Microsoft System Center 2025 is now generally available

We’re thrilled to share the news that System Center 2025 is now generally available! The release of the latest version of System Center represents a significant milestone in our ongoing commitment to delivering best-in-class datacenter operations. With a focus on infrastructure modernization and enhanced security, System Center 2025 introduces a range of new features and improvements for more efficient and secure IT infrastructure management.

System Center 2025 and Windows Server 2025 are releasing concurrently, enabling you to start leveraging the latest Windows Server, along with the tools to manage the servers.

About System Center

Managing datacenters is complicated, requiring coordination between multiple teams and tools. System Center provides a unified, simplified solution. System Center is a comprehensive suite of management tools designed to help IT administrators oversee their data centers and IT environments. With tools for orchestrating workflows, managing configurations, and monitoring infrastructure, System Center simplifies the deployment, configuration, operation, and monitoring of infrastructure and virtualized software-defined data centers with a single license. System Center supports a wide range of platforms and environments, making it a versatile solution for organizations with diverse IT landscapes.  

As your datacenter evolves, so do our solutions. Building on the foundation of System Center 2022, this release introduces exciting new capabilities that significantly enhance IT infrastructure management agility and performance.  

System Center 2025 and Windows Server 2025 are releasing concurrently, enabling you to begin leveraging the latest Windows Server features, along with the tools to manage the servers, immediately.  

Let’s dive into what’s new in System Center 2025 and the impact of these updates on users.

Secure by design

With the threat of sophisticated cyberattacks on the rise, investing in security is paramount for all organizations. Powerful security in the datacenter is crucial to protect sensitive data, maintain operational integrity, and defend against bad actors. Microsoft is dedicated to both setting and upholding the highest standards in data privacy and security for our customers, and System Center 2025 delivers on this continued commitment to comprehensive security. 

New capabilities introduced in this release further enhance System Center’s security offerings, including:

• A reduction in the number of scenarios that use Credential Security Support Provider protocol (CredSSP) and NTLM as authentication mechanisms, enhancing the security posture for Windows Servers. 
• TLS 1.3 support to ensure that data transmissions are protected by the most advanced security standards available. 
• Enhanced data security developments on Microsoft Azure to securely store passphrases and apply them to your on-premises environments. 
• Flexibility and efficiency in data protection strategies with features like virtual TPM (vTPM) support and the ability to exclude specific disks from backups in Hyper-V environments. This optimizes the backup process and improves overall system performance. 

With the introduction of these security-focused features, System Center 2025 takes significant steps to further safeguard IT environments. 

Seamless heterogenous infrastructure and workload management

System Center 2025 offers a range of enhancements to streamline the management of heterogeneous infrastructure, ensuring seamless control and improved efficiency. Like a Swiss Army Knife for IT management, System Center consists of a suite of components—System Center Operations Manager, System Center Virtual Machine Manager, System Center Data Protection Manager, and System Center Orchestrator—that work together to provide IT professionals with a unified operational experience.

Newly included in this release are:

• Support for managing Azure Stack HCI 23H2 clusters with Virtual Machine Manager 2025, providing unified control of heterogeneous infrastructure through a single management plane. Monitoring to be added soon with updatedmanagement pack for Operations Manager.
• Support for the latest versions of Linux distributions, enabling comprehensive handling of both Windows and Linux environments.
• Data Protection Manager 2025 integrates seamlessly with SharePoint Subscription Edition, providing comprehensive backup solutions for enterprise applications and systems.  

System Center 2025 further improves the management of diverse infrastructures, offering IT professionals a simplified and optimized operational experience.

Tame IT sprawl and modernize complex environments

IT sprawl is a common challenge encountered by many organizations, leading to disorganization, hidden costs, and reduced competency. System Center provides a comprehensive solution to these pain points, allowing IT teams to combat these issues by enhancing operational efficiency and reducing infrastructure complexity so they can focus on optimizing, securing, and innovating.

Features available in System Center 2025 that enable infrastructure modernization include:

• System Center 2025 supports the latest Arc-enabled capabilities of Windows Server 2025, including Hotpatching for Arc-enabledVirtual Machine Manager managed VMs, and provides lifecycle operations for Virtual Machine Manager managed VMs hosted in customers’ datacenters. 
• With Azure Arc-enabled management, System Center 2025 users have the flexibility to simplify their experience, allowing them to migrate to the cloud at their own pace while ensuring optimal resource utilization.

System Center 2025 modernizes the datacenter by enhancing operational efficiency, reducing infrastructure complexity, and streamlining processes.

Get started with Microsoft System Center 2025

System Center 2025 is more than just an upgrade; it’s a comprehensive solution that addresses the evolving needs of modern IT environments. With elevated security, advanced cloud capabilities, and user-centric innovations, System Center 2025 delivers a seamless deployment experience, enabling organizations to efficiently and securely manage their infrastructure and virtualized software-defined datacenters.

With System Center 2025, you can stay in control of your IT estate, whether on-premises, in the cloud, or across platforms.

Ready to upgrade or to get started with System Center? Explore the resources below to learn more about this release. 

• Visit the System Center product site to learn more.
• Go to the Evaluation Center for a free trial of System Center 2025.
• Learn about Windows Server 2025, now generally available.