System Center Configuration Manager 2012 Release Candidate now available

Great news, the Release Candidate for System Center Configuration Manager 2012 (SCCM) has been released.

You can download it from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=27841

A quick run down of some of the new RC features:

• Improved endpoint protection functionality, with integrated setup, management and reporting for System Center 2012 Endpoint Protection.
• Improved application catalog design that provides a better, more responsive experience when requesting and downloading applications.
• New support for Windows Embedded devices, including Windows Embedded 7 SP1, POSReady 7, Windows 7 Think PC, and Windows Embedded Compact 7.
• Improved client status checks for Configuration Manager services and features.
• Improved compliance enforcement and tracking, with the ability to create dynamic collections of baseline compliance and the generation of hourly compliance summaries.
• Platform support for deep mobile device management of Nokia Symbian Belle devices. Pending a platform update by Nokia later this calendar year for these devices, customers will be able to try out the management of these Nokia devices with ConfigMgr.
• Additional scalability and performance improvements.

One of them points is interesting, the name change from ForeFront Endpoint Protection to System Center 2012 Endpoint Protection, showing the ever growing links between the System Center families and the fact that Endpoint Protection is now more than ever closer to the System Center stack and it's need for SCCM to manage it than a ForeFront product.

It's also worth noting that the installation of ForeFront sorry SC 2012 Endpoint is now integrated into the main SCCM setup.

Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010 Released

This was actually announced last Thursday (16/12/2010) but I was so wrapped up with Service Manager SP1 that I forgot to mention it.
http://blogs.technet.com/b/forefront/archive/2010/12/16/announcing-forefront-endpoint-protection-2010.aspx

"Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010 enables businesses to align security and management to improve endpoint protection while greatly reducing operational costs. It builds on System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 and R3, allowing you to use your existing client management infrastructure to deploy and manage endpoint protection. Download both trials and discover their combined benefits."

In short, it's now integrated into ConfigMgr meaning no new consoles to re-learn and gaining you even better investment in the products you already have!

Andrew Sallabank has a good blog post here on it, along with some good screen shots and a video of creating a FEP policy.
http://andysal.wordpress.com/2010/12/20/forefront-endpoint-protection-2010/

*Edited 02/01/2011 - Corrected Andrew's name from Sallaway to Sallabank*