Windows Vista Team Blog : IT Professionals, Announcement

Essential Tool for the Job - Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 3.1 for Windows Vista (RTM Announcement)

Baldwin Ng — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:53:00 GMT

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
Very importantly, download other Windows Vista Solution Accelerators like the MDT Toolkit, Windows Vista Security Guide and more as well!

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

Microsoft Readying Customers with New Assessment and Deployment Tool for the Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista SP1 Launch!

Baldwin Ng — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:43:00 GMT

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)

Announcing Microsoft Assessment and Planning Beta Refresh for Windows Vista & Windows Server 2008

Baldwin Ng — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 22:12:00 GMT

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

Microsoft Virtualization Day: Helping IT professionals do more with less

Nick White — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 16:00:00 GMT

I'm relaying the following article on behalf of my colleague Shanen Boettcher, General Manager of Windows Product Management for the enterprise. It's the first in a series of posts from Shanen exploring what we're doing to make it simpler and easier to introduce and get the most out of virtualization of Windows in enterprise environments.

Today we're making a series of announcements outlining our company-wide strategy for virtualization from the desktop to the datacenter.

For all the hype and excitement in the industry, the primary scenario of using machine-level hardware virtualization to consolidate server machines has been used on less than 10% of hardware servers. While virtualization started in server consolidation, it is only a small piece of the value offered by virtualization. Nowadays virtualization is not a single technology; instead, it is a collection of technologies that can be applied to all aspects of the server and the desktop. Less than 1% of desktops take advantage of virtualization and yet machine virtualization, application virtualization, presentation virtualization and even profile virtualization are upcoming virtualization techniques that when applied can increase the flexibility, business continuity, security and agility of desktop deployments. Application virtualization -- the notion of reducing conflicts between applications running on a single copy of Windows -- is especially important for the desktop and interest in this technology is very high. Microsoft Application Virtualization (technology we acquired and improved from the application virtualization leader Softricity) became the fastest-ever selling enterprise product at Microsoft, with four million units sold in less than a year. Profile virtualization enables users to take advantage of separating their documents and profile information from Windows, making it easy to get working again on a new machine in case of a stolen or dropped laptop. Presentation virtualization provides the ability to work remotely. More and more virtualization vendors are moving toward creating a comprehensive set of technologies that interoperate and are managed consistently, and we are strongly focused on providing customers with these solutions.

We have a vision that focuses on businesses employing our virtualization toolset to more simply and cost-effectively manage their IT environments. We're calling that vision Dynamic IT. Dynamic IT is aiming to help IT professionals get more out of their computing resources across both server and desktop environments. One of the benefits of this initiative is to enable IT managers to dynamically make changes or add capacity to their deployments in a matter of minutes instead of hours (or even days). In a phrase, Dynamic IT is about efficiently getting the necessary resources to users and computers at any given moment and with a minimum of hassle and effort. We expect this vision to result in a whole new era of datacenter and desktop PC management, all hinging on virtualization technologies and Windows.

Central to the vision of Dynamic IT is the concept of the Optimized Desktop. The Optimized Desktop refers to virtualizing a user's applications and profile together so that they follow that user, regardless of the location of the PC in use at the moment. An example of this all-too-common scenario is a run-of-the-mill user happily working on their laptop in a taxi, but absent-mindedly leaving the taxi without the laptop. Fortunately, the laptop was BitLocker-encrypted, so the lost information was "safe" from prying eyes -- but for many users today it would have been lost data. However, that changes entirely with virtualization: taking advantage of application virtualization and profile virtualization, we provision a new laptop for the user, including installing their applications, resetting their desktop wallpaper and restoring their documents in only a few minutes and with no manual steps. It's pretty impressive and really how we expect people will be deploying Windows Vista to their mobile workforce. When presentation virtualization is used alongside the Optimized Desktop, it helps in allowing users remote access to individual LOB (line-of-business) applications running in the datacenter, and can even run whole Windows desktops virtually on the server (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, or VDI) for certain enterprise users.

The point of all this is that virtualization eliminates the need to "hard-wire" any single computing resource across the computing stack (operating system, applications, presentation, storage and network). By enabling virtualization across an entire enterprise deployment, we aim to help IT managers keep up with the changing needs of their individual business by speeding up deployment while reducing risk and cost.

With all the flexibility that virtualization brings, great management tools are essential to enable IT Pros to apply business rules and policies to each level of resources and data. The most successful vendors will provide the full stack of virtualization capabilities, coupled with management tools that can span both the physical and logical datacenter. Because companies will not convert their whole datacenter to virtual over night, they benefit greatly from management tools that work the same across both environments, helping consistently manage both virtual and physical resources from a single management suite. This is where we believe Microsoft has the best and most complete offering with System Center 2007.

Per today's announcement, we are now offering a comprehensive set of products and technologies to enable virtualization at all layers of the computing stack, from datacenter to desktop to management:

Hyper-V (Beta), the brand-new hypervisor architected on top of hardware virtualization technologies from AMD and Intel that is an exciting new feature of Windows Server 2008
Microsoft Application Virtualization (aka Softgrid) for running specific applications in a virtualized environment
Folder Redirection and Offline Files for user profile virtualization in scenarios such as hot-desking or PC replacement
Virtual PC 2007 for creating and managing virtual desktops
Terminal Services for presentation virtualization

In addition, Windows Vista Enterprise Centralized Desktop allows for an entire desktop to be hosted on a server and remotely delivered to a desktop device.

With all that said, virtualization itself is not a panacea. It is a great enabling technology, but alone does not translate to business value. Virtualization will require broad platform support, integration with other products, mapping virtualization to specific needs of a given company, and implementation best practices and guidance in order to help customers make the most of virtualization in their businesses. MS as an entire organization is strongly committed to making it very easy for our customers to deploy, manage and use virtualization throughout their entire environment, from the datacenter and network to the desktop PC and application stack. In addition to redefining virtualization within the IT environment, we've also undertaken a number of initiatives designed to make it easier still to integrate virtualization as an IT professional:

We've acquired Calista Technologies, whose technology in combination with our virtualization portfolio will enable people to watch video, listen to audio and enable remote workers to receive a full-fidelity Windows desktop experience without the need for high-end desktop hardware
We are partnering with Citrix to develop a desktop connection broker, which will create the ability to further optimize the desktop experience. Our joint offering will be based on Windows Server 2008 and Windows Optimized Desktop solutions, extended with Citrix’s XenDesktop and Presentation Server products, and managed by System Center
With Windows Vista Enterprise Centralized Desktop, we're simplifying the license for Centralized Desktop to help ease virtualization of hosted desktops
By modifying virtualization in Windows Vista Home Basic, we are extending virtualization rights to allow virtualization throughout all versions of Windows Vista
Regarding application virtualization of Microsoft Office: we're providing new and clear guidance on support of Microsoft Office when virtualized with Microsoft Application Virtualization
To help customers evaluate, plan, secure and deploy Microsoft virtualization technologies across desktops and datacenters, we've introduced four new Solution Accelerators that will be available at the Windows Server 2008 launch in February. This is a set of free guidance resources and tools to help customers effectively plan and deploy virtualization technologies, including Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services and Microsoft Application Virtualization

Our virtualization toolset continues to be used by IT professionals to realize the tangible benefits and quick returns on investment at the core of the Dynamic IT initiative. Are you doing all that you can to maximize your IT investments by enabling virtualization in your computing environment? Check out our tools listed above to find out more, or go here to learn more about virtualization in Windows in general.

This is only the first of a series of posts on virtualization in Windows and the concerted efforts around it occurring throughout MS. Expect to hear more from me about virtualization in Windows Vista in the very near future.

-- Shanen

Windows Vista Hardware Assessment Getting A Major Facelift: Tool Expansion Announced at IT Forum 2007

Baldwin Ng — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 19:37:00 GMT

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)

Just Released: Deployment 4 Beta 3 - The Next Generation of Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) 2007

Jeremy — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 00:49:00 GMT

Deployment insiders probably saw this coming, but the recent Beta release of Deployment 4 is a huge step in unifying the converging tools and procedures to image and automate installation of both desktops and now servers in a single console. For current BDD 2007 users, this means with very little extra effort you are ready to create images and deploy Windows Server 2003 and pre-release versions of Windows Server 2008 using the Deployment Workbench. Deployment 4 also integrates with the new System Center Configuration Manager 2007 features for OS deployment and task sequencing. Speaking of task sequences, the Deployment 4 has shifted focus from builds to task sequences, making deployments more flexible and aligning to the way System Center Configuration Manager 2007 performs OS deployment. And as if that wasn't enough, Deployment 4 leverages the new multicasting functionality coming in Windows Server 2008 Windows Deployment Services. Multicasting dramatically reduces network bandwidth by instead of passing a 4 GB image individually to each targeted computer, it can pass that same 4 GB image to multiple computers simultaneously.

Deployment 4 Beta 3 combines the guidance and toolset from previous releases of Business Desktop Deployment and Beta releases of Windows Server Deployment. This release continues to support Zero Touch Installation (ZTI) of desktop operating systems using Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 with the Operating System Deployment Feature Pack and adds new deployment and task sequencing capabilities for desktops and servers using System Center Configuration Manager 2007. Deployment 4 also continues to provide Lite Touch Installation (LTI) support without infrastructure requirements and adds capabilities for Windows Server 2003 and pre-release versions of Windows Server 2008.

New Features in Deployment 4 Beta 3

Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 support, with the following features:

· Full support for Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 deployments with Deployment 4 and Configuration Manager 2007.

· Complete integration into the Configuration Manager 2007 admin console and task sequencing capabilities.

o Quick start Configuration Manager 2007 operating system deployments using one wizard to create needed task sequences and packages.

o Extends the Configuration Manager 2007 task sequencing capabilities with new actions.

· Feature parity with BDD 2007 and SMS 2003, including dynamic package installation, automatic determination of state store location, computer backup, database settings.

Lite Touch Installation (LTI) support for Windows Server 2008:

· Support for deploying Windows Server 2008 Beta 3 and potentially RC0 (to be verified after RC0 release), including support for Server Core installation options. (Windows Server 2008 TAP customers only.)

Lite Touch Installation (LTI) enhancements:

· Enhanced disk and network interface cards (NICs) configuration options, including support for static TCP/IP configuration.

· Design changes to ease the migration from LTI to Configuration Manager 2007.

· Support for multiple task sequence templates. New sample templates include:

o Client template: Windows Vista, Windows XP

o Server template: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008

o Replace scenario template

· Ability to invoke web service calls

o Support for web service calls from rules

o Web services can be invoked as part of the rules processing performed by Deployment 4, using new rules that can be defined in CustomSettings.ini.

· Support for side-by-side installation with Deployment 4 and BDD 2007 installed on the same machine.

Lite Touch Installation (LTI) multicast support:

· Deployment Workbench supports multicast transmission of operating system images when performing LTI deployments from Windows Server 2008 servers that are running Windows Deployment Services.

Enhanced Beta Program on Microsoft Connect

This Beta release also offers an enhanced Microsoft Connect portal including technical frequently asked questions, deployment tips and tricks, a recommended 10-step program for new users to quickly get acquainted with deployment accelerators, customer-ready Solution Accelerator informational materials, and deployment-related conference presentations.

Where to find Deployment Beta 3

To join the Deployment 4 Beta 3 program, follow these steps:

1) Visit the Microsoft Connect Web site (http://connect.microsoft.com).

2) Click Invitations on the Connect menu.

3) Sign in using a valid Windows Live ID to continue to the Invitations page.

4) Enter your Invitation ID in the box. Your invitation ID is: D4B3-RFC6-99CW

5) Click Go.

If you have not previously registered with Microsoft Connect, you might be required to register before you continue with the invitation process.

Give us your feedback!

Our mission is to make typically complex deployment projects as easy as possible. Based on customer feedback we have released things like the 19-page Quickstart Guide for BDD 2007 and provided the current enhanced Microsoft Deployment Connection Beta site to catalog and highlight technical implementation content. We have also provided informational content in the Beta program for those new to deployment accelerators. We are always refining what we deliver and how we deliver content based on your feedback.

Jeremy

Solution Accelerators Team

New study highlights cost savings afforded by deploying Windows Vista

Nick White — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 15:45:00 GMT

Those of you involved in deploying Windows Vista to enterprises may be interested to learn of today’s publication of a study completed by Wipro and GCR Custom Research and commissioned by MS, wherein it's demonstrated that running Windows Vista on mobile PCs delivers significant savings to organizations over running Windows XP. The reduction in TCO (total cost of ownership) amounted to $605 per mobile PC per year, or a 14% improvement on Windows XP. These savings were realized by employing such Windows Vista innovations as BitLocker Drive Encryption to enhance security, Network Diagnostics for improved troubleshooting, and integrated search functionality to boost productivity. For further details, visit the GCR website.

Organizations may be interested in combining this new mobility TCO whitepaper with the how-to guide titled How to Effectively Manage Your Organization's Mobile PCs.

The study also noted that Windows Vista-deploying organizations were able to lower the risk in complying with regulatory requirements such as Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Specific innovations in Windows Vista contributing to these gains were the risk reduction offered by BitLocker, increased control afforded via User Account Control and group policies, and the ability to reduce compliance testing costs through Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) Applications Virtualization.

How to Download the Localized Version of Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.1?

Baldwin Ng — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 03:53:00 GMT

Hello Windows Vista Team Blog readers,

We've heard that some of you are very interested in getting the localized version of the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.1 but was not sure how the download process works for this globalized integrated download. To clarify, the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.1 is available in any of the SEVEN languages from a single download (not just English). That includes North American English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Latin American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. No more hunting around for 2 different localized versions of the download. This is especially convenient for those of you who are multi-lingual in US, Europe and Latin America!!

Here's how the download and installation process work:

Download the globalized integrated version of the tool here (please ignore the fact the language field says English, trust me, it has all 7 localizations in it :-) ): http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=83115
Decide on which language you want the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment to operate in (e.g. Japanese)
Install this globalized integrated download on a computer with the matching localized operating system (i.e. Japanese version of the 32-bit Windows Vista, Windows XP Professional or Windows Server 2003 R2 OS)
Double-click the download and complete the installation process
When you are ready to use Windows Vista Hardware Assessment in Japanese, make sure that your DISPLAY LANGUAGE is set in Japanese in this case
(Optional Step) If you want to switch to a different language and, for example, create readiness assessment report in English, you may change the display language from Japanese to English and then re-launch Windows Vista Hardware Assessment.

To read more about the details of this tool, visit the localized sites here:

Don't forget to check out the various blog posts and web pages on many of the Windows Vista Solution Accelerators we've produced in the past few months! My colleague Jeremy Chapman just wrote about the Windows Vista Service Life-cycle Management solution accelerator - you definitely should check it out!

Thank you and enjoy!

Baldwin (Baldwin.Ng@microsoft.com)

Get Microsoft Solution Accelerators: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/solutionaccelerators

Hello World! Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.1 is Going Global!

Baldwin Ng — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 20:48:00 GMT

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

Kick Your Windows Vista Projects into High Gear - a success story

Baldwin Ng — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 22:54:00 GMT

Hi all,

A few months ago, I had the pleasure to meet David Feng, Director of Technical Services in Systex Corporation in Taiwan. He has been involved in Microsoft technologies for many years and was part of our Windows Vista Hardware Assessment Beta Program. His participation has been key to the success of our release and I want to thank him as well as the tens of thousands of other beta users out there! Thank you!

Below is a great success story about how Systex Corporation was able to use Windows Vista Hardware Assessment tool to assist Sporton International Inc. in accelerating Windows Vista deployment. If you want to know how to kick your Windows Vista project into high gear (or out of second gear), read on…

The leading mobile communications certification company in Taiwan, Sporton International Inc. wanted to upgrade its operating system from Windows® 2000 Professional Edition and Windows XP to Windows Vista®. The company wanted to know which of its computers were ready for Windows Vista. Based on previous upgrade experiences, the company planned to perform this inventory manually on 300 PCs and expected the process to take at least a month. To avoid compatibility problems, Sporton considered retiring at least half of its PCs and replacing them with new ones—at a cost of nearly U.S.$20,000. Instead, the company turned to Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, SYSTEX, the largest systems integrator and Microsoft Large Account Reseller in Taiwan, for assistance. The company introduced Sporton Lab to the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment tool, which is part of a family of Solution Accelerators that are available for download at no cost from the Microsoft TechNet Web site.

From a single PC, the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment tool scanned a network of 300 computers for Windows Vista–readiness within 30 minutes. The tool gathered migration-readiness information from each PC, including device and driver details, without installing any software agents on computers. Rather than replacing half of Sporton Lab PCs, 88 percent of the computers were either immediately ready for the migration or needed only minor memory and hard drive upgrades. Sporton Lab saved nearly U.S.$20,000 and finished the assessment in a half an hour rather than a month…

Download Windows Vista Hardware Assessment FREE at:

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=83115

Read the rest of the story:

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=93643

View technical drill down:

http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2007/07/09/microsoft-releasing-new-version-of-the-windows-vista-hardware-assessment-tool.aspx

Use other Solution Accelerators for Windows Vista

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/solutionaccelerators

Microsoft Released New Version of the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment tool

Baldwin Ng — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 08:09:00 GMT

Hi Folks,

Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft Office are here! And, you are probably thinking that it's time to take advantage of these 2 great technologies. But, you need to get answers on a few practical questions first:

Would my existing PCs run Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft Office? Should I buy new ones or upgrade them instead?
Would my devices still work? Would most of the device drivers be available from Windows Vista installation DVD and/or Microsoft Windows Update site?

Well, I have good news for you! Today, our team is happy to announce the availability of the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.0 tool at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2007. This network-wide readiness assessment tool is designed to make it easier for Microsoft partners and customers to determine their existing PCs' readiness for Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft Office. It's a great tool to accelerate migration and deployment planning for Microsoft customers and partners.

How it Works?

Step 1 - Network Inventory:

Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.0 connects securely and remotely from a networked PC and reaches out to each PC on the network, whether they are in an Active Directory domain/forest or in a peer-to-peer/workgroup environment.
Hardware and device data were collected through the WMI protocol (Windows Management Instrumentation) and other Windows networking protocols all without deploying any software agents on the individual PCs.

Step 2 - Compatibility Analysis:

By analyzing the hardware and device data from each computer, Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.0 can assess your existing computers' hardware compatibility and device compatibility for Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft Office. It also offers hardware upgrade recommendations if required for each PC.

Step 3 - Readiness Reporting:

Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.0 offers the auto-generation of 2 readiness assessment reports: a summary report in Microsoft Word and a detailed spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel.
The Summary Report provides business decision makers with a high-level view of percentage of existing computers that can run Windows Vista and how many more computers can take advantage of Windows Vista with minor level of memory, hard drive and other upgrades.
The Detailed Spreadsheet Report provides technical decision makers with a detailed view of the information they need to plan for a desktop deployment/migration.

What's New with Version 2.0?

Backed by popular demand, we have added many features in this release:

Enterprise-Scale Scanning - Scan up to 25,000 computers per domain/workgroup in every scan (Note: multiple scans are possible for larger networks)
Office 2007 Hardware Assessment - Assess PCs for hardware compatibility with 2007 Microsoft Office
Customized Inventory using Active Directory - Choose computers of specific organizational units (or OU's) within an Active Directory domain/forest where the inventory would be conducted
Customized Inventory using Flat-File Import - Target a specific set of computers for the inventory and assessment by importing a specific flat file of computers (such as computer host names, NetBIOS names, or Fully Qualified Domain Names - FQDN)

What is the IT community saying about Windows Vista Hardware Assessment? Visit these blogs to find out more.

Where Should I Start?

Download the tool today and see how it can benefit your Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft Office migration planning
Sign up for one of my July webcasts on TechNet and Partner Readiness web sites
Look for the 6-language localized version that will go live in the coming weeks that will enable you to create readiness assessment reports in your own language including French, German, Japanese, Korean, Latin American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese
Tell your success story using the tool and email us at: wvha-tap@microsoft.com
Subscribe to our RSS feed and stay tuned for my future blog posts where I will share with you our customers' success stories and what's new at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2007
Check out the Windows Vista Business Value Assessment Tool if you are a Microsoft Partner - you'll be amazed how powerful this ROI tool is! (IT Blogger, James Senior, gives you the inside scoop HERE!)
Visit the Solution Accelerators home page to download other great Windows Vista tools including Windows Vista Security Guide, Data Encryption Toolkit and Business Desktop Deployment 2007

See you next time...

Baldwin Ng (Sr. Product Manager, Microsoft Solution Accelerators)

wvhafdbk@microsoft.com

Flexible Desktop Computing White Paper Released

Dave Kim — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 17:52:00 GMT

Hi folks, for the past couple of months we have been working on a white paper that discusses the variety of both established and emerging desktop deployment technologies in the industry today. For most organizations rich clients have been proven to be the most productive way from a desktop angle and with Windows Vista there are big improvements to make everyone even more productive. Combined with some server based elements, (e.g. Softgrid Application Virtualization, Folder Redirection, etc...) Windows Vista provides key benefits to enhance user productivity while increasing data security and management capabilities. Still, for some organizations, the complexity of their environments have grown as some workers have very limited tasks in their desktop environments yet deal with massive amounts of sensitive data while other workers need full capabilities on their desktops. So the purpose of this paper is to provide an overview and a starting point for a discussion on some of the different desktop architectures out there as well as showing how Windows Vista can play an integral part in their deployment.

You can find and download the paper at www.windowsvista.com/flexibledesktop or you can read it right away on this blog if you click here. At both the first site and this blog you will continue to find more and more information on what we are doing at Microsoft to make it easier to manage and customize your IT infrastructure. Happy reading! -Dave Kim

Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.0 Public Beta Now Available for Download!

Baldwin Ng — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 20:51:00 GMT

Hi all,

The Microsoft Solution Accelerators Team is happy to announce the release of the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.0 Public Beta. 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. Specifically, this tool provides users a very quick way to inventory and assess PCs network-wide for their hardware and device readiness. Through auto-generated readiness reports, organizations can more quickly identify computers that can migrate to Windows Vista “as is” without any hardware upgrades and others with recommended hardware upgrades.

The Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 2.0 Public Beta, an agent-less network-wide assessment tool, includes three frequently-requested features:

· Customized Inventory – Users may now choose computers of specific organizational units (or OU’s) within an Active Directory domain/forest where the inventory would be conducted.

· Flat-File Import of Computers – Users can now target a specific set of computers for the inventory and assessment by importing a specific flat file of computers (such as computer host names, NetBIOS names, or Fully Qualified Domain Names - FQDN).

· Office 2007 Hardware Assessment – Users may now assess their desktop computers for compatibility with Office 2007 system.

In addition, Windows Vista Hardware Assessment users may now inventory up to 10,000 per domain/workgroup per scan (Note: you can inventory a few times to assess a network larger than 10,000).

So, why wait? Download our 2.0 Public Beta here and give us your feedback! Make sure you use your Live ID (or Passport credentials) and register for this beta program before starting the download process. To download the already-released Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 1.0, you may visit here: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/wvha.

This tool is one of many Solution Accelerators that were recently launched for Windows Vista. Please visit the Solution Accelerators Home Page to download other tools including Business Desktop Deployment 2007, Data Encryption Toolkit for Mobile PCs, Windows Vista Security Guide and more.

One more thing – if you are attending TechEd 2007 in Orlando, please attend our breakout session and hands-on lab throughout the week and test drive Windows Vista Hardware Assessment 1.0. See you there!

Baldwin Ng

Sr. Product Manager, Microsoft Solution Accelerators

TechNet Radio Chat on Windows Vista Readiness

Baldwin Ng — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 04:54:00 GMT

Tune in and listen to the radio interview of Microsoft Product Manager, Baldwin Ng and IT Pro Evangelist, Chris Avis as they discussed how the newly released Windows Vista Hardware Assessment solution accelerator has become the popular tool in helping businesses determine their readiness for Windows Vista migration.

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=88283

Baldwin Ng baldwin.ng@microsoft.com

Sr. Product Manager, Microsoft Solution Accelerator

Windows Vista Hardware Assessment v2.0 Beta Program Now Open!

Baldwin Ng — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 04:28:00 GMT

Good news! The Windows Vista Hardware Assessment v2.0 Beta Program is now open for registration! Please join our beta program and test drive new features including OU-targeting, machine names import, localized UI/readiness reports and more.

Visit the Microsoft Connect site to join: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=88282

For those of you who are not familiar with Windows Vista Hardware Assessment, it is basically a network-wide PC readiness assessment tool that helps organizations understand their readiness to migrate to Windows Vista. It provides organization-wide reports on hardware compatibility, device compatibility, upgrade recommendations and more. The coolest part is that this tool does not require any software agents to be installed on individual computers.

Visit our TechNet Web Page and download the tool (v1.0) today at: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=83405

Baldwin Ng (baldwin.ng@microsoft.com)

Sr. Product Manager, Windows Vista Hardware Assessment Solution Accelerator