Systems Management, Security, and Identity Management

The current wave of releases for the entire System Center line became available in Dec. 2012, with the release of System Center 2012 SP1, and one new product was added. Most System Center 2012 products are not available separately but only as components of two System Center licensing bundles: System Center 2012 Standard and System Center 2012 Datacenter, each containing licenses for eight System Center 2012 products. (See the sidebar “System Center Product Names“.) The service pack allows the products to be used with Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 among other improvements.

For client management, updated versions of two tools and one new tool are included in the 2011 R2 version of the Desktop Optimization Pack, and further additions are included in the Desktop Optimization Pack 2012, released Nov. 1, 2012. Updates to Windows Intune, Microsoft’s online PC management product, were released in June 2012 and Dec. 2012.

The Forefront line of security products protects Windows PCs, servers, and the network edge from viruses, spyware, and other malware. Endpoint Protection 2010 and the first service pack for the Unified Access Gateway remote access product were released in Dec. 2010, and updates to two edge protection products appeared in Oct. 2011. Endpoint Protection 2012, released in Apr. 2012 and updated to Service Pack 1 in Dec. 2012, drops the Forefront branding and joins System Center. In Sept. 2012, Microsoft announced that many Forefront products would be discontinued, while some will remain or get name changes.