Windows Server 2016: Availability Date and Branches

There’s more news from Microsoft on Windows Server 2016 with, first of all, confirmation that it will be on the October 2016 price list.

Next, we learn that there will be two branches: Long Term Servicing Branch (LTSB) and the Current Branch for Business (CBB). Customers will opt into one of these branches depending on the installation option they choose: Server with Desktop Experience and Server Core will be on LTSB, and Nano Server will be on CBB.

It’s expected that there will be two or three updates per year for Nano Server and there will be a requirement to have Software Assurance for this option.

Read the full article from Microsoft here: http://bit.ly/29FHtrB.

Office 365ProPlus Update Branches

The feature updates for Office 365 ProPlus are managed in a similar (but not quite the same) way as for Windows 10.

There’s a Current Branch and Current Branch for Business, but no Long Term Servicing Branch – if you want a static version of Office then you’ll need to deploy Office Professional Plus 2016.

There is, however, a First Release for Current Branch for Business to give organisations a chance to evaluate the CBB build before deployment.

There are some good explanations and diagrams in this TechNet article – it’s definitely worth a look: http://bit.ly/1Ov0l8Q.