Deployment gets easier with Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2008

We've reached a pivotal moment in time, the release to Web of Windows Vista SP1 on Tuesday and, to complete the picture, today we released Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2008, the latest generation of the Microsoft Solution Accelerators designed to simplify and ease your deployment experience.

There are a lot of things to consider when deploying a new OS and, if your organization has 50 desktops or more, MDT is designed to help you navigate the potentially complex desktop environment. Our goal is to save you lots of time and effort in planning and building out a standard desktop experience all the way to rolling OS images out into production.

Don't worry, this is not something unproven and new -- just fewer than 1 million of you across industries have been active users of MDT's predecessor, Business Desktop Deployment (BDD). Past customers include companies like Unilever, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications and Fred Weber, who reduced their deployment costs from $300 to $35 per PC.

We have been listening to your feedback and augmenting the solution to ensure that the best of real world best practices are infused within the tool.

So what's changed with MDT?                              

In addition to the project, process and team guidance that has traditionally existed, the major thing that we worked on for this release is incremental guidance to progressively enable your deployment process.   Examples include:

• New checklist and wizard-driven user interface
• Quick start guides that familiarize you quickly with the tools and deployment process

There are also more ways to automate deployment, including Zero Touch installation; new task sequencing for more flexible and simplified configuration; and new Lite Touch installation support for multicasting with Windows Deployment Services to help ease network load.

In fact, if you are planning to deploy Windows Server 2008 with Windows Vista concurrently, there are major advantages to using MDT. Check out Continental Airlines, who rolled out both Windows Server and Windows Vista.  The ability to build images and deploy desktops and servers (including Windows Server 2008), was actually a key driver for our name change from BDD.

You can download MDT 2008 today. For more information, go to http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=113979 or contact a Desktop Deployment Planning Services specialist. Also see the TechNet Springboard for the Five ways that Windows Vista deployment just got easier.

Oh and, still using BDD 2007? Don't worry, we didn't forget about you either. An update for BDD 2007 to support SP1 imaging and deployment is also available from here.

Popularity: 1%

Written by Jeremy. Read more great feeds at is source WEBSITE
1 comment.
Read more articles on BDD 2007 and MDT 2008 and otherSoftware and Microsoft Deployment and IT Professionals and Deployment and Featured News.

• [+] Digg: Feature this article
• [+] Del.icio.us: Bookmark this article
• [+] Furl: Bookmark this article