Important Changes to the Forefront Product Line

Today, Microsoft is announcing important changes to the roadmaps of Forefront Identity Manager (FIM) and Forefront Unified Access Gateway (UAG):

• We plan to ship another major release of FIM in the first half of calendar year 2015.
• Microsoft will not deliver any future full version releases of Forefront UAG and the product will be removed from price lists on July 1, 2014.

Microsoft remains committed to delivering the identity and access capabilities offered in FIM (identity and access management).  Some Forefront UAG scenarios (secure application publishing and remote access) are addressed with new capabilities available in Windows Server 2012 R2 today.

Forefront Identity Manager

The next full release of FIM will be delivered as part of Microsoft’s identity and access management product roadmap, which includes both on-premises investments and those we are making in Windows Azure Active Directory and related cloud services.

The investment areas for this next major release of FIM will include:

• Hybrid scenarios with Windows Azure AD
• User & Access Management
• Audit & Compliance

We will share more details on specific features and functionality as we get closer to the release date.

Forefront Unified Access Gateway

Based on product strategy, customer feedback, and prevailing market dynamics, Microsoft has made the decision not to deliver any further full version releases of Forefront UAG.

Microsoft customers continue to have access to select remote access and secure application publishing capabilities through Windows Server 2012 R2.  Windows Server is not a complete replacement for all UAG scenarios, but it does provide:

• DirectAccess deployment and policy management.  This capability has been part of Windows Server 2012 since its initial release in September 2012.
• Basic secure application publishing via the new Web Application Proxy service in the Remote Access role of Windows Server 2012 R2.  This new service allows customers to securely publish access to resources through a reverse proxy and includes integration with Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) for conditional access policy and multi-factor authentication capabilities.

Customers will be granted a Windows Server 2012 Standard server license for each UAG server license with active Software Assurance to allow them to make the transition.  For customers who wish to continue using Forefront UAG, Microsoft will provide maintenance and support through the standard Microsoft support lifecycle.  Mainstream support will continue through April 14, 2015, and extended support will continue through April 14, 2020.  Customers with active Software Assurance on UAG as of Dec. 1, 2013 may also add new UAG server instances, users, and devices without any requirement to order additional licenses.

If you have any questions about these changes, please contact your Microsoft or partner sales representative.

Source: ICI