As Microsoft’s Windows 365 marks its three-year milestone, we’re taking a moment to celebrate the remarkable achievements of our customers over the past three years. As you’ve successfully traversed the complex terrain of the hybrid office, leveraged innovative approaches to migrate your offerings to the cloud, and ensured seamless integration for employees and businesses amidst the demands of a challenging cybersecurity landscape. As we embark on this transformative odyssey, we’re honored to accompany you on the high-tech highway to a future where artificial intelligence and cloud computing revolutionize the world of work.
Companies emphasized the crucial importance of enterprise resilience and continuity, alongside ensuring employee productivity and safety, while simultaneously reducing costs and IT complexity. Since the inception of Windows 365, our primary objective has been to safeguard corporate data and employee information while streamlining IT management and reducing administrative burdens, all while delivering a familiar Windows experience that is both agile and effortlessly deployable. Windows 365 Cloud PCs empower employees to seamlessly access their Windows 11 or Windows 10 desktops, applications, data, and personalized settings from anywhere, on any device.
Companies such as FedEx, along with a range of others, have successfully transformed their workforce and enhanced enterprise resilience through Windows 365. Today, we are thrilled to announce updated features for Windows 365, driven by customer feedback and emerging use cases designed to safeguard businesses and keep workers productive in the face of uncertainty and change.
What are the most compelling cloud options for ensuring business continuity and minimizing downtime in an increasingly complex global economy?
Microsoft 365 is a cloud-native solution, empowering users to maintain seamless collaboration, enhance productivity, and ensure business continuity as part of its comprehensive Windows ecosystem. According to John Cable, VP of Windows Servicing and Supply, “Windows must prioritize transformative change and innovation in end-to-end resilience.” “These enhancements will harmonize seamlessly with ongoing improvements in safety, as we collaborate closely with our numerous partners, who share our deep commitment to safeguarding the Windows ecosystem.”
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We recently introduced a cross-region capability that provides an additional layer of redundancy against regional outages. The add-on function produces snapshots of Cloud PCs. Snapshots of cloud-based infrastructure are strategically deployed in customer-designated locations, ensuring business continuity by seamlessly recovering data to Cloud PCs situated within the same geographic region during catastrophic events. This cross-region catastrophe restoration function is inherently configurable, seamlessly integrated into existing narratives and workflows, empowering directors with robust resilience and efficient administration to ensure uninterrupted business operations during challenging circumstances? This feature also minimizes the risk of data corruption and enables IT administrators to promptly respond to unexpected outages. .
Buyer-centric innovation
Customer-centric innovation lies at the very heart of Windows? We actively listen to customer feedback, understand their pain points, and strive to deliver solutions that better meet their needs and exceed their expectations. We continually refine and expand Windows 365 with innovative features, connections, and functionalities, driven by user feedback.
One of the most common requests from prospects is seamless access to a graphics processing unit (GPU) within our Software as a Service (SaaS) offering. Today, we’re excited to announce the widespread availability of GPU support for demanding graphic design, picture and video rendering, 3D modeling, and data visualization workloads. Now, professionals with demanding graphics requirements can enjoy unparalleled flexibility to deliver, collaborate, and share Windows-based projects seamlessly across the cloud with our innovative Home windows 365 GPU-enabled Cloud PCs. .
Moreover, customers demanded a streamlined app providing seamless access to Microsoft virtualization solutions, including Windows 365, Azure Digital Desktop, and Microsoft Dev Field. Today, we’re thrilled to introduce the Windows App, empowering users to effortlessly log into their Windows 365 Cloud PCs from any device with just one click? Since Microsoft 365’s Windows version is familiar and fully functional, a cloud-delivered operating system that enables seamless productivity alongside Copilot’s capabilities. Following the preview release of the Windows App, we’ve witnessed a remarkable surge of over 10 million active hours of usage across platforms, with notable adopters including Zurich Insurance Group and Vodafone.
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We’re thrilled to announce that AI-powered tools are now available to help IT directors effortlessly determine the optimal configuration for each Cloud PC based on user utilization patterns and performance requirements, spanning from 2vCPU to the latest GPU-enabled options. .
Elevate your productivity with seamless adaptability across devices.
To ensure the highest level of security for our workers and company data, we have invested in multiple robust solutions to safeguard user authentication, access control, and confidential information within our Windows 365 platform. Today, we are announcing the latest security updates for Windows 365. .
- Enhanced, IT-driven re-authorization protocols, including distant lockdown screens and expedited session expiration timers, ensure the secure access of authorized users to your Cloud-based PCs only.
- Pursue Insider Threat Administration provides a comprehensive solution to detect and prevent internal attacks by analyzing employee behavior, identifying suspicious actions, and generating forensic evidence to support investigations.
- With Encryption using Buyer Keys, users can confidently safeguard their Cloud PC data both during rest and transmission by utilizing unique, personalized encryption keys, thereby retaining complete control and ownership of their information. The unidirectional clipboard mechanism safeguards against potential knowledge leaks by restricting both the flow path and type of information exchanged during copy-and-paste operations between a native device and a Cloud PC, thereby minimizing exposure risks?
Microsoft’s Windows 365 has been selected by Prospects, a leading provider of professional training and career development solutions, for its more than 8,000 employees and contractors. By streamlining program administration, improving safety, and achieving substantial cost reductions, they are not alone in reaping these benefits.
Microsoft Windows 365 empowers your organization to stay ahead of the curve with AI-powered productivity.
Windows provides a fertile ground for harnessing the potential of AI innovations and driving productivity – and this vision extends seamlessly to Windows in the cloud. Initially, Microsoft’s Windows 365 provides a seamless experience for employees to access Microsoft Copilot, a cloud-based AI-powered productivity tool, on their devices of choice, including Windows PCs, Macs, iPhones, iPads, and Android devices, while maintaining robust IT controls and data security. Second, Copilot for Microsoft 365 seamlessly integrates with Windows 365 Cloud PCs, enabling employees to boost productivity and leverage AI on any device.
As developers, builders, and innovators, prospects are harnessing the power of Windows to craft AI-powered applications and potent Copilot+ PCs that accelerate the pace of technological advancement. With Windows 365, all that creativity will extend to every employee and edge of our customers’ business.
Microsoft’s commitment to supporting customers through flexible work arrangements, boosting productivity and creativity, has been recognized in IDC MarketScape reports, where it was named a Leader in Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) for 2023-2024. Because of its heritage as the developer of Windows and its extensive history on the market, Microsoft boasts a comprehensive and profound ecosystem of connections and expertise tied to virtualization.
Microsoft’s sustained management capabilities position it to facilitate DaaS adoption in enterprises that rely on its endpoint or identity administration options, leveraging existing Microsoft 365 productivity and Azure-based workload deployments.
As we embark on designing Windows 365, we prioritize our customers’ needs and preferences. Our goal in Microsoft Windows is to empower businesses by offering a range of choices, tools, and decision-making resources that drive success. We will continue innovating to ensure the safety of what we’re promoting, provide an exceptional employee experience, and optimize our IT management to operate more efficiently. We’re committed to empowering productivity from anywhere, by providing a modern, secure, and eco-friendly solution for managing your endpoint settings. Thanks are owed for your continuous support of Windows 365.
To go back to school and learn more?
As a Copilot subscriber, you’ll find the innovative tool available within the House tab in Phrase, Excel (Preview), PowerPoint, and Outlook. If you already have a Microsoft 365 subscription that includes the Microsoft 365 desktop applications, it’s worth exploring Copilot within those apps themselves.
