70-705 Retirement date moved to 31 January 2021

At the end of February 2020 Microsoft announced that a number of certifications would retire at the end of June 2020, the 70-705 exam (Designing and Providing Microsoft Licensing Solutions to Large Organizations) amongst them. However, due to the disruption caused by the coronavirus, this retirement date has been moved to 31 January, 2021.

The original post (https://bit.ly/3a4cxun) explains that while the 70-705 exam is retiring it doesn’t expire as a valid qualification and so it’s worth continuing with plans to take the exam if you’ve been studying for it.

The second post (https://bit.ly/2xg6INe) gives practical guidance on how to schedule an online proctored exam, and what to do if exams are cancelled or you have exam vouchers that will expire in the short term.

Retirement of System Center Global Service Monitor

Microsoft announce the retirement of System Center Global Service Monitor. Currently an SA benefit for System Center customers, this service will retire on 7 November, 2018 and customers are recommended to move to web application monitoring capabilities powered by Azure Application Insights. Current GSM customers will be notified of the retirement, and may migrate tests and alert rules to Azure Application Insights at no cost.

Find the announcement and some FAQs here: http://bit.ly/2JeRh9u.