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Announcing SharePoint Server 2016 Beta 2 and Project Server 2016 Beta 2

“Software innovation, like almost every other kind of innovation, requires the ability to collaborate and share ideas with other people, and to sit down and talk with customers and get their feedback and understand their needs.”  —Bill Gates

SharePoint Server 2016 has been developed applying these principles—listening to our customers’ feedback and understanding their needs.

Today marks an important milestone in the development of SharePoint Server 2016 Beta 2. In conjunction with today’s SharePoint release, we’re also making available Project Server 2016 Beta 2.

In this post, I’ll summarize the updates we’ve made in SharePoint Server 2016 Beta 2 since the IT Preview. Given where we are in the product cycle, these updates are primarily final touches on existing features, responses to IT Preview customer feedback and improvements to performance and hybrid scenarios. As we continue to drive toward the release of SharePoint Server 2016, we’ll continue to add new capabilities and features.

What’s new in Beta 2 since IT Preview?

SharePoint Server 2016 Beta 2 builds upon the infrastructure strengths delivered in IT Preview and introduces new hybrid experiences that enable our customers to take advantage of the possibilities of the cloud.

Profile synchronization with Microsoft Identity Manager

SharePoint Server 2016 Beta 2 adds new support and solutions for using Microsoft Identity Manager 2016 to enable rich, bi-directional synchronization and common identity scenarios. Microsoft Identity Manager 2016 simplifies the identity lifecycle management with automated workflows, business rules and easy integration with heterogeneous platforms across the datacenter and cloud to include SharePoint Server 2016.

Data Loss Prevention

Enhanced support for new Data Loss Prevention capabilities is included in SharePoint Server 2016 Beta 2.

Extensible Hybrid App Launcher

SharePoint Server 2016 Beta 2 adds support to extend the App Launcher to deliver a common access experience across applications and solutions in Office 365 and SharePoint Server 2016.

Profile Redirection

SharePoint Server 2016 Beta 2 builds on the strength of next generation hybrid investments enabling the mastering of profiles on-premises or in the cloud. Profile Redirection enables the extension of profiles to Delve About Me and additional Office 365 experiences for select users within an organization.

In addition to these changes, since the IT Preview, Project Server 2016 Beta 2 has introduced CSOM improvements for scale and performance and reduced the gap between object model and the PSI.

Learn more about what’s new in SharePoint Server 2016 Beta 2 here. For more information on deploying SharePoint Server 2016 Beta 2 and additional product resources see our deployment guide.

—Bill Baer, senior technical product manager for the SharePoint team @williambaer

Frequently asked questions

Q. Can I install SharePoint Server 2016 Beta 2 in production environments?

A. It is not recommended to install SharePoint Server 2016 Beta 2 in production environments.

Q. Can I upgrade SharePoint Server 2016 Beta 2 to RTM when released?

A. SharePoint Server 2016 Beta 2 cannot be upgraded to RTM.

Q. Can I upgrade from SharePoint Server 2016 IT Preview to Beta 2?

A. You will not be able from SharePoint Server 2016 IT Preview to Beta 2.