I'm relaying the following article on behalf of my colleague Shanen Boettcher, General Manager of Windows Product Management for the enterprise.  During Virtualization Briefing Day in January, Shanen posted to give you background on what we're doing to make it simpler and easier to introduce and get the most out of virtualization of Windows in enterprise environments. He's back again today with an update on virtualization, as well as other components that illustrate our commitment to improving the optimized desktop.

This week at the Microsoft Management Summit (MMS) in Las Vegas, we've talked about Microsoft's role in improving the optimized desktop and emphasized Microsoft's commitment to virtualization. I want to tell you about some news coming out of the show today, which includes details on the product roadmaps for specific tools within the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) for Software Assurance.

The combination of MDOP and Windows Vista gives customers the tools they need to support more flexible work environments for their users, while making it easier and more efficient to manage and maintain their networks. This is the concept we refer to as the optimized desktop, and many of our customers have the tools to

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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

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Hello IT Pros!

February 27 is a big day.  Windows Server 2008 will be officially launching in Los Angeles with Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, kicking off in just a few hours. 

In support of this very important technology milestone as well as the Windows Vista SP1 release, the Microsoft Solution Accelerators Team has just released the third-generation of the agent-less infrastructure assessment platform called Microsoft Assessment and Planning Solution Accelerator 3.0 (or simply MAP).  Through the use of remote WMI calls and secure inventory engines, the MAP tool enables you to quickly inventory a wide variety of networks (AD-managed, IP ranges, and workgroups), securely assess IT environments of servers, desktops, applications and devices, and auto-generate specific and actionable reports and proposal documents in a matter of hours.

 

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE BLOG POST...

GO HERE TO DOWNLOAD MICROSOFT ASSESSMENT AND PLANNING (RTM BITS)

Thank you,

Baldwin Ng (Sr. Product Manager, Microsoft Assessment and Planning)

On Wednesday March 5th, Microsoft Technical Fellow Mark Russinovich will be hosting a virtual roundtable session live over the Internet on Windows Vista Deployment and Adoption. Joining Mark on the panel for the roundtable will be independent industry experts and IT Professionals from organizations that have already deployed Windows Vista as well as Microsoft MVPs. This roundtable offers IT Professionals worldwide an opportunity to ask questions about deploying Windows Vista.

To attend the event, just visit http://ms.istreamplanet.com/events at 9:00am Pacific Time on March 5th. You will be able to ask your questions live during the event. You are also welcome to submit your questions in advance by sending them to vrtable@microsoft.com between now and when the event starts. The panel will be 60 minutes long and try to answer as many questions as possible within that timeframe. The event will also be available on-demand afterwards as well.

For additional guidance, resources, tools, and straight-talk articles to help address your Windows Vista adoption questions, visit the Springboard Series for Windows Vista.

Microsoft Deployment unifies the tools and processes required for desktop and server deployment into a common deployment console and collection of guidance. The fourth generation deployment accelerator adds integration with recently released Microsoft deployment technologies to create a single path for image creation and automated installation. Microsoft Deployment’s tools and end-to-end guidance reduce deployment time, standardize desktop and server images, limit service disruptions, reduce post-deployment help desk costs, and improve security and ongoing configuration management.

Microsoft Deployment technologies eliminate interaction time required to install desktop and server operating systems. Interaction at the targeted computer may take a few moments using the Lite Touch Installation (LTI) method or it can be completely automated using Zero Touch Installation (ZTI). Zero Touch Installation utilizes Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 or Systems Management Server 2003 with the Operating System Deployment Feature Pack. Lite Touch Installation can be used when software distribution tools are not in place.

Microsoft Deployment also uses Configuration Manager 2007’s stand-alone media-initiated operating system deployment feature. This release offers project management guidance for all deployment roles and separates technical documentation for the products and technologies to facilitate automation tasks.

Microsoft Deployment enables deployment of the following Microsoft…

One of the most critical tasks in preparing a deployment of Windows Vista is to test the compatibility of your applications. Many applications that run perfectly under Windows XP simply do not run on Windows Vista. Since you don’t want to spend time and money to deploy Vista if none of your users are able to run their applications afterward, it is absolutely imperative to test each application ahead of time.

What’s the best way to test?
Of course, you still have to make sure to test all of the applications in your organization. Although it’s tempting, you don’t necessarily have to set up a workstation and install a copy of every application your company uses (not at first, anyway). Unless you are very thorough in your testing, installing all those applications onto a workstation isn’t a good testing method for of couple of reasons. (more…)

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