After the MMS 2010 conference more information is finally started to made public on this topic, and I’ll quickly run down the information at hand. As you should know by now, the legacy System Center Mobile Device Manager (SCMDM) 2008 product will be collapsed into the next System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) release, which could be called SCCM 2011 or 2012.
Beta 1
Beta 1 of SCCM v.Next was publically released this Monday as described on the product blog here. The blog article also gives you a invitation link to join the beta site for the product to download it. Apart from the enhanced Mobile Device Management features, v.Next brings a long list of awesome new features and also some new infrastructure requirements if you are currently running SCCM 2007.
Videos
Several new videos have been posted to TechNet with the product managers:
Configuration Manager vNext Mobile Device Management:
“In this video Jeffrey Sutherland, Mobile Device Lead Program Manager meets with Kelly Wagman, Sr. Product Manager to discuss how Configuration Manager can help manage mobile devices in a common and consistent way and how Configuration Manager v.Next will unify the administration of mobile device management.”
Configuration Manager vNext Administrative Console: 
”Mark Florida, Lead Program Manager discusses and demonstrates the highlights of the new administrative console in Configuration Manager vNext. Mark shows some of the console changes that create a simplified administrative experience and details the capabilities included in the new Role Based Access Control feature that will help simplify the infrastructure.”
Mobile Device Management Highlights
(These beta statements are by no means conclusive or endorsed by Microsoft, and the product team may change the features at any time while in beta)
- No VPN access (dropped the SCMDM gateway, bummer but not too surprising)
- Support Windows Mobile/CE 5.0 and above (dropped PPC 2003 and WinCE 4.2)
- Cross-platform device support? (perhaps a hint to include Windows Phone 7 at RTM?)
- “User-centric mobile device management” (deploy app/config policies to users or devices)
- Enable secure, compliant mobile devices
- Secure over-the-air enrollment (a-la SCMDM?)
- Monitor and remediate out-of-compliance devices
- Application allow/deny and configuration policies
SCCM 2007 R3
In another angle there is also a new beta refresh of SCCM 2007 R3 earlier this month (which probably will get released late this year). The R3 release provides some “green” features to control the power management configuration. According to the datasheet, R3 also provides:
- “With Configuration Manager R3, customers may use downgrade rights to use Mobile Device Manager with Configuration Manager R3 licenses.”
- “Configuration Manager R3 extends the device management capabilities of Mobile Device Manager to Configuration Manager so administrators can run comprehensive asset inventories, manage settings, deploy software, and enforce password policies on Windows Mobile devices.”
So it sounds like the SCMDM licenses are officially freebies for R3. And that there might be some limited tie-in functionality between the products. I was unable to download the beta from the Connect site link to verify the details..
Update: Andreas Helland has already posted some screen shots and quick comments from his initial SCCM Beta 1 testing here: http://mobilitydojo.net/2010/05/27/sccm-v-next-hits-beta-1/. Worth checking out!
|\\arco..