RTM Announcement - Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 3.1 

Hello,

It's been a few months since I last blogged about the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 3.1 - formerly known as WVHA or Windows Vista Hardware Assessment.  Today, I'd like to announce the RTM release of this tool with new capabilities including desktop security assessment, Hyper-V virtualization assessment, and more.

As you know, many of the IT pros out there like you are now spending a lot of time planning for Windows Vista deployments.  But many question and challenges remain:

• Are my existing PCs compatible to Windows Vista when it comes to Hardware and Device Compatibility?
• Will my PCs have BIOS issues after the upgrade to Windows Vista?
• Which of my PCs are ripe for an upgrade to Windows Vista?  (e.g. CPU too old so it's time to replace them; or just add 512MB system memory and the PCs would be Windows Vista capable!)
• What kind of software has been installed?
• Are all of my PCs secure?  Is Windows Security Center installed?  Do they have Anti-Virus or Anti-Malware software installed?  How about Windows Firewall settings?
• What about application virtualization readiness?

The MAP Toolkit 3.1 is designed to address all of these desktop-side issues from a single tool! The MAP Toolkit is a platform of tools that combines the strength of agentless discovery and report generation capabilities from the previous generation (Windows Vista Hardware Assessment). The pie-chart below is part of an auto-generated readiness report from the MAP Toolkit and it illustrates the level of hardware readiness for Windows Vista upgrades across the desktop infrastructure.

As a matter of fact, if you view the latest MAP Team RTM blog post from yesterday, you will find that the MAP Toolkit 3.1 also havs many server-side and virtualization features including a Hyper-V virtualization candidates assessment and SQL Server discovery!!   

• Download Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 3.1 RTM Version
• Read documentation about MAP operations on TechNet
• Learn tips and see video demos on MAP Team Blog
• Join MAP Fan Clubs on TechNet Forum or Facebook

Cheers!
Baldwin Ng (Sr. Product Manager, Microsoft Solution Accelerators - Virtualization Lead)

The wait is over!  The Microsoft Solution Accelerators Team is pleased to announce the newly-released Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.1 with many of the features YOU have been looking for.  For example, we’ve added features such as localization to 6 more languages in addition to North American English, IP range scanning and Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) detection of non-Windows machines and network devices.  These are excellent features to help you speed up your migration projects to Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft Office!

For the newcomers of the Windows Vista Team Blog, let me give you a brief overview and show you what Windows Vista Hardware Assessment solution accelerator can do for you. Of course, if you can’t wait, just click HERE to download the tool. That’s okay too. :-)

In a nutshell, Windows Vista Hardware Assessment is an automated software tool that helps business customers and consultants make informed decisions about desktop deployment and migration to Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft Office.  Specifically, this tool provides users a very quick way to inventory and assess PCs network-wide for their hardware and device readiness (within an hour if you have a network of about 500-1000 PCs).  Through auto-generated readiness reports, organizations can more quickly identify computers that can migrate to Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft Office “as is” without any hardware upgrades and other computers that could be migrated with very minimum hardware upgrades such as system memory and hard drive upgrades.  This tool is now used by many large and small enterprises and it can scan 25,000 PCs in a single scan per domain/workgroup and can run multiple scans for a larger organization as well.

FIGURE 1: Screenshot of the Welcome Screen - French Version of Windows Vista Hardware Assessment

FIGURE 2: Screenshot of the Japanese Windows Vista Readiness Report

In this new release of version 2.1, we have added 3 major features that address many of the customer and partner feedback that we’ve collected for the past months:

• Localization to 6 New Languages: With Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft Office going to all corners of the world, we’ve decided to globalize the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment tool. Now, you can not only operate this tool with your OS but you can also generate readiness report in Microsoft Word and Excel in your local languages including French, German, Japanese, Korean, Latin American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. This makes this tool and the reports more impactful when presented to the technical and business decision makers.
• IP Range Scanning: This feature is one of the most frequently requested features from our customers (you!) and this IP range scanning capability allows you to select a set of computers for the readiness assessment independent of whether you are using Active Directory or not - especially useful in many branch office assessment scenarios! This nicely complements other ways to target machines for assessment including the Active Directory Organizational-Unit targeting and flat-file import method.
• SNMP Discovery: While many of your computers are Windows-based, we do know that our customers and partners would like to assess the ENTIRE network environment. So with this new SNMP discovery feature, you will now have the ability to discover and assess machines running non-Windows OS that are SNMP-enabled. It also paves a way for you to understand the network devices as well. Very cool feature in my opinion!

For more details, please view the content on TechNet or check out my previous blog in July. 

Most importantly, over 240,000 users have downloaded this tool since February 2007.  Many customers have already saved significant of migration costs and accelerated their migration using this tool - such as Sporton International and Collegiate Housing Services. 

So why wait?  Download Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.1 Now!

To read the TechNet overview in the 6 new languages, please click one of the links below: 

• TechNet France
• TechNet Germany
• TechNet Japan (available in the next 24 hours)
• TechNet Korea
• TechNet Latin America (Spanish)
• TechNet Brasil

Have a great weekend everyone!

Baldwin Ng

Sr. Product Manager, Microsoft Solution Accelerators

wvhafdbk@microsoft.com

The wait is over! The Microsoft Solution Accelerators Team is pleased to announce the newly-released Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.1 with many of the features YOU have been looking for. For example, we’ve added features such as localization to 6 Read More……(read more)

The wait is over!  The Microsoft Solution Accelerators Team is pleased to announce the newly-released Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.1 with many of the features YOU have been looking for.  For example, we’ve added features such as localization to 6 more languages in addition to North American English, IP range scanning and Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) detection of non-Windows machines and network devices.  These are excellent features to help you speed up your migration projects to Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft Office!

For the newcomers of the Windows Vista Team Blog, let me give you a brief overview and show you what Windows Vista Hardware Assessment solution accelerator can do for you. Of course, if you can’t wait, just click HERE to download the tool. That’s okay too. :-)

In a nutshell, Windows Vista Hardware Assessment is an automated software tool that helps business customers and consultants make informed decisions about desktop deployment and migration to Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft Office.  Specifically, this tool provides users a very quick way to inventory and assess PCs network-wide for their hardware and device readiness (within an hour if you have a network of about 500-1000 PCs).  Through auto-generated readiness reports, organizations can more quickly identify computers that can migrate to Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft Office “as is” without any hardware upgrades and other computers that could be migrated with very minimum hardware upgrades such as system memory and hard drive upgrades.  This tool is now used by many large and small enterprises and it can scan 25,000 PCs in a single scan per domain/workgroup and can run multiple scans for a larger organization as well.

FIGURE 1: Screenshot of the Welcome Screen - French Version of Windows Vista Hardware Assessment

FIGURE 2: Screenshot of the Japanese Windows Vista Readiness Report

In this new release of version 2.1, we have added 3 major features that address many of the customer and partner feedback that we’ve collected for the past months:

• Localization to 6 New Languages: With Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft Office going to all corners of the world, we’ve decided to globalize the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment tool. Now, you can not only operate this tool with your OS but you can also generate readiness report in Microsoft Word and Excel in your local languages including French, German, Japanese, Korean, Latin American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. This makes this tool and the reports more impactful when presented to the technical and business decision makers.
• IP Range Scanning: This feature is one of the most frequently requested features from our customers (you!) and this IP range scanning capability allows you to select a set of computers for the readiness assessment independent of whether you are using Active Directory or not - especially useful in many branch office assessment scenarios! This nicely complements other ways to target machines for assessment including the Active Directory Organizational-Unit targeting and flat-file import method.
• SNMP Discovery: While many of your computers are Windows-based, we do know that our customers and partners would like to assess the ENTIRE network environment. So with this new SNMP discovery feature, you will now have the ability to discover and assess machines running non-Windows OS that are SNMP-enabled. It also paves a way for you to understand the network devices as well. Very cool feature in my opinion!

For more details, please view the content on TechNet or check out my previous blog in July. 

Most importantly, over 240,000 users have downloaded this tool since February 2007.  Many customers have already saved significant of migration costs and accelerated their migration using this tool - such as Sporton International and Collegiate Housing Services. 

So why wait?  Download Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.1 Now!

To read the TechNet overview in the 6 new languages, please click one of the links below: 

• TechNet France
• TechNet Germany
• TechNet Japan (available in the next 24 hours)
• TechNet Korea
• TechNet Latin America (Spanish)
• TechNet Brasil

Have a great weekend everyone!

Baldwin Ng

Sr. Product Manager, Microsoft Solution Accelerators

wvhafdbk@microsoft.com

Hi all,

For those of you who missed some of the actions and announcements at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference regarding key technologies and tools including SoftGrid, Windows Partner Solutions, Windows Vista Hardware Assessment and Windows Business Value Assessment Tool, read on…

Baldwin

Interview with Heartland Technology Solutions at WPC 2007

On Day 3 of the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2007 (WPC)  in Denver, I caught up with IT veterans from the Heartland Technology Solutions (HTS) in Harlan, Iowa - CEO, Arlin Sorensen and Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Larry Hedin.  Here’s what they have to say about what’s they’ve seen at WPC.

Baldwin: “Arlin, it’s good seeing you and Larry again.  A few months ago, I met you and a few peer group members of the Heartland Technology Group (HTG) during a series of product and technology review meetings on Microsoft’s Redmond Campus.  Can you tell us a bit more about the Heartland Technology Group (HTG), how it started and what the charter is?”

Arlin: “Sure. Back in 2001, I recognized that there was a general lack of peer groups for Microsoft partners that serve the SMB space in the United States and Canada.  As technology continued to morph and change, we knew that we couldn’t figure out everything on our own, so I decided to launch the first HTG peer group that same year.  The HTG peer group is an open community where technology leaders would share their own daily real world experience with those having the same challenges.  Better yet, they are all coming from non-competing markets so there are no worries and concerns about competition.  Through sharing of best practices in business and technologies implementation, we are able to stay ahead of the rapidly changing industry.  That’s how we are able to grow and grow - we are now at close to 100 company members.”

Baldwin: “Very interesting.  You certainly have a great group of technology leaders.  I always enjoy meeting them and tapping their insights.”

Baldwin: “Larry, as part of the Worldwide Partner Conference partner panel, what was your impression about the solutions and technologies that Microsoft has rolled out at this conference?  What impressed you the most?”

Larry: “Baldwin, there are two things that are very impressive - SoftGrid and Windows Partner Solutions.  SoftGrid application virtualization has really become affordable for my customers.  As part of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP), SoftGrid really helps reducing deployment time down to a minimum.  It takes care of tough apps - apps that conflict with other line-of-business apps previously without SoftGrid.  It is really awesome to see how energized my sales force are when they discuss SoftGrid and MDOP with our customer base.  These technologies give partners like us greater leverage and help remove deployment roadblocks for Windows Vista.”

Larry: “I am also very impressed with the assessment tools rolled out this week as part of the Windows Partner Solutions program.  The Windows Vista Hardware Assessment tool is a great tool that helps my sales force quickly assess the existing PCs of my customer base and determine if they are ready for Windows Vista and Office 2007 migration. It is easy to learn and use and, most importantly, it helps accelerate my business!  Another great tool is the Windows Vista Business Value Assessment Tool (may require partners log-in).  It enables partners like us to sell the business value of Windows Vista.  Without the data-centric intelligence provided by this tool, it’s much harder to sell.  This tool is straightforward and the customization to specific market and company size is a great addition.  We can now build our sales process around the use of these assessment tools and the results they generate.  Partners should definitely download these free tools and see how they can help accelerate their sales.

Baldwin: “Arlin, what would you say would be another technology that our customers and partners should keep an eye one?”

Arlin: “Partners here are seeing and hearing the buzz about Software plus Service and how this will offer great business to us.  We too are getting ourselves prepared to get more involved in the Managed Services side of the IT business.”

Baldwin: “Arlin, Larry, on behalf of our Windows Vista Team blog audience, I’d like to thank you for your time today.  Thanks for your insights and hope you enjoy the rest of the event.”

Arlin and Larry: “Thanks for having us.”

Hi all, For those of you who missed some of the actions and announcements at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference regarding key technologies and tools including SoftGrid, Windows Partner Solutions, Windows Vista Hardware Assessment and Windows Business Read More……(read more)