Microsoft unveils Microsoft Update and Windows Server Update Services (WSUS)

During his keynote Tech-Ed 2005 presentation, Microsoft CEO Steve

Ballmer announced that the new Microsoft Update and Windows Server Update

Services (WSUS) were live as of June 6. I witnessed a demonstration the new

tools during Gord Mangione's Tech-Ed 2005 strategic briefing Security: Raising the Bar. Mike Chan, Microsoft

Technical Product Manager, showed how IT organizations can use of Microsoft

Update and WSUS to better manage software updates.

Key points about Microsoft Update and WSUS:

• Provides caching support for ISA Server 2004 - This

  feature is handy for remote offices with multiple clients. Once the first client

  pulls the update from Microsoft other clients can pull the information the ISA

  server.
• Provides Service Packs and other updates, not just security patches
• Opt-in process to switch from Windows Update to Microsoft Update
• You can run Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) from Microsoft Update.
• You can control which updates are applied to which machines via Group Policy and Active Directory

Unfortunately, the neither Microsoft Update nor WSUS eliminates

the need to reboot after update installation. Mangione and Chan said Microsoft

was working on this problem for Longhorn.

Check out this Microsoft TechNet article for more information on Microsoft

Update and WSUS.