I'm working with a startup that's teaching kids to program. We've just obtained our first "fleet" of laptops – half a dozen refurbished thinkpads running Windows 7 – and I'm looking for the best way to administer and maintain them.
I've already determined that it appears to make sense to buy a volume license key, so I can use reimaging rights and generate a single known good image I can write to all of them, and use to wipe out a computer whenever I need to. What I'm wondering about now is how best to manage them on an ongoing basis.
The laptops will run on a variety of networks – none of them controlled by us – and we've got no central office or servers. We'd rather not acquire any.
I'd like to be able to easily push out updates and new software to all the laptops, as well as doing things like remotely configuring administrator accounts, and managing patches to make sure the laptops are kept up to date.
As a tiny startup, funds are limited, and money spent on software licenses is money we could have spent on more hardware, so expensive solutions are a bit of a no-go.
Does anyone have any recommendations for how we can most easily do this?
Best Answer
This is the perfect use case for Microsoft Intune. While it is primarily known as an MDM solution, it also has PC management capabilities as well, such as app deployment and patch management. It's also completely cloud-based and is licensed on a per-device per-month basis, so it can scale as you grow.
If you're already managing internal devices with System a Center Configuration Manager, it has some neat integration. If not, it's perfectly functional as a standalone product as well.