Deployment and Imaging Group

Please find below the most frequently asked GSS 3.0 strategy questions:
 
Q: What are your plans to support tablets?
A: We already support many tablets including the Surface Pro 2 and 3. Please try the solution with the tablets you have and let us know the result. There is a huge amount of variety in the tablet market and many of them have hardware/platform customizations that are hard to support. We will need to take some tablets on a case by case basis.
 
Q: I'm currently using ITMS 7.5 SP1, how does Ghost 3.0 effect me?
A: If you’re not using DS 6.9 today and don’t plan to use GSS 3.0 in the future then there is no change. DS 7.x is still being developed and the announcement around GSS 3.0 does not affect this. 
If you use DS 6.9, then GSS 3.0 will be the direct migration path for you.
 
Q: Will GSS 3.0 enter the mobile device management space ...such as iOS\Android\Chromebook area
A: Symantec is working on some exceptional new technology to support modern Oss and platforms and we’ll most likely look for integration points with this solution rather than duplicating. PM is already looking at the use cases.
 
Q: How much longer will GSS 2.5 be supported?
A: Until June 2016 - note this support is limited to existing fixes with the exception of the Ghost standard tools.
 
Q: Are there plans to develop this (and 7.x) to work with encrypted hard drives?  We are a large SEE 11 customer and would like to image into an encrypted disk.
A: This is in our backlog to look at but managing drive encryption presents a number of challenges. We are looking to do a proof of concept in the near future but until this is complete we won’t have a good idea for how feasible this is.
 
Q: There are a lot of tools that are available such as
MDT 2010 with WDS
ITMS7.5 with Deployment Solution 7.5
How is GSS3.0 supposed to fit in the mix or is not supposed to fit in the mix of things as it relates to image deployment?
A: ITMS 7.x is our enterprise, highly integrated and scalable solution. GSS is a more immediate, very deployment focused and satisfying user experience. We have customers using both products in their environments, it really depends on your needs.  
 
Q: DS 6.9 did a good job with built-in remote control via right click, but didn't work well on Windows 7 endpoints.  Is this improved?    
A: Unfortunately, remote control has not been maintained as part of GSS 3.0. Remote control technology has moved so far in recent years that our technology had fallen too far behind. This was as much a security issue as it was a functional one.
 
Q: We are exploring imaging options at our university including Ghost. Is Symantec committed to this product?  Can you provide some useful documentation?
A: We have worked very hard on this product of the last 12 months and I can assure you that we wouldn’t do that unless we were focused. Documentation can be found here: https://support.symantec.com/enUS/article.DOC2207.html
 
Q: How about Remote Control options? DAgent, RDP, pcAnywhere or Bomgar?
A: GSS will not have a remote control tool moving forward other than RDP. This reflects that remote control technology is changing and Symantec as an organization has taken the decision to exit this market. Existing DS customers that have the remote SKU will get the Bomgar entitlement.
 
Q: ­How do we know when an update is available?­
A: ­The best way to get updates is to follow the Endpoint Management News blog on Symantec connect (https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/symantec-blogs/endpoint-management-news-blog). ­‑­We're also looking at options like bringing back LiveUpdate in the longer term to make this process a little more proactive.