:08:28,985 Whether you are a small organization with just 227 00:08:28,985 --> 00:08:31,145 a few users, up to an organization of 228 00:08:31,145 --> 00:08:32,605 several 1000 employees, 229 00:08:32,980 --> 00:08:34,899 They want to partner with you to implement 230 00:08:34,899 --> 00:08:37,639 and administer your Microsoft Cloud technology. 231 00:08:38,419 --> 00:08:39,879 Visit them at inteliginc.com/podcast. 232 00:08:42,100 --> 00:08:43,240 That's intelligink 233 00:08:47,034 --> 00:08:47,534 dotcom/podcast 234 00:08:49,274 --> 00:08:51,434 for more information or to schedule a 30 235 00:08:51,434 --> 00:08:53,534 minute call to get started with them today. 236 00:08:53,754 --> 00:08:57,115 Remember, Intelligink focuses on the Microsoft cloud so 237 00:08:57,115 --> 00:08:58,815 you can focus on your business. 238 00:09:01,034 --> 00:09:03,419 So one question with that device, Going back 239 00:09:03,419 --> 00:09:05,500 to, like, thin clients, it's typically thin clients 240 00:09:05,500 --> 00:09:08,399 you have to manage them as well. Mhmm. 241 00:09:08,540 --> 00:09:11,419 Is there management you have to do on 242 00:09:11,419 --> 00:09:14,540 this on the linker because it's literally just 243 00:09:14,540 --> 00:09:15,179 a link? It's 244 00:09:15,845 --> 00:09:18,165 there's nothing people can do with it? There's 245 00:09:18,165 --> 00:09:20,404 nothing you can do with it. Okay. Everything, 246 00:09:20,404 --> 00:09:22,024 it's adminless. It's passwordless. 247 00:09:22,644 --> 00:09:26,024 All the security cannot be disabled. Okay. So 248 00:09:26,085 --> 00:09:28,485 all you do and we'll we'll actually show 249 00:09:28,485 --> 00:09:30,644 a demo of this tomorrow in the general 250 00:09:30,644 --> 00:09:31,144 session. 251 00:09:31,740 --> 00:09:34,059 So all you do is you plug it 252 00:09:34,059 --> 00:09:36,960 in. Okay. You enroll it in Entra. You 253 00:09:37,019 --> 00:09:39,740 you go into your Intune console. It pulls 254 00:09:39,740 --> 00:09:42,539 down all of your security baselines, your image, 255 00:09:42,539 --> 00:09:43,679 and all your configurations. 256 00:09:44,139 --> 00:09:46,379 Whatever you've set up in Intune, that's what 257 00:09:46,379 --> 00:09:48,674 it's running, and that's it. Got it. So 258 00:09:48,674 --> 00:09:51,394 Intune does pull those policies then down to 259 00:09:51,394 --> 00:09:55,074 this Windows 365 link device? No. Not to 260 00:09:55,074 --> 00:09:56,914 the device. It just ensures To the Windows 261 00:09:56,914 --> 00:09:59,074 365. To the Cloud PC. PC. Yes. Got 262 00:09:59,074 --> 00:10:00,774 it. Okay. But there's no way to 263 00:10:01,235 --> 00:10:02,754 do an end run around that. Got it. 264 00:10:02,754 --> 00:10:05,670 Yeah. Okay. Right. I'm thinking to customers that 265 00:10:05,670 --> 00:10:07,590 I have because I do consulting as well 266 00:10:07,590 --> 00:10:09,370 as Mhmm. When they go to Windows 365 267 00:10:09,430 --> 00:10:11,690 versus ABD, is it a little bit more 268 00:10:11,990 --> 00:10:13,830 of kinda going along that same theme that 269 00:10:13,830 --> 00:10:15,990 you have with Windows 365 where they don't 270 00:10:15,990 --> 00:10:19,305 have the larger teams to manage Yes. All 271 00:10:19,305 --> 00:10:20,285 within clients 272 00:10:20,745 --> 00:10:21,245 or 273 00:10:21,545 --> 00:10:23,965 I don't wanna say necessarily only an SMB 274 00:10:24,024 --> 00:10:25,705 play, but a little bit more on that 275 00:10:25,705 --> 00:10:26,205 SMB 276 00:10:26,585 --> 00:10:28,125 ease of management side, 277 00:10:28,425 --> 00:10:30,264 that's where the link fits in with Windows 278 00:10:30,264 --> 00:10:30,764 365 279 00:10:31,709 --> 00:10:33,549 versus, I would say, the enterprises tend to 280 00:10:33,549 --> 00:10:34,610 have that bigger 281 00:10:34,990 --> 00:10:35,490 IT 282 00:10:35,949 --> 00:10:38,429 staff that can handle some of that better. 283 00:10:38,429 --> 00:10:40,269 They can, but one of the things that 284 00:10:40,269 --> 00:10:42,909 we've heard from our customers is Mhmm. Their 285 00:10:42,909 --> 00:10:46,125 IT resources and staffing is is finite. Right? 286 00:10:46,524 --> 00:10:48,605 Like and there's so many new things that 287 00:10:48,605 --> 00:10:49,745 people are adopting. 288 00:10:50,205 --> 00:10:52,605 You know, copilot, advanced security, all of these 289 00:10:52,605 --> 00:10:54,284 things, and they don't get more headcount for 290 00:10:54,284 --> 00:10:54,784 it. 291 00:10:55,085 --> 00:10:57,664 So, actually, a lot of our larger customers, 292 00:10:57,884 --> 00:11:00,600 and Wells Fargo and Johnson and Johnson are 293 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:02,279 2 customers that are here with us this 294 00:11:02,279 --> 00:11:04,699 week. Alright. We'll talk about this on Thursday, 295 00:11:04,919 --> 00:11:06,139 is they were like, look. 296 00:11:06,440 --> 00:11:09,159 We only had so many IT resources, and 297 00:11:09,159 --> 00:11:11,579 we really wanted to have people spending time 298 00:11:11,720 --> 00:11:13,740 on modernizing on prem infra, on adopting Copilot, 299 00:11:13,799 --> 00:11:14,205 on 300 00:11:14,684 --> 00:11:17,424 Copilot, on moving other workloads to the cloud. 301 00:11:17,884 --> 00:11:20,205 This made it really easy for us to 302 00:11:20,205 --> 00:11:22,764 not have IT work on that. Okay. So 303 00:11:22,764 --> 00:11:24,684 they were like, it's so much easier than 304 00:11:24,684 --> 00:11:27,165 on prem VDI. It's so much easier than, 305 00:11:27,165 --> 00:11:29,429 you know, the other solutions we had, like, 306 00:11:29,589 --> 00:11:30,409 whether it was, 307 00:11:30,710 --> 00:11:34,389 you know, keeping old desktops running. Yeah. They 308 00:11:34,389 --> 00:11:36,389 were like, we don't need to worry about 309 00:11:36,389 --> 00:11:38,570 that because we're just moving to Windows 365, 310 00:11:38,870 --> 00:11:40,970 and that's freeing up IT's time 311 00:11:41,269 --> 00:11:43,269 and budget so that we can do other 312 00:11:43,269 --> 00:11:45,174 new things. Got it. Focus on the other 313 00:11:45,174 --> 00:11:45,674 stuff. 314 00:11:46,134 --> 00:11:47,414 I've I've run into that a little I 315 00:11:47,575 --> 00:11:49,654 SharePoint background. Mhmm. And that was one of 316 00:11:49,654 --> 00:11:51,735 those things even the transition from on prem 317 00:11:51,735 --> 00:11:53,174 to the cloud. It was you don't have 318 00:11:53,174 --> 00:11:54,934 to have staff now to worry about SQL 319 00:11:54,934 --> 00:11:56,235 Servers and 320 00:11:57,059 --> 00:12:00,899 maintain patching servers and installing updates as now 321 00:12:00,899 --> 00:12:03,139 we can focus on other stuff. So similar 322 00:12:03,139 --> 00:12:05,779 mindset with Windows 365 and Lync is let 323 00:12:05,779 --> 00:12:07,799 IT folks on things that enhance 324 00:12:08,419 --> 00:12:11,080 the business, bring more business value, simplify 325 00:12:11,707 --> 00:12:14,595 Yeah. How we deploy Windows to Exactly. Other 326 00:12:14,595 --> 00:12:16,195 people. Yeah. Or And then they were like, 327 00:12:16,195 --> 00:12:18,035 and make sure you do that while not 328 00:12:18,035 --> 00:12:20,774 sacrificing either security or employee experience. 329 00:12:21,394 --> 00:12:24,215 Because nobody wants to have, like, a mediocre 330 00:12:24,274 --> 00:12:26,490 Windows experience Yep. So that they can have, 331 00:12:26,490 --> 00:12:29,450 like, a miraculous Copilot experience. Like, those 2 332 00:12:29,450 --> 00:12:31,290 things don't go together. So they were like, 333 00:12:31,290 --> 00:12:31,950 give us 334 00:12:32,330 --> 00:12:35,690 perfect, personal, high fidelity Windows 11 so all 335 00:12:35,690 --> 00:12:38,009 my employees are happy, and then they also 336 00:12:38,009 --> 00:12:40,190 have time to start using things like Copilot. 337 00:12:40,410 --> 00:12:42,464 Yeah. And the security aspect is big too. 338 00:12:42,464 --> 00:12:44,784 Like, when Satya came on stage today, that 339 00:12:44,784 --> 00:12:47,845 was really cool to see. Everybody expected Copilot. 340 00:12:48,065 --> 00:12:49,924 Yes. Right? Because Copilot AI, 341 00:12:50,384 --> 00:12:52,304 but then to see him Copilot Copilot, there 342 00:12:52,304 --> 00:12:54,884 were those 3 Copilot pillars, but then also 343 00:12:55,120 --> 00:12:57,200 security. Yes. And I hear you talking about 344 00:12:57,200 --> 00:12:59,840 that a lot too with Windows 365 with 345 00:12:59,840 --> 00:13:02,000 this linked device is there's been a lot 346 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:04,720 of focus on the security aspect of it 347 00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:07,440 as well Absolutely. Which has been really cool. 348 00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:08,995 And is, do you see that even as 349 00:13:08,995 --> 00:13:10,674 an aspect of why people are going to 350 00:13:10,674 --> 00:13:14,054 Windows 365 versus personal devices instead of security? 351 00:13:14,355 --> 00:13:17,794 Yeah. And, you know, VDI or virtualization tools 352 00:13:17,794 --> 00:13:20,034 have traditionally had that element. Right? Otherwise, we'd 353 00:13:20,034 --> 00:13:21,394 just let you run your apps on your 354 00:13:21,394 --> 00:13:23,414 personal PC and, like, cross our fingers. 355 00:13:24,250 --> 00:13:26,169 But what this has allowed them to do 356 00:13:26,169 --> 00:13:28,029 is maintain consistency 357 00:13:28,889 --> 00:13:32,009 in their security posture across endpoints. And so 358 00:13:32,009 --> 00:13:35,230 people absolutely choose Windows 365 for security 359 00:13:36,105 --> 00:13:38,524 because they're able to keep the same baselines, 360 00:13:38,745 --> 00:13:41,464 for example, across their physical PCs and now 361 00:13:41,464 --> 00:13:42,524 their cloud PCs. 362 00:13:42,985 --> 00:13:44,745 So it gives them a more secure sir 363 00:13:44,985 --> 00:13:47,384 security posture, and then they can also use 364 00:13:47,384 --> 00:13:50,490 the same security tools. So we've introduced Hotpatch 365 00:13:50,490 --> 00:13:52,809 type today, for example. Yep. Hot patch will 366 00:13:52,809 --> 00:13:54,970 work on physical PCs and cloud PCs. You 367 00:13:54,970 --> 00:13:57,610 do the same patching, same policies, all the 368 00:13:57,610 --> 00:13:58,429 same thing. 369 00:13:58,970 --> 00:14:00,970 And then with with the linked device as 370 00:14:00,970 --> 00:14:02,970 well, you get the extra layer of, like, 371 00:14:02,970 --> 00:14:05,355 hey. You can't even do anything locally. So 372 00:14:05,355 --> 00:14:07,695 security is a big driver for our customers 373 00:14:08,235 --> 00:14:08,975 for choosing 374 00:14:09,754 --> 00:14:11,695 Windows 11 and Windows 365, 375 00:14:12,075 --> 00:14:14,794 for sure. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. And the 376 00:14:14,794 --> 00:14:16,634 Windows link device, going to the security, it 377 00:14:16,634 --> 00:14:18,394 doesn't even have a hard drive. Right? Did 378 00:14:18,394 --> 00:14:20,075 I hear that right? There's, like, not even 379 00:14:20,075 --> 00:14:20,894 any physical 380 00:14:21,330 --> 00:14:21,830 storage 381 00:14:22,290 --> 00:14:24,290 in that device? Yeah. Just enough to make 382 00:14:24,290 --> 00:14:26,610 it run and make that connection. Okay. Yep. 383 00:14:26,610 --> 00:14:29,170 Just just to perform the linking function. That's 384 00:14:29,170 --> 00:14:31,330 cool. Yeah. And that's one thing I've heard 385 00:14:31,330 --> 00:14:33,590 and one thing so from a security perspective, 386 00:14:33,730 --> 00:14:34,930 like, I talked to some clients and they're 387 00:14:34,930 --> 00:14:37,085 like, well, why don't they just deploy Intune 388 00:14:37,384 --> 00:14:39,464 and manage all my devices with Intune where 389 00:14:39,464 --> 00:14:41,384 I can remotely wipe them, do all of 390 00:14:41,384 --> 00:14:42,205 that? Like, 391 00:14:42,585 --> 00:14:45,325 what are some of those security security advantages 392 00:14:45,545 --> 00:14:46,445 you've seen 393 00:14:46,825 --> 00:14:48,524 over when you would compare 394 00:14:48,839 --> 00:14:51,079 managing a physical device with Intune versus something 395 00:14:51,079 --> 00:14:52,299 like Windows 365? 396 00:14:52,679 --> 00:14:54,279 If if someone would come to you with 397 00:14:54,279 --> 00:14:55,639 that question, why don't I just manage a 398 00:14:55,639 --> 00:14:58,759 physical device with Intune versus Windows 365? What 399 00:14:58,759 --> 00:15:00,839 are those benefits you see? Well, you manage 400 00:15:00,839 --> 00:15:03,444 them both in Intune. So Windows 365 can 401 00:15:03,444 --> 00:15:04,904 only be managed by Intune. 402 00:15:05,284 --> 00:15:07,524 So a lot of our customers are coming 403 00:15:07,524 --> 00:15:09,125 to us and saying and and there was 404 00:15:09,125 --> 00:15:11,464 a big momentum to move towards cloud management 405 00:15:11,845 --> 00:15:13,764 over the last couple of years. Again, I 406 00:15:13,764 --> 00:15:14,964 think a lot of it was sort of, 407 00:15:14,964 --> 00:15:16,919 like, how can we be more in, you 408 00:15:16,919 --> 00:15:19,100 know, efficient and and do things remotely. 409 00:15:19,879 --> 00:15:21,480 But a lot of customers were saying, hey. 410 00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:23,659 I'm sort of living in Intune already. 411 00:15:23,960 --> 00:15:25,399 What I would love for you to do 412 00:15:25,399 --> 00:15:28,039 is give me more tools to make that 413 00:15:28,039 --> 00:15:28,539 easier 414 00:15:28,944 --> 00:15:30,944 and to make it more consistent. So if 415 00:15:30,944 --> 00:15:33,024 I'm managing all my cloud PCs in Intune, 416 00:15:33,024 --> 00:15:35,504 I wanna be managing Windows 365 in Intune. 417 00:15:35,504 --> 00:15:37,184 And I then I want to be able 418 00:15:37,184 --> 00:15:38,245 to have those things 419 00:15:38,625 --> 00:15:41,345 be consistent in the image, in how we 420 00:15:41,345 --> 00:15:43,345 push down apps, how we do updates, how 421 00:15:43,345 --> 00:15:45,539 we patch, all of those things. So that's 422 00:15:45,539 --> 00:15:46,440 been our orientation, 423 00:15:46,980 --> 00:15:48,819 is that it's a first class Windows experience, 424 00:15:48,819 --> 00:15:50,899 and it's super easy for IT because it 425 00:15:50,899 --> 00:15:53,539 looks, acts, behaves just like Intune with a 426 00:15:53,539 --> 00:15:55,079 couple of extra affordances 427 00:15:55,940 --> 00:15:57,860 that you can't do on a physical device, 428 00:15:57,860 --> 00:16:00,995 like the ability to wipe it, restore it, 429 00:16:00,995 --> 00:16:02,674 and hand it off to somebody else, the 430 00:16:02,674 --> 00:16:04,214 ability to resize it. 431 00:16:04,674 --> 00:16:06,355 If someone's like, hey, I don't have enough 432 00:16:06,355 --> 00:16:06,855 compute. 433 00:16:07,475 --> 00:16:08,754 I need a or I have a new 434 00:16:08,754 --> 00:16:10,934 dev project I'm kicking off. You can resize 435 00:16:10,995 --> 00:16:14,454 that machine to mortgage Okay. More storage. 436 00:16:15,110 --> 00:16:18,149 The other security benefit that it has also 437 00:16:18,149 --> 00:16:20,710 managed in Intune is what Satya talked about 438 00:16:20,710 --> 00:16:22,490 briefly, which is point in time restore. 439 00:16:22,950 --> 00:16:25,350 So the ability to roll it back to 440 00:16:25,350 --> 00:16:26,889 up to 10 preset 441 00:16:27,485 --> 00:16:28,625 moments in time 442 00:16:29,084 --> 00:16:31,485 by IT so that if something were to 443 00:16:31,485 --> 00:16:31,985 occur, 444 00:16:32,365 --> 00:16:34,684 whether it is I left it on a 445 00:16:34,684 --> 00:16:35,184 bus 446 00:16:35,964 --> 00:16:37,884 and now I need to log back in 447 00:16:37,884 --> 00:16:39,404 and I need that thing that was on 448 00:16:39,404 --> 00:16:41,589 the bus to be gone or whether it 449 00:16:41,589 --> 00:16:44,069 is an incident occurs. So being able to 450 00:16:44,069 --> 00:16:44,730 roll back 451 00:16:45,110 --> 00:16:47,829 to an earlier protected state is another thing 452 00:16:47,829 --> 00:16:49,509 we can uniquely do in the cloud. We'll 453 00:16:49,509 --> 00:16:51,049 certainly look to bring that 454 00:16:51,509 --> 00:16:52,730 type of resiliency 455 00:16:53,110 --> 00:16:55,585 to other Windows endpoints, but it's kind of 456 00:16:55,585 --> 00:16:58,565 everything good about Intune and Windows PC Management 457 00:16:58,945 --> 00:17:01,024 plus some stuff in the cloud. Okay. Yeah. 458 00:17:01,024 --> 00:17:03,664 Very cool. Well, we're out of time. Anything 459 00:17:03,664 --> 00:17:05,204 else you wanna 460 00:17:05,505 --> 00:17:07,345 end with? Anything else you want people to 461 00:17:07,345 --> 00:17:10,799 know about Windows 365, Windows 365 link? Yeah. 462 00:17:10,799 --> 00:17:13,059 I would just say, like, it was built 463 00:17:13,359 --> 00:17:15,539 based on customer feedback and need. 464 00:17:15,919 --> 00:17:18,799 The link was built based on customer requests 465 00:17:18,799 --> 00:17:20,659 for, like, this is what we want. 466 00:17:20,960 --> 00:17:22,240 And so I would just say keep the 467 00:17:22,240 --> 00:17:24,875 feedback coming. Like, the team is super responsive 468 00:17:25,015 --> 00:17:27,414 to feedback, loves hearing it, loves talking to 469 00:17:27,414 --> 00:17:29,335 customers, and we will build what our customers 470 00:17:29,335 --> 00:17:31,815 want. Alright. Awesome. And I'll get links from 471 00:17:31,815 --> 00:17:34,214 you if people wanna reach out to you 472 00:17:34,214 --> 00:17:35,815 if you're on social media and get those. 473 00:17:35,815 --> 00:17:37,255 I'll put all of those in the podcast 474 00:17:37,255 --> 00:17:39,779 notes. So thanks for being here. Thanks for 475 00:17:39,779 --> 00:17:41,460 coming on, Melissa, and joining me, and it 476 00:17:41,460 --> 00:17:43,460 was a pleasure talking to you and learning 477 00:17:43,460 --> 00:17:44,820 a little bit more about it. Yeah. You 478 00:17:44,820 --> 00:17:46,580 as well. Great to meet you. Alright. Thanks 479 00:17:46,580 --> 00:17:47,559 a lot. Thanks. 480 00:17:49,700 --> 00:17:51,794 If you enjoyed the podcast, go leave us 481 00:17:51,794 --> 00:17:54,194 a 5 star rating in iTunes. It helps 482 00:17:54,194 --> 00:17:55,875 to get the word out, so more IT 483 00:17:55,875 --> 00:17:58,694 pros can learn about Office 365 and Azure. 484 00:17:59,234 --> 00:18:00,835 If you have any questions you want us 485 00:18:00,835 --> 00:18:03,075 to address on the show, or feedback about 486 00:18:03,075 --> 00:18:05,394 the show, feel free to reach out via 487 00:18:05,394 --> 00:18:06,054 our website, 488 00:18:06,461 --> 00:18:07,601 Twitter, or Facebook. 489 00:18:07,901 --> 00:18:09,741 Thanks again for listening, and have a great 490 00:18:09,741 --> 00:18:10,241 day.

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Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast

Ben Stegink, Scott Hoag

On the MS Cloud IT Pro Podcast, Scott and Ben discuss the Microsoft Cloud with a focus on IT Pros. They'll discuss the latest in Microsoft 365 and Office 365 News, Azure news and talk about their experiences with managing the Microsoft Cloud as well as interview industry experts on various cloud technology. They'll cover things such as SharePoint, Exchange, Microsoft Teams, PowerShell, Azure, Azure AD, Security, Networking, Storage, and the many other technologies and products that have made their way into the Microsoft 365 suite and Azure. To stay up-to-date on the latest in Microsoft Cloud news and gain some valuable knowledge as you deploy it within your own organization, make sure to tune in every week! Find out more at msclouditpropodcast.com.

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