Windows 10: What is new in Surface for Business

Brink · Mar 11, 2019

As we discussed in our last Surface for Business blog, the Surface for Business portfolio is tailored specifically for commercial and education customers. We are constantly listening to and learning from our customers and have an amazing team dedicated to continually improving our products. Today I’m excited to announce new offerings that aim to help businesses better serve their customers, enable their employees and empower students.

Enabling more multinational deals and expanding configurations for Surface Pro and Surface Laptop

We have heard requests to enable broader market support so multinational corporations can purchase Surface on a more global basis to outfit workers across subsidiaries and regional offices. Therefore, we are authorizing commercial partners to sell select configurations of Surface Pro 6 for Business and Surface Laptop 2 for Business in 11 additional European markets: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia. These offerings will leverage an International English keyboard (Surface Pro Type Cover sold separately) and include local languages in the operating system image, with availability beginning May 1, 2019.

There is also growing interest from commercial customers wanting to outfit mainstream productivity employees with devices containing 16GB memory. While 16GB memory options are already available on Intel Core i7 models of various Surface devices, we are now offering a configuration of 16GB memory on an Intel Core i5 model with 256GB storage for both Surface Pro 6 and Surface Laptop 2. We are offering these configurations in the U.S. and Canada this month and will evaluate opportunities to expand this configuration more broadly in the future.

Celebrating commercial and education customer success

We continue to be inspired by how our commercial and education customers are using Surface for Business devices to drive transformation within their industries and better serve their customers, employees and students. Here are a few recent examples:

The Law School Admission Council (LSAC) administers the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) – the only assessment tool accepted by every law school in the United States and Canada – to 100,000 potential law school applicants worldwide each year. As part of a broader technology initiative with Microsoft, LSAC will use Surface Go for the new Digital LSAT platform launching in July 2019. Among the reasons LSAC selected Surface Go were the numerous Windows 10 accessibility features available for test takers who need them, overall quality and reliability which is critical for users in such a high-stakes exam, and the Surface Go kickstand which allows test-takers the flexibility to angle the screen for their own comfort.

Future of StoryTelling (FoST) supports a passionate community of people from the worlds of media, technology and communications who explore and transform how storytelling is evolving in the digital age. A year ago, FoST themselves recognized the need to transform how it uses technology to operate more effectively. They replaced a combination of Apple and other devices with Surface devices allowing employees to “select one that matches their preferences and work habits.” Interoperability was particularly important: “The way Surface devices work so smoothly with Office 365, with the applications we use, and with each other is impressive [and] makes our day-to-day jobs much easier.”

Play’n GO specializes in developing top-quality gaming platforms and software for online and land-based casinos. They grew substantially over the last five years and recently switched the computers they use to collaborate and create on, at the same time as their switch to Microsoft 365—with Surface Laptop as the standard and Surface Studio for the art team. “For the first time in nearly 15 years, I can hold a PC in my hand that has a build quality equal to that of an Apple device. The Surface Laptop is the most reliable, problem-free laptop of any brand I’ve used,” says Christoffer Tykö, Internal IT Team Leader at Play’n GO. This standardization and the reliability of Surface devices has already helped decrease the time IT employees need to dedicate to troubleshooting company hardware, freeing the department to handle other responsibilities. The use of a unified, comprehensive solution has also paid dividends in employee productivity.

Learn more about Surface for Business or Surface for Education, check with your local reseller or contact your Microsoft representative to see which devices and prices are available for your organization or your school today.
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Source: What's new in Surface for Business: enabling multinational deals and new product configurations | Microsoft Devices Blog

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Brink · Mar 11, 2019

Introducing the Surface Diagnostic Toolkit for Business

We’re pleased to announce the availability of the Microsoft Surface Diagnostic Toolkit for Business (SDT), designed to restore Surface devices to full productivity faster.

Built with advanced diagnostics, logging, and repair capabilities, SDT enables IT admins to quickly resolve hardware, software, and firmware issues in Surface devices, beginning with Surface Pro 3 and later. The solution consists of a distributable desktop application and command-line app console that ship together in Surface Tools for IT.

IT admins can run SDT in standard helpdesk scenarios, guiding users through interactive diagnostic hardware tests, software repairs and firmware updates, which -- in many cases – can restore Surface devices to full health.

Versatile testing & repair

We love what this combined desktop and command-line solution can do:

If SDT finds hardware issues, it generates a report, pinpointing potential causes and recommended troubleshooting steps.

If software is the cause, SDT can instantly repair system files and other core components.

If you need to diagnose devices for geographically dispersed teams, you can install the Surface diagnostic app console and run SDT remotely from your favorite command prompt.

Target & deploy

You can make SDT available via self-service install options across your organization, empowering users to take advantage of built-in repair capabilities before opening a support ticket.

And if your data shows, for example, that most of your Firstline workers only ever experience issues with display anomalies or sound, you can customize distributable SDT packages to just target those issues. The result: A more streamlined and unified experience that helps your most critical employees return to full productivity mode faster.

Command-line support

With the Surface diagnostics app console, you can directly troubleshoot devices remotely from the command prompt without user interaction, using standard tools such as Configuration Manager.

Download & install

Please note that SDT can only be installed for distribution by running MSI.exe from the command line. We strongly recommended reviewing the detailed instructions on the Surface Diagnostic Toolkit for Business page before proceeding.

SDT and the Surface diagnostics app console are available for download along with related deployment tools at Surface Tools for IT.
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Source: Introducing the Surface Diagnostic Toolkit for Business Surface

Brink · Mar 11, 2019

New Subscription Options for Windows 10 and Surface for Businesses

Today, I will speak to thousands of our partners at the Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) in Toronto. WPC is our largest partner conference of the year, bringing together over 15,000 attendees from around the globe to increase partner profitability and accelerate business growth. It’s exciting to see the energy and creativity from our partners and we have several new opportunities to share with them today, including new subscription service offerings for Windows 10 and Surface.

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New solutions are required as it’s a unique time for all of us. We’re in the midst of a digital revolution – overwhelmed with data, with increasing risks to the security of our information, and confined inside a 2D world of monitors and pixels as technology takes over every aspect of our business and personal lives. The digital revolution creates the opportunity for a digital transformation, with all new ways to engage customers, empower employees, optimize operations, and transform products.

We will help enable digital transformation by delivering more personal computing across Windows and our devices. With this next wave of computing, all new opportunities are available for our partners – across Windows, Surface, Surface Hub, and Microsoft HoloLens.

Introducing Windows 10 Enterprise E3 for CSP

More than 350 million active devices are running Windows 10 and our business customers are moving faster than ever before, with more than 96% of them in active pilots. And, Windows 10 customers are already experiencing improved productivity and cost savings with an average ROI of 188% with a 13-month payback.*

In most instances, organizations are moving quickly to Windows 10 due to the heightened security risks they face and the industry-leading security features in Windows 10 that can help protect them. Companies of all sizes face real security threats from sophisticated hackers and cyber-terrorists, costing an average of $12 million an incident. In the US alone there are more than 56 million small to mid-sized businesses, in critical sectors like healthcare, legal and financial services that need strong security similar to what our large enterprise customers get through volume licensing agreements.

Today, we are announcing Windows 10 Enterprise E3 in CSP. Starting this fall, businesses can get enterprise-grade security and management capabilities at just $7 a seat per month for the first time through the Cloud Solution Provider channel.

CSP partners will be able to provide a subscription to Windows 10 Enterprise Edition as part of a managed service offering, which is ideal for businesses who do not have dedicated IT resources or limited IT staff, and want their licensing and IT needs managed by a trusted and experienced partner.

Partners can now offer their business customers the ‘full IT stack’ from Microsoft, including Windows 10, Office 365, Dynamics Azure and CRM as a per user, per month offering through a single channel, which businesses can scale up or down as their needs change. Key features include:

Increased Security: Offering the sophisticated security features of Windows 10 to help businesses secure sensitive data and identities, help ensure devices are protected from cybersecurity threats, give employees the freedom and flexibility to access sensitive data on a variety of devices, and help ensure controlled access to highly-sensitive data.

Simplified Licensing & Deployment: Helping businesses lower up-front costs, eliminating the need for time-consuming device counting and audits, and making it easier to stay compliant with a subscription-based, per-user licensing model. This new offering allows businesses to easily move from Windows 10 Pro to Windows 10 Enterprise E3 without rebooting.

Partner-managed IT: Configuring and managing devices by a partner experienced in Windows 10 and cloud deployments. Partners can also help businesses develop a device security and management strategy with the unique features of Windows 10. Businesses can view subscriptions and usage for Windows 10 Enterprise, and any other Microsoft cloud services purchased, in their partner portal for easier management with one contract, one user account, one support contact, and one simplified bill.

Windows 10 Enterprise continues to be available through our regular licensing programs and is part of our newly-announced suites Secure Productive Enterprise E3 and E5 launching later this year.

Introducing the Surface as a Service Program and Additions to the Surface Enterprise Initiative

The digital revolution is changing the traditional workplace environment, making us more reliant on our peers to share knowledge and work together; while more people are working remotely and need to be productive from anywhere. And, the workforce demographic is shifting towards millennials who are more collaborative, multi-task more, and use multiple devices.

We continue to invest in our Surface family of products because we have seen how innovative devices shift people’s behavior, inspire ideas, catalyze collaboration, accelerate progress, and transform business. And in the past year, the Surface business has grown from generating $1B in revenue in a year to $1B in revenue per quarter. With our growing portfolio, we are creating not just great devices, but breakthrough categories that open up a world of new opportunities for partners to build capabilities in new areas, and to create solutions and services for customers. This year, we are investing in programs that increase partner revenue and profitability.

Today we are expanding the Surface Enterprise Initiative with a set of new partnerships and programs that will empower our customers of all sizes – from SMBs to multi-national enterprises – to transform the way their people and the organizations work.

Today, we announced the ability to sell Surface as a Service. Now our Cloud Solution Providers (who are also Surface Authorized Distributors) can offer Surface devices through a managed service offering to all of our resellers and customers, alongside managed cloud services, Office 365, Windows 10, and relevant ISV software. This new offering enables flexibility of solutions, faster device refresh and ensures customers can have the latest Surface devices that evolve with the best Windows and Office have to offer. We launched this program with ALSO, a leading CSP out of Europe, and look forward to working with other partners to expand this program globally

Today we also announced an expansion of our Surface Multi-National Purchasing Program with the addition of CDW, Insight, SHI and Zones. Now, each of these resellers can provide their enterprise customers Surface devices and accessories. As a result, enterprise customers can have added choice in how they purchase Surface devices, benefit from a streamlined path for getting Surface on company-wide standards lists, and see cross-country adoption for line of business scenarios.

Last year, we announced a partnership with Dell as part of our Surface Enterprise Initiative – and we’ve seen great results. Since then, our customer and partners have told us they need help creating tailored solutions that digitize workflow across core business processes. A transformation like that requires Surface devices that are not only highly portable, powerful and versatile, but also bring the industry leading security and productivity capabilities of Windows 10. Today we announced an expansion to the Surface Enterprise Initiative with two new partnerships with IBM and Booz Allen Hamilton to deliver industry specific solutions to our shared customers. IBM will draw on their data and analytics expertise to create new industry-specific solutions for the financial services and consumer packaged goods sectors that take advantage of the unique capabilities of Surface devices. Booz Allen Hamilton will develop scalable and more secure solutions for Governments, the Public Sector and Healthcare.

“We see an immense opportunity to help our customers meet their business goals with Windows 10 Enterprise E3 in CSP and the Surface as a service program. Now, we’ll be able to offer a complete managed service workplace solution from device to operating system to productivity with a level of scale not previously possible.”
— Gustavo Möller-Hergt, CEO, Chairman, ALSO

These new programs and partnerships, combined with our network of more than 5000 business resellers provide great opportunities for our partners and for our customers to transform their businesses to a more modern way of working.

Opportunities for Microsoft HoloLens

More personal computing is enabled by the devices of today and by the potential of all new ways of interacting. Mixed reality will enable us to connect better with each other, where people – not devices – are the center of everything, and where technology no longer gets in our way and embraces who we are. By 2020, 80 million mixed reality, virtual reality and augmented reality devices will be shipping every year. And we recently opened Windows Holographic to make it easy for our partners to build an ecosystem with us. Microsoft HoloLens is already enabling mixed reality experiences – changing the way cars are designed at companies like Volvo, redefining how medical students learn at universities like Case Western Reserve, and helping scientists explore the surface of Mars.

Our agency partners around the world are building incredible mixed reality experiences using Microsoft HoloLens. You can see some of their incredible work in this video.

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Today, PGA TOUR CIO Steve Evans and Vice President of Digital Operations, Scott Gutterman, joined me to show how the PGA Tour is embracing Windows 10 and Microsoft HoloLens. Assisted by Microsoft Partner CDW, the PGA TOUR is an early adopter of Windows 10, deployed to over 60% of their devices, with a goal of 100% by the end of this summer. They’ve built custom apps on the Universal Windows Platform to enable volunteers to track scoring and statistical information for every shot on every hole, and for fans to use the Windows 10 Tournament Companion app to track tournament data in real-time to get deeper insights. Working with Taqtile, the PGA TOUR built a solution on Microsoft HoloLens for golf pros, enthusiasts and fans.

“Microsoft HoloLens is an amazing tool for golf course design and for planning major events on each course. It is an incredible opportunity for players and caddies to plan their attack on a course, visually identifying the best tee-off locations and hazards and reviewing how they played each hole after the round is complete. Finally, a shared HoloLens experience provides valuable coaching for a class of golfers to learn how to approach different courses and scenarios,”
— PGA TOUR Senior Vice President and CIO Steve Evans

Windows 10 is off to a great start and we’re excited to see business customers embracing it faster than ever before. With all new ways of selling Windows 10 and Surface, and with incredible innovation on the horizon – we’re excited to create all new opportunities for our partners. We can’t wait to see what’s ahead.

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Source: Announcing New Subscription Options for Windows 10 and Surface for Businesses | Windows Experience Blog

Brink · Mar 11, 2019

Introducing new A Surface Hub Tour app

We are introducing A Surface Hub Tour, a fun and engaging app optimized for Surface Hub now available from the Windows Store. The A Surface Hub Tour app is an easy-to-follow app to familiarize yourself with the Surface Hub's features and how you can get the most out of them through a hands-on, step-by-step, fun experience. We've named it A Surface Hub Tour to ensure that it sits right at the top of your Surface Hub's app list, easy to find and launch for both you and your users. Make it available for your users to open and explore to enable them to quickly and easily learn how their Surface Hub does much more than just providing a large screen for projection and presentations.

Surface Hub is an all-in-one collaboration device built with integrated features that make not just presenting, but sharing, collaborating and brainstorming easy, secure, and productive. A Surface Hub Tour demonstrates these capabilities in a game-like format that can be explored at your own pace, demonstrating how to get the most from Surface Hub's most compelling features, like Whiteboard, Skype for Business, Office 365, Connect, and of course, several options to give us feedback to improve.

Configure one of the new amazing wallpapers included with the app and selectable from your Surface Hub settings to direct your users to the A Surface Hub Tour learning experience, presenting them with an invitation Come and Explore the Surface Hub by launching the app. Once in the app, you'll be prompted to choose an avatar, and then select from a list of lessons, or worlds. You can follow the recommended sequence, or explore the worlds at your own pace and in your own order. You can also sign-in to save your avatar, prizes, progress and your favorite features. In each world your avatar will participate and guide you in short exercises that demonstrate the Surface Hub's capabilities. At the completion of each world, your avatar will earn a surprise to celebrate!

The worlds available today in the A Surface Hub Tour app include:

Surface Hub Basics

Whiteboard Fun

Skype for Business

Office 365

Connect

The A Surface Hub Tour app is now available at the Windows Store for Surface Hub administrators to download and install. A Surface Hub Tour is a universal app and can run on any Windows 10 device, but it was designed and optimized for Surface Hub to allow users access to the features and functionality being demonstrated. Install the app on your Surface Hubs today to help your users discover the capabilities of this fantastic device for collaboration, teamwork, and creativity.
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Source: Have fun learning all Hub features with "A Surface Hub Tour" app! Surface

Windows 10: What is new in Surface for Business

What is new in Surface for Business

What is new in Surface for Business

What is new in Surface for Business

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