Kurt Shintaku's Blog

New Features to include Microsoft Online Services, SQL Server 2008, Forefront Client Security, and Network Access Protection

DOWNLOAD:  http://www.microsoft.com/MAP

Many of you are in the midst of an IT migration or upgrade planning but do not know 100% with certainty what computers are in their IT environment or what applications have been deployed. The Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit 3.2 makes it easier for customers and partners like you to quickly identify what servers, workstations, and network devices are in your IT environment. MAP also provides specific and actionable IT proposals and reports to help you get the most value out of Microsoft products and infrastructure. Over 510,000 Microsoft customers and partners have already downloaded and used MAP and its prior versions including Costco Wholesale Corporation, Continental Airlines, and Banque de Luxembourg.

Introducing Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit
MAP is a scalable and agent-less assessment platform designed to make it easier for you to adopt the latest Microsoft technologies. In this version, MAP has expanded its assessment capabilities to include SQL Server 2008, Forefront/NAP, and Microsoft Online Services migration, as well as providing a Power Savings assessment to help you “go green.”

In summary, MAP 3.2 assessment areas now include:

• SQL Server Database Instance Discovery (NEW!)
• Microsoft Online Services Needs Assessment and Survey (NEW!)
• Forefront Client Security/NAP Readiness Assessment (NEW!)
• Power Savings Calculator (NEW!)
• Virtualization Infrastructure Assessment (e.g. reporting the mapping of hosts by guests) (NEW!)
• Windows Server 2008 Hardware Assessment
• Server Consolidation Reports and Proposals (Hyper-V or Virtual Server 2005 R2)
• Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007 Hardware Assessment
• Desktop Security Assessment to determine if desktops have anti-virus and anti-malware programs installed and up-to-date, or if the Windows Firewall is turned on

Toolkit Features
The Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit performs key functions that include hardware and device inventory, compatibility analysis, and readiness reporting.

MAP utilizes an enterprise-scale, agent-less architecture that enables you to inventory your servers, desktops, applications, and network devices without installing any software agents on each machine being assessed. This tool can discover all computers within Active Directory, and most importantly, non-IT managed machines such as workgroup members.

Additionally, MAP can generate localized desktop readiness reports in seven languages including North American English, German, French, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Benefits to You (Customers and Partners)

• Fast and Agent-less. MAP provides secure network-wide assessment of environments of up to 100,000 computers in a matter of hours instead of days, all without deploying any software agents on each inventoried machine.
• Saves Pre-Sales and Planning Time. For most IT consultants and Microsoft Partners, a detailed network inventory and assessment of servers and desktops often takes days of manual labor. With MAP, they can now drastically reduce the time it takes for the same inventory to a matter of hours; allowing them more time to focus their efforts on critical pre-sales engagement tasks. For IT professionals, MAP can significantly reduce the time it takes to gather the information necessary to make the business case for client and server migration, as well as for their upcoming virtualization projects.
• Actionable Recommendations and Reporting. MAP offers valuable inventory and readiness assessment reports with specific upgrade recommendations and virtualization candidate reports that make it easier for IT migration and deployment projects to get off the ground and running.
• Coverage from Desktops to Servers. MAP provides technology assessment and planning recommendations for many Microsoft desktop and server products including SQL Server 2008, Forefront Client Security/NAP, Microsoft Online Services, Windows Server 2008, Hyper-V, Virtual Server 2005 R2, Windows Vista, 2007 Microsoft Office, Microsoft Application Virtualization (or App-V), System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007, and more.

Next Steps
Try the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 3.2 RTM version now!

• Download Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 3.2 (RTM Bits)
• Learn more about MAP on TechNet or Microsoft Partner Program Portal
• Read Hyper-V/MAP Case Studies: See how Costco Wholesale Corporation, Continental Airlines, and Banque de Luxembourg benefitted from using the MAP Toolkit
• Read the MAP Team Blog
• Listen to TechNet and Academy Live webcasts on MAP
• Join the TechNet Forum Community for MAP