Microsoft's Windows Intune: What It Means For The Channel

Now that Microsoft's Windows Intune cloud-based desktop PC management system is commercially available, Microsoft is providing more information about the role channel partners will play in selling and using the new product.

Company executives are portraying Intune, which formally launched Wednesday at the Microsoft Management Summit in Las Vegas, as the shape of things to come as the software giant seeks to move all of its systems management and security products to the cloud.

Microsoft has touted Intune as a way for solution providers to expand into managed services, not to mention creating additional opportunities such as helping customers upgrade to Windows 7 from Windows Vista and Windows XP.

And partners have eagerly anticipated its availability. "We've viewed it as a way to round out our cloud offerings to our customers," said Aaron Nettles, CEO of Vorsite, a Seattle-based Microsoft partner that has changed its business model to provide only Microsoft’s cloud-based software. "It's more of an end-to-end solution for the customer," he said in an interview.

"Windows Intune represents an opportunity for partners to reach out to many end users that they could not reach out to in the past," said Stephen Hall, CEO of Microsoft partner District Computers, in a statement. "It's a very affordable management solution that end users can embrace because it's coming from Microsoft, being managed by a partner."

Intune has the potential to help channel partners grow their PC management businesses by an average of 19 percent during the first full year of operations, according to a study from research firm IDC.

Microsoft will host the Intune system, and large customers that buy directly from Microsoft through enterprise agreements will obtain the service direct from Microsoft. But company executives emphasize the role the channel has to play, with partners expected to drive an estimated 80 percent of Intune sales, said Gavriella Schuster, general manager for Windows product management, in an interview prior to Intune's launch.

"We're really relying on our partners to make their connections and own the relationship," Schuster said, noting that Microsoft has trained more than 3,000 partners on the Intune technology.

Microsoft will be handling the billing relationship for the Intune service, following the same model for the Microsoft Office 365 suite (formerly known as BPOS). Some partners say that makes it difficult to deliver Intune as part of a larger service offering.

"It's unfortunate that Windows Intune, which from a technical perspective is perfect for MSPs, won’t match from a business delivery model," Dave Sobel, CEO of Evolve Technologies, a Fairfax, Va.-based Microsoft partner, told CRN earlier this month.

At Vorsite, Nettles said the Microsoft billing isn't a problem because Vorsite essentially remade itself -- including selling off its old business -- to adopt a cloud-only model. "So we've just evolved the business around the way Microsoft has rolled this out." But Nettles said he can understand why some resellers with an established customer base aren't happy with Microsoft directly billing customers for Intune.

NEXT: Intune As A Model For Microsoft's Cloud Future

Solution providers that resell Intune keep 12 percent of a contract's first-year revenue and 6 percent of renewal fees. But Microsoft's Schuster said Intune also will give resellers opportunities to offer remote support for desktop and mobile PCs, provide remote application deployment services and proactively respond to problems.

Resellers also could expand into IT policy management areas including policies for setting up a firewall, software patch management, alerting, and software and hardware asset management, she said.

"It's a window into cloud services for both partners and users," said Schuster. Many solution providers today work on a time-and-materials basis but want to expand into services, albeit without a lot of capital expenditures. That last item means partners can make more profits without having to charge customers more, she said.

For partners that already provide hosted services, Intune offers a way to operate multiaccount consoles, making it easier to monitor multiple customers at one time, Schuster said. During the beta process, Microsoft, in response to partner requests, added the ability to integrate Intune with third-party help-desk ticketing systems.

Because Intune subscriptions include an upgrade to Windows 7, Microsoft also is touting partner opportunities to offer desktop operating migration services to their customers.

Beyond Intune's immediate opportunities and implications for channel partners, the new product is a watershed event for Microsoft partners who provide systems management and security products and services. While most of Microsoft's systems management software is on-premise, including the System Center 2012 products unveiled at the Microsoft Management Summit earlier this week, Microsoft's long-range plan is to eventually move all of its systems management and security tools to the same cloud model as Intune.

The current iteration of Intune provides asset inventory management, remote assistance, firewall security and antivirus capabilities. But over time Intune will incorporate the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) tools, including the Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset, and other tools for managing group policies and proactive alerts. (Intune subscribers currently have the option of adding the MDOP software for $1 per seat, per month.)

Microsoft's aims to eventually achieve parity between its cloud-based and on-premise systems management and security software, according to Schuster, including Systems Center, MDOP, the Forefront line of security products and others.

Over time Microsoft will invest less and less in the on-premise versions of those products. Schuster said Microsoft anticipates the complete transition from on-premise products to cloud-based systems management and security software will take about 10 years.