SolarWinds and Microsoft held a joint webinar today to provide further detail of their announced collaboration to integrate Intune into their MSP focused products. A demo of was presented showing the integrations.
Of note, representatives from Microsoft indicated that the integration was built on the open APIs made available to the product, and that the uniqueness of the effort was the two companies strong relationship.
The companies anticipate availability of the integration late in the year.
The only thing that is unique here is, to quip, “we get along.”
Two statements. First, I’m impressed at SolarWinds move here. They are ceding the security policy and management space owned by Intune in favor of partnering. They are actually integrating a superior technology and doing it at no cost to their customers. That is bolder than I would have anticipated.
At the same time, it shows the writing is on the wall – Microsoft is the player you have to play with, and their play with Intune is a matter of time. Note it manages not just iOS and Android, but Windows too.
Let’s note that what they are building is something any tech firm could do – they are using open APIs to integrate their product in to Intune and Microsoft 365. That’s important – this isn’t anything special that someone else can’t do.
I’ve been pro-Microsoft lately, and let me reiterate. In my mind, they’re the obvious option to leverage right now to move a services business forward. As for vendors in the space, I’d have a Microsoft strategy in mind. You’ll need it.