Microsoft News & Updates:
 

1: Microsoft E5 Security and E5 Compliance suites can now be added to Office 365 E3 + EMS E3 customers:

Because Microsoft continues to assist their customers with AI transformation, security remains atop priority. Due to the increasing security and compliance demands associated with Copilot,Microsoft is now enabling Microsoft E5 Security and E5 Compliance suites to Office 365 E3 +EMS E3 customers.

This change is beneficial for those customers who don't intend to transition to Microsoft 365 E5and it provides an alternative path to continue the AI transformation journey in the most compliantand secure way.

More information can be found here

2: Microsoft 365 E5 Security is now available as add-on to Microsoft 365 Business Premium:

Starting March 6, 2025, Microsoft 365 E5 Security is available as add-on to Microsoft 365Business Premium, to further enhance security.

Microsoft 365 E5 Security brings new security value on top of Business Premium with Microsoft Entra ID Plan 2, Microsoft Defender for Identity, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Plan 2, Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Plan 2, and Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps.

Microsoft 365 E5 Security delivers added protection to meet the growing needs of SMBs in a package that is cost-effective. Purchasing E5 Security has 57% savings when compared to thecost of separately purchasing the individual products that are included.

More information can be found here

3: System Center 2025 available in CSP starting April 1, 2025

Microsoft System Center is a comprehensive suite of management tools that help IT administrators manage and monitor their datacenter environments more efficiently. It enhances agility and performance by streamlining the deployment, configuration, management, andmonitoring of infrastructure and virtualized software-defined datacenters.

System Center 2025 introduces infrastructure modernization and enhanced security features thatempower users to efficiently manage complex environments and fully take advantage of the advanced features of Windows Server 2025.

System Center 2025 is expected to release in CSP on April 1, 2025.

System Center 2025 was initially made generally available in November 2024 on other channels. The revised launch date ensures that all necessary updates are in place for a seamlessexperience.

With this release, System Center introduces new pricing across all commercial channels,affecting both the 2022 and 2025 versions:

Prices are increasing by 10% compared to the 2022 release, supporting the ongoing developmentand enhancement of System Center to maintain its position as a best-in-class solution formanaging complex IT environments.

System Center 2025 is sold as a perpetual license. The System Center 2025 licensing model forStandard and Datacenter is the same as 2022 with server and client management licenses. LikeSystem Center 2022, System Center 2025 is differentiated by virtualization rights only. Licensesare required only for the endpoints being managed. No other licenses are needed for customerswith SQL Server Standard Edition. The server management licensing of System Center 2025 isbased on physical cores. The core-based licensing aligns with the Windows Server 2025 model toprovide a consistent licensing metric for managed VMs.

More information can be found here

Cloud Commerce Platform (CCx) – improvements, additions and bug fixes:
 

1: Enhanced visibility of Azure entitlements / subscriptions within an existing Azure plan

2: The ability to add additional Azure entitlements / subscriptions within an existing Azure plan inside the CCx storefront, which will take away manual intervention by Insight and improve efficiency and productivity.

Please note: To be able to interact with your new entitlement / subscription, make sure you have rules in place to assign IAMs automatically.
By default, a new entitlement / subscription is added under the root management group.
All entitlements / subscriptions within a management group automatically inherit the conditions applied to the management group.
Assign ownership role to your management group to have IAMs assigned automatically to your new entitlement / subscriptions.
To change the default group where new entitlements / subscriptions are added, or modify IAMs of a specific group or subscription, go to the Azure Portal and navigate to Management groups > settings.