Surface Fleets

[Gordon Hofer]

We are in the process of rolling out a surface fleet of 200. Testing is going well, however wanting to talk to others who have deployed large fleets. I am seeking information of those who have deployed large fleets of surfaces.

 

[Gordon Hofer]

I am looking to communicate with anyone who manages a large surface fleet of 100 or more?

 

[jnjroach]

We have around the 150 deployed....

 

[Gordon Hofer]

We have around the 150 deployed....

Would love to hear more. How is the best way to communicate? How long have you had 150 in the field deployed. I wish we could talk? I am looking for insights from some who has walked this path before my company does.

 

[jnjroach]

We have been using Surface devices as our primary devices for the last 4 years - currently deployed:

• 30 - Surface Pro 3
• 40 - Surface Pro 4
• 30 - Surface Pro 5
• 10 - Surface Pro 6
• 10 - Surface Laptop
• 10 - Surface Laptop 2
• 10 - Surface Book
• 5 - Surface Book 2
• 2 - Surface Studio

We also have 5 Surface Go that are not deployed.

We should keep the conversation here so that it helps the larger community as well...

 

[Gordon Hofer]

Sounds Great. Deployment options? what Mobile management system do you use?
Also when you receive a new device do you wipe it and reload only the needed OS and Software needed?
These are two of our biggest questions so far. We reload all new devices but that takes a lot of time.

 

[jnjroach]

Sounds Great. Deployment options? what Mobile management system do you use?
Also when you receive a new device do you wipe it and reload only the needed OS and Software needed?
These are two of our biggest questions so far. We reload all new devices but that takes a lot of time.

If you are going to be deploying a large number of Surface Devices I would walk away from traditional IT deployments schemes...our IT department despite my Technology Strategy Teams recommendations went old school in created traditional "Fat" images and blew away the OS and put the corporate image on them, it was a disaster...

I would recommend doing provisioning vs. imaging. We use EMS with Config Manager integration now. The idea with provisioning is having the devices join Azure AD rather than on-prem AD and use Intune to push needed software. We can actually allow end-users set up their own devices OOB.

Also, one thing to be aware of is legacy GPO Policies tend to break Windows Hello.

 

[Gordon Hofer]

Thank you so much. How do you handle updates?....they are endless in the windows world.
What is EMS? I am not familiar with that name.

 

[jnjroach]

Thank you so much. How do you handle updates?....they are endless in the windows world.
What is EMS? I am not familiar with that name.

Updates are managed via EMS (Microsoft Enterprise Mobility and Security)...

EMS Include:

• Intune (Mobile Device and Mobile Application Management)
• Azure Active Directory (Identity and Access Control)
• Azure Information Protection (Intellectual Property Protection and Compliance Tool)
• Advanced Threat Protection
• Cloud App Security

Enterprise Mobility + Security Overview | Microsoft

 

[Gordon Hofer]

Question: You mentioned the "disaster" in rolling out surfaces the "traditional" method. Can you elaborate, what type of issues does that bring up?

 

[jnjroach]

Question: You mentioned the "disaster" in rolling out surfaces the "traditional" method. Can you elaborate, what type of issues does that bring up?

• Freezing and crashes
• Sluggish performance
• Windows Hello not working
• Shortened Battery Life

 

[Gordon Hofer]

I found the EMS, that my staff has to learn and configure from scratch. We reached out to Microsoft on several fronts but have found only a minor help. Since I believe there are companies that manage surface fleets however this forum seems to be the only place that I even found 1 company that manages surface fleets. I am seeking more input and to talk someone some company that actually deploys surfaces in any large number.