December 2024 Newsletter
Table of Contents
Wrapping up 2024—and Looking Ahead to 2025
As we close out the year, it’s the perfect time to reflect on the IT news stories that shaped the industry. From groundbreaking advancements in artificial intelligence and cloud computing to escalating cybersecurity challenges and new technologies, 2024 has been a year of innovation and transformation.
Whether it was the rise of generative AI in business workflows, shifts in regulatory policies impacting data privacy, or trends like edge computing gaining momentum, staying informed has never been more critical—and we’re happy to deliver news and updates monthly to keep you in the know. In this final wrap-up, we highlight the most impactful topics, offering insights to help you navigate the IT landscape as we move into 2025.
➡️ New Intune Suite and Entra Suite
What’s New in the Hybrid Data Center?
Cisco
- Cisco has unveiled the industry’s first Nutanix Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) solution built on a modular blade architecture for edge computing. The initial Cisco Hyperconverged X-Series system utilizes the Cisco UCS X9508 Chassis with front-loading compute nodes and rear I/O connectivity modules. I/O connectivity is achieved through Intelligent Fabric Modules that interface with external Fabric Interconnects, such as the Cisco UCS 6400 or 6500 series. The standard X-Series is suited for large data centers with complex networking needs, whereas the X-Series Direct is tailored for edge environments and smaller sites needing streamlined infrastructure.
Cohesity
- Cohesity has announced a joint validated design with Cisco to leverage Cohesity’s web-scale platform on Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) servers, to unify backup and recovery, disaster recovery, and cyber vaulting under a single management interface. This integration, validated by Cisco (and certified as Nutanix Ready), simplifies data management across hybrid and multi-cloud environments, bolstering data security and operational efficiency.
- Cohesity expands on the capabilities of the Clean Room solution by not just focusing on the event and aftermath, but incorporating the preparation phase and the digital jump bag.
Nutanix
- Nutanix has unveiled Enterprise AI, a cloud-native platform designed to simplify the deployment and management of generative AI (GenAI) applications across various environments, including on-premises, edge, and public clouds. This solution is a key component of Nutanix’s GPT-in-a-Box 2.0, which offers a comprehensive enterprise AI stack encompassing cloud infrastructure, Kubernetes tools, and unified storage. Simplified LLM deployment and operations, optimized performance with NVIDIA AI, and Hybrid Multicloud Support are benefits.
- Nutanix has released AOS 7.0, AHV 10 and Prism Central 2024.3, all of which come with some sought after functionality, as well as some nice changes! First off, AOS 7.0 is the first AOS release from Nutanix to follow the Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) release model. Historically, AOS was released on a Short Term and Long Term release model, of which all products did not follow, that lead to some confusion. Now with the NCI release model, the maintenance and support lifecycle schedules for AOS, AHV, Prism, NCC, Foundation, Flow Network Security (FNS), and Flow Virtual Networking (FVN) are all aligned, ensuring a more predictable and streamlined experience for customers. Cloud KMS support, support for Azure Key Vault, 1 Node and 1 Disk Fault Tolerance, and Multi-cloud Snapshot Technology (MST) DR with Zero Compute Deployment are benefits.
- With AHV v10, Nutanix dropped some nice new features, like semantic versioning format for AHV, and PCI passthrough for VMs.
- Prism Central 2024.3, VM-VM Anti-Affinity Policies in Prism Central are out, and with multiple cluster configuration, profiles can be created to apply common settings across clusters.
- There’s so much more in the release notes for these features, but these are the things that really got us excited!
Rubrik
- Rubrik’s Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) solution is transforming how organizations protect and manage their sensitive data by integrating seamlessly with Microsoft’s Purview and Sentinel. Rubrik DSPM offers a comprehensive approach to gaining better visibility into data and strengthening overall security. Learn more about Rubrik DSPM here.
PureStorage
- Smaller and Edge workloads always present a tough scenario to provide great performance and resiliency but keeping costs low. To meet that need, Pure has announced the //C20 array, part of the //C FlashArray family, but specifically sized and priced to support lower-capacity deployments. For organizations leveraging the best storage array in the datacenter, now there’s an option for the Edge!
Zerto
- Zerto has dropped Update 6 for v10, and with it comes a big change in the deployment and integration with vSphere. Announced back at VMworld in 2019, Zerto is moving away from their ‘homegrown’ IO filter for integrating with ESXi to using VMware’s VAIO framework to ensure better alignment with VMware’s ecosystem, facilitating smoother integration and management within vSphere environments. Be sure to check out the Supported topologies and Unsupported features to understand how this change will impact your deployment.
What’s New with Microsoft?
Azure
- Azure Local (formerly Azure Stack HCI)
- Azure Stack HCI has been renamed Azure Local to better represent Azure’s distributed infrastructure portfolio. This is a name change only, and no administrator action is required. See Naming changes and exceptions for additional details.
- Azure Backup
- To better ensure data is recoverable in the face of a ransomware attack, Azure Backup has introduced the Secure by Default with Vault Soft Delete feature to retain backup data at no additional cost for up to 14 days by default, and the retention period can be increased to up to 180 days (additional storage charges will apply). See Secure by Default with Azure Backup (Preview).
Defender for Cloud
- Defender for Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) will soon automatically scan Azure file shares for sensitive content, extending upon the sensitivity scanning previously provided for Azure blob containers. This enhancement provides more comprehensive protection of Azure storage accounts.
- The new Critical Assets Protection feature allows administrators to tag the assets that are most critical to the organization, enabling Defender for Cloud to provide these assets with the highest level of protection and prioritize the handling of any security issues associated with these assets. Learn more about critical assets protection.
Defender for Cloud Apps
- The SaaS Security Initiative is a new capability designed to consolidate best-practice recommendations for configuring SaaS applications.
- The Files page in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps has retired. Users can manage Information Protection policies and explore malware files via the Policy Management page.
Entra ID
- Starting February 3rd, 2025, Microsoft will mandate multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all Microsoft 365 admin center users to enhance cybersecurity. Users and global admins must set up MFA, verify methods, or apply to postpone the enforcement date.
- Upgrade Microsoft Entra Connect Sync Version 2.4.27.0 that uses the OLE DB version 18.7.4 to improve your security.
- Users can update their profile photo directly from their MyAccount portal, but if needed, admins can restrict this feature.
Fabric
- Organizations can already apply Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies to Microsoft Fabric, but soon will also be able to restrict access to Fabric sematic models by applying DLP policies. After this rollout, admins will be able to configure DLP policies that automatically detect sensitive information in sematic models and then restrict access to this data to internal users or data owners.
Forms
- Microsoft Forms is introducing a new, modernized experience with an updated appearance for the portal, form creation, and response analysis.
- Microsoft Forms and Excel provide a new data sync solution which can sync a form’s response data to an Excel workbook, replacing the old data sync solution, which will be deprecated by January 13, 2025. The new data sync can currently only be triggered in Excel for the web.
Intune
- Intune will end support for Android device administrator on devices with Google Mobile Services (GMS) after December 31, 2024. Users should stop enrolling devices with this method and migrate to alternative management methods as outlined in the blog.
- In January, Windows Autopatch will introduce enhancements to device management, improving synchronization reliability between Microsoft Entra groups and Autopatch groups. Devices removed from Entra groups will be deregistered from Autopatch, and additions will be updated with a 3-hour latency.
- Available now, Window Autopatch will give you the choice to leverage the new capability to opt-in your devices into hotpatch program.
- Hotpatch updates are Monthly B release security updates that can be installed without requiring you to restart the device and is available for Windows 11 24H2 devices. It’s designed to reduce downtime and disruptions.
- Using MAM on iOS? The IntuneMAMUPN, IntuneMAMOID, and IntuneMAMDeviceIDapp configuration values are automatically sent to managed applications on Intune enrolled iOS devices for Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Teams, and Word.
- The latest Intune App SDK and Wrapping Tool for iOS now support blocking screen capture.
- Intune support for Windows 365 Link is now available in public preview.
Loop
- Loop will support Retention Labels for pages and components, aligning with Purview records management, by late December. No action is needed for tenants as existing labels will automatically apply to Loop content.
- Loop is introducing a personal workspace for users, akin to a user-owned SharePoint container, with governance and compliance similar to OneDrive. The Ideas workspace will become a shared Loop workspace by late January 2025. No action is required for preparation, but workspace creation can be disabled via admin policies.
- Loop will allow guest sharing for all tenants, including those with sensitivity labels, after the rollout in December. Admins can configure policies for B2B guest sharing in SharePoint, and users can share Loop components with external guests, respecting existing OneDrive and SharePoint settings.
Microsoft 365 Copilot
- A new license request feature for Copilot will be widely available to allow users to request a license from global admins, license admins, and user admins, who will be able to manage these requests in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
- During a promotional trial period running from January 6 through June 30, 2025, organizations with 50 or more Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses will automatically receive 10,000 additional queries per month for agents in SharePoint, giving users without Copilot licenses access to create and use agents. There’s a new setting that admins have to disable this trial.
- Version 2 of the Context IQ menu in Business Chat will enhance user experience by providing better search performance and more intuitive interactions by mid-January 2025.
- By late January, look for prompt autosuggestions on the Work tab to help users discover and recall useful prompts from Microsoft’s curated prompt library (Copilot Lab) and the user’s prompt history.
- The Microsoft 365 network connectivity test tool will soon support Microsoft 365 Copilot in Public Preview, allowing testing of network connectivity, WebSocket enablement, and latency.
- Scheduled prompts (to automate prompts at set times) will be available in public preview in mid-December 2024 and general availability in mid-March 2025. Users need a Copilot license, a Standard Power Automate license, and the Optional Connected Experience toggle enabled.
- All Microsoft 365 Copilot agents, including plugins, will be centralized in one location within Copilot by late January 2025. This will simplify the user experience for discovering, managing, and using agents.
- Starting in late-December, Microsoft Copilot and Microsoft 365 Copilot users signed in with an Entra account will be able to upload images in both Work and Web and ask Copilot questions about the image, such as for Copilot to analyze or describe it. Users will be able to take pictures using their mobile cameras or upload images directly to Copilot from their devices.
- Improvements are coming to the way Copilot can access files and people (using the / command) in BizChat. This feature, called ContextIQ, suggests content based on intelligent scanning of your files, emails, and conversations. Version 2 (implying significant changes) rolls out by mid-January 2025.
- An easier way for users to delete their Copilot account history from all applications is rolling out. When they select Open Copilot activity history in Teams, they will be taken directly to the Settings & Privacy page in their My Microsoft account.
- The Facilitator is a new agent within Teams meetings and chats that generates real-time AI notes and suggested tasks. It is available in public preview for users with Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses.
- Copilot Business Chat will enable chart, graph, and data analysis creation via prompts, viewable Python code. Rollout completes by late December for licensed Copilot users.
- Copilot will soon allow users to share BizChat prompts via a link, rolling out mid-December 2024. Users can manage shared prompts on the Copilot Lab website, and admins can export these prompts.
Microsoft 365 Apps Admin Center
- Starting January 17, 2025, only users assigned a Dynamics 365 administrator or Power Platform administrator role in the Microsoft 365 admin center, or Microsoft Entra admin center, will receive email notifications about changes to those services.
OneNote
- Copilot Chat is coming to OneNote on Mac desktops and iPad.
Outlook (Mobile)
- Microsoft is rolling out the ability to attach emails directly in the compose window. This enhancement allows users to include individual emails as attachments in new messages, facilitating seamless sharing.
Outlook (New)
- Outlook is introducing a new calendar feature that allows users to see who is in the office based on their work hours and location settings.
- Outlook is introducing a feature to move emails between accounts, controlled by the Set-OWAMailboxPolicy in Exchange PowerShell. Rollout starts mid-January 2025. Default setting is False.
- The New Calendar app, integrating Microsoft Teams and Outlook, will be Generally Available in January. Users can opt-in to try advanced features for scheduling, meeting creation, and multitasking
- A new service in Outlook is here: Org Explorer. This organization chart helps visualize the internal structure and discover connections, roles, and responsibilities amongst you and other people.
- The new Microsoft Outlook for Windows will offer read-only support for .pst files, allowing users to open, read, and search emails in .pst files.
- Outlook will soon allow users to add shared folders to Favorites. Rollout for the new feature completes by March 2025. This update does not affect Outlook for Mac or mobile devices.
Places
- The Places app is ON by default, facilitating in-office coordination via OWA or Outlook Calendar. Teams Premium users get extra features. Admins should set up policies to pin the app for users and configure access as needed.
Planner
- Look for the public preview of the Project Manager agent in Microsoft 365, which automates tasks within Planner. It requires a Microsoft 365 Copilot license and compatible licensing for Microsoft Loop. It includes new features for creating and managing tasks in Planner.
- Check out the new Project Manager agent in Microsoft 365, which adds specialized skills and knowledge while automating specific tasks. This out-of-the-box agent takes on unique roles, working alongside or on behalf of a team or organization to handle both simple, mundane tasks and more complex, multi-step business processes. The new Project Manager agent works within Planner.
Power Automate
- Look for the Automate work button in Excel Online. This feature allows users to automate tasks and run processes from Excel on Windows desktop and Mac devices. This feature will reach general availability on December 31st, and will empower users to automate repetitive tasks, minimize errors, and enhance productivity with just a few clicks, all without leaving Excel.
- The “get increased accuracy in responses from Copilot” feature for Power Automate enables Copilot to understand your intent more accurately, improving your productivity and ability to find answers quickly while building your flows. This feature will be released on December 31, 2024.
Power Platform
- The default tenant isolation behavior will block all connection attempts from one tenant to another; inbound (connections to the tenant from external tenants), outbound (connections from the tenant to external tenants), or both (inbound – outbound) will be blocked by Power Platform. Communications within the same tenant will not be affected.
Purview
- Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) will allowing for identification and correction of vulnerable GenAI data configurations by January.
- Coming soon, Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management will be rolling out risky AI usage detections, with new classifiers for prompt injection attacks and protected material.
- Communication Compliance will soon allow investigators to schedule recurring or on-demand exports of message detail reports in January.
- Data Loss Prevention diagnostics will soon be available in the Purview compliance portal, with a new experience to troubleshoot issues. The Public Preview rollout is rescheduled to early December 2024, and General Availability will begin mid-February 2025.
- Data Loss Prevention (DLP) investigators have the option to preview and download the full file that resulted in a DLP policy match as evidence (only) on Windows devices using Microsoft Managed storage.
- To provide greater flexibility to manage your organization’s DLP policy workflows, DLP will integrate with Microsoft Power Automate to trigger custom Power Automate workflows as a DLP policy action.
- Microsoft is announcing significant changes coming to the Export feature of eDiscovery.
- Data Loss Prevention (DLP) will soon extend to support Microsoft 365 Copilot. DLP policies will be able to identify sensitive documents based on sensitivity labels and exclude processing for interactions in Copilot Business Chat. The preview does not support alerts, incident reports, and policy simulation. Audit records will be available at a later time after policy management is enabled for organizations.
SharePoint
- People with a Copilot license can use SharePoint’s page creation feature, leveraging large language models (LLMs), data in Microsoft Graph, and best practices to help users create engaging web pages.
- SharePoint will soon enable approvals for document libraries, where users can configure approvals in the Automate menu, with in-progress approvals viewable in Teams.
Teams
- Help others pronounce your name correctly by recording your name pronunciation in Teams. When someone hovers over your profile picture or name, they can select the speaker icon next to your name to listen to the recording. See “Record and display your name” pronunciation on your profile card.
- Look for a ‘Best Practice Configurations’ dashboard in mid-January to help monitor and align tenant settings with Microsoft’s recommended best practices for optimal collaboration in Teams. Admins will be notified of non-conformance in key areas.
- The Microsoft Teams Planner tab experience is being updated to include built-in templates for creating plans by mid-January 2025.
- Coming soon, users will be able to reduce the main Teams window, the chat window, and the meeting stage with no loss of functionality. This update enhances accessibility and multitasking opportunities.
Teams Admin
- A new feature in the Teams Admin Center allows exporting managed apps data in CSV format, starting early December 2024, to aid in reporting and management.
- In December 2024, permissions required for creating and managing Teams Phone Resource Accounts will require Microsoft 365 Global Admin or User Admin roles for these tasks, affecting Teams Administrator, Teams Communications Administrator, and Teams Telephony Administrator roles.
Teams Chat and Channels
- Teams will allow users to record video clips directly in Teams channels by late January. This feature, previously only available in chat, enables recording of self, screen, or audio to post or reply in channels.
- Teams is introducing customizable notification screen locations in January, with options for bottom right, top right, bottom left, or top left of the screen.
- Teams will soon allow users to create hyperlinks in chats by pasting a URL over selected text, similar to Outlook and Loop.
- Teams is introducing a new security feature to alert users of potential brand impersonation in Teams Chat, particularly during initial contact from external domains. This feature is automatically enabled.
- Users will soon be able to customize their digital Teams avatar by uploading a photo.
- Teams is introducing a new policy for voice and face enrollment, defaulting to ‘On’ for enhanced meeting features. The policy comes in January. Admins have until mid-January to adjust settings (csTeamsAIPolicy will replace csTeamsMeetingPolicy), offering separate EnrollFace and EnrollVoice settings.
- Teams Webinars and Townhalls have updated the co-organizer experience to allow full control over event details, including editing, publishing, and canceling events..
- Teams will soon allow anonymous users to join meetings with watermarked access to all content. Admins’ watermark policies remain unchanged, while users will see a watermark of their entered guest name. The feature is on by default but can be altered via PowerShell script.
- External presenters can now Teams events via mobile.
- Teams on the web will soon allow users to take control during screensharing, a feature already available on the desktop version.
- Teams is introducing DVR capabilities for town halls on desktop and web, allowing attendees to interact with live streams as with recorded content. Expect full availability by early February 2025. This feature includes pause, play, volume control, and live catch-up functions.
Teams Phone
- Users can send and receive SMS through the Teams app, to and from Calling Plans numbers, starting in February 2025.
- Are there multiple people with the same name in your directory? Callers can select a callee by either pronouncing their name or via dial pad AND the Office or Department after the name. For example: “For John Smith – Help Desk, press 1,” AND “For John Smith – Sales, press 2.”
- Everyone using Microsoft Teams Phone and Microsoft Teams Meeting Rooms on Android should read the FAQ in this article to learn which vendors will continue to support Android Open Source Project (AOSP) and when AOSP will be released via a manual update in the Teams Admin Center. This update will turn into a mandatory update later in the first half of 2025.
- Coming soon, Admins will be able to remotely manage contacts from the TAC to ensure crucial contacts are available on common area phones.
- The Collaborative call delegation feature allows users to delegate call management tasks to a group of individuals in a circular manner, ensuring that calls are handled efficiently, and no important communications are missed.
- Soon, the Queues app will be generally available for agent experiences on Teams-certified phone devices.
Teams Premium
- Microsoft Teams Premium users will soon be able to set sensitivity labels for town halls and webinars, ensuring content protection and access regulation.
- Intelligent recap for Microsoft Teams town halls and webinars will be available soon, requiring a Teams Premium or Microsoft 365 Copilot license. It allows exploration of recordings by speakers and topics and includes AI-generated notes and tasks. Rollouts begin in January 2025, with no admin action needed.
Viva Goals
- Viva Goals will be retired on December 31, 2025, with no new feature development after December 5, 2024.
Viva Pulse
- Viva Pulse (for lightweight feedback) will be included with the Microsoft 365 Copilot subscription in mid-December. Users with Copilot or Viva Pulse premium licenses can create and send surveys. Full access requires a premium license. Rollout requires no admin action and features will be enabled by default.
Windows
- A public preview of hotpatch updates for Windows 11 Enterprise, version 24H2 offers the same level of security patching as the standard monthly security updates without restarting devices or disrupting the users. To get the latest new features, eligible devices will install the standard monthly security update and restart the first month of each quarter.
Conclusion
If any of these updates or changes pose as a challenge for your team, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us! We will be happy to work with you to navigate these changes. Feel free to fill out the form below to get in contact with our team.
We Want to Hear From You!
Like any good partner, we’re listening! Since the latest advancements and announcements are coming in quickly, we’ve separated the list into subcategories below. Let us know what you’d like to see more of!
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