We, Ctelecoms are very excited to inform you on Microsoft's newest update for OFFICE 2016. The rollout starts on the 22 of September!

In March, Microsoft announced the OFFICE 2016 IT Pro and Developer Preview. And since then, they have been keeping up to date with all your feedback on how to improve Office 2016. This new ground-breaking release of for Office is one you will want to deploy to users immediately!

Today Microsoft is happy to confirm that the newest version of Office 2016 will be available from September 22^nd and can be downloaded starting from October 1^st if you have a Volume Licensing Service Center agreement in place.

This article here, written by Julia White, general manager of Office 365 Technical Product Management, provides you with all the tools, guidance and resources you need to help you get ready for Office 2016. The upgrade and installation have been improved and for those of you using Office 365, we have made some changes on how to update your 2016 apps.

Improvements to the Office update model

And for those of you using Office 365 ProPlus, you will continue receiving all the monthly security updates just as before, this tactic is called current branch which means you will always have the most recent and up to date apps. The next current branch will be released on the 22^nd along with all the new Office app updates.

Microsoft is also proud to announce the current branch for business option for upgrading Office. Waiting a few months before releasing an updated version of Office or waiting for it to be tested will also be welcomed news. The first current branch for business was released in 2016 and you'll find that the new version carries the same features only with four more security updates included. This update model offers an extra way for Office 365 and ProPlus to move forward.

It's worth noting to all Office 365 personal and home users that you may begin installing 2016 apps starting from the 22^nd of September from Office.com and you will automatically receive updates which will begin in October, so this new tri-annual version is solely for organizational subscribers of Office 365 ProPlus.

More IT capabilities in the new Office

To help control network traffic when deploying updates and recent reports on activating Office and the available usage in the Office 365 admin portal, Microsoft have addressed top IT requests in ProPlus. ProPlus in addition to the support of Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS)

The new version of Office also supports data loss prevention across its 2016 apps and other control capabilities.

Microsoft proved its commitment to your existing Office customization by keeping the extensibility version the same for macros and add-ins. And if you evaluate the preview you'll find that most of the features and tools for deploying Office ProPlus (15.X) versions are very similar to Office 2016. In August, Microsoft published a guide for updating ProPlus to the 2016 Office version carried out the Office IT Pro Deployment Script project.

New events, tools and resources for admins

And now we are happy to inform you that Microsoft will be starting a new IT even series which is the Microsoft Cloud Roadshow. Microsoft will offer two-day technical training led by top engineers from Microsoft, the sessions are free of charge and in 12 cities around the world. It will focus on topics such as Office, Azure and windows. Microsoft will soon publish presentations for many training resources and hands-on labs, also, registration is now open for the in-person events.

If you have any questions concerning Office 2016 you are welcome to come to the Office 365 Community where the experts from Microsoft, MVPs and the broader community are all there to offer their support. In the coming weeks, Microsoft will promote the updated version of Office on the network and will have a focused online discussion with the oOffice engineering team on the 24^th of September to answer any of your inquiries following the release on the 22^nd.

We will carry on underlining Office's new abilities for tech buffs through Office Mechanics shows in the next few weeks which you can see on Office Mechanics now.

Check back on September 22^nd        

This casts some light on what were working on to help admins with the release of Office 2016 and you will be seeing a lot more stating from September 22^nd. You may download the preview of Office 2016 now to get an idea on what's coming and remember to register for Microsoft cloud Roadshow to learn more about this.

Thanks a lot for reading and sharing your opinion.