Whether you are planning to deploy Windows Vista or already did, it is important that you keep security high on your list and make sure that all of your desktops are secured.  So, how do you know if your desktops have Windows Firewall settings turned off?  What if some desktops do not have Anti-Virus or Anti-Spyware software installed?

To quickly get an answer, please check out the new Security Center assessment feature that we have added to the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 3.1 released in June.  It auto-generates a security assessment report on your existing desktops as part of the "Windows Vista hardware assessment" migration report.

What's Next?

Start identifying these security vulnerabilities today with a free download of the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit.  You may also view the new MAP Toolkit demo video and learn how to get the Security Center assessment report as well as the hardware compatibility assessment report for Windows Vista migration.

Cheers,

Baldwin Ng

Sr. Product Manager, Microsoft Solution Accelerators Team

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)

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)

Introducing Microsoft Assessment and Planning 3.0 

For those of you who are considering the migration of your desktop and server infrastructure to Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008, we have good news for you!

As we’ve announced at TechEd IT Forum 2007 in Barcelona last November, the Microsoft Solution Accelerators team is going to release the expanded version of Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.1 called Microsoft Assessment and Planning 3.0 (aka MAP).

In short, MAP is an automated agent-less network-wide inventory and assessment tool that can quickly determine if your organization’s desktops and servers are ready for migration to Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.

What do I mean by AGENT-LESS inventory?  Simply put, it means that you do not need to launch any software agents on any of those machines you want this tool to inventory and query - so no more security concerns and user interruption!

It offers quick network-wide inventory of machines and generate hardware and device compatibility reports with actionable recommendations in the form of auto-generated proposal documents - perfect documentation for your IT project planning in the new fiscal year!

The best part is that you can use this tool to inventory your environments ONCE and get multiple assessments and reports for not just server and desktop migration, but also various virtualization options from Microsoft (see our Virtualization Day Summit blog post here)! 

How it Works? 

Through the use of a sophisticated, agent-less and network-wide inventory engine, Microsoft Assessment and Planning will be able to discover machines on your network whether they are in workgroups or managed AD environments.  By way of WMI, Win32, SNMP and other protocols, we can then securely collect hardware and device attributes of each machine and auto-generate migration readiness reports in Microsoft Word and Excel for the user. 

What a great way to help you jump-start your planning process when you know your manager is waiting for your IT project plans for the New Year!

What’s New with MAP 3.0? 

• Full incorporation of the features of Windows Vista Hardware Assessment including the generation of reports and proposals in 7 languages including N. American English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Spanish and Portuguese
• Windows Server 2008 migration hardware assessment
• Windows server virtualization assessment (supports Virtual Server 2005 R2; will also add Hyper-V assessment in later this year)
• Application virtualization infrastructure assessment for Microsoft Application Virtualization (formerly SoftGrid)
• New Graphical User Interface

Check it Out! 

• Download the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Beta Refresh today, give us your feedback, and see how you may get a free copy of Windows Vista software and more!
• Visit the MAP Team Blog to learn more or check out other great Solution Accelerators!
• Subscribe to the Windows Vista Team Blog & MAP Team Blog RSS feeds to make sure you’re the FIRST to know when MAP 3.0 will RTM (target date: February 27, 2008)
• Sign up to join our weekly Live Meetings and chat directly with our development team
• Download the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment - if you can’t wait for MAP RTM version (RTM on Feb 27)

See you next time!

Baldwin Ng - Sr. Product Manager, Microsoft Assessment and Planning + Virtualization Solution Accelerators 

Hi all! It’s been a little bit over 2 months since my last blog on the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.1 (WVHA) release back in August. You may wonder what our dev team is up to. Well, aside from getting the much needed rest, we have been busy working Read More……(read more)

Hi all!  It’s been a little bit over 2 months since my last blog on the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.1 (WVHA) release back in August.  You may wonder what our dev team is up to. Well, aside from getting the much needed rest, we have been busy working on the NEXT version of the tool.  Yes, we’re talking about a major expansion here.  For those of you who haven’t heard of WVHA, it’s basically a network-wide readiness assessment tool that goes out to your network and securely assess each PC for their hardware and device compatibility for Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft Office migration - click here for my detailed blog post.

Tool Expansion - Microsoft Assessment and Planning Solution Accelerator

This expansion will not only retain the original WVHA functionalities and the 7-language localization, but it will also incorporate many elements for the Windows Server 2008 wave and Microsoft Integrated Virtualization initiative. Imagine having the same agent-less inventory capabilities to survey the IT infrastructure of servers, applications and workstations and get back a series of assessment reports in an hour or two!

Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Solution Accelerator, the new name announced at IT Forum 2007 this week, will be the next-generation WVHA where we will add new assessment scenarios for Windows Server 2008 migration, server virtualization via Hyper-V, application virtualization recommendations using Microsoft Application Virtualization (SoftGrid) and more.

Come join our MAP Beta Program today and give us your feedback on the new product/technology scenarios!

http://connect.microsoft.com/site/sitehome.aspx?SiteID=297

Cheers and stay tuned for more…

Baldwin (mapsbeta@MICROSOFT.COM)