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Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit Solution Accelerator 3.1 (MAP) Now released

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Assess Infrastructure Readiness for OS Migration, Virtualization, and SQL Server Migration with Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit Solution Accelerator 3.1 !

No IT project can be successful unless the current network environment is well understood.  To help with this task the Microsoft Solution Accelerators team has just released the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 3.1.

What is this toolkit?

The Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit (or MAP ) is the next-generation version of the agent-less assessment platform from Microsoft. In this new version, MAP has expanded its capabilities into assessment areas of Hyper-V server virtualization, desktop security, and SQL Server 2008 migration. In summary, MAP 3.1 assessment areas now include:

  • Server Migration Reports and Proposals (Windows Server 2008)
  • Server Consolidation Reports and Proposals (Virtual Server 2005 R2 and Hyper-V) (NEW!)
  • SQL Server Discovery and Assessment Reports (NEW!)
  • Desktop Security Center Assessment Reports (NEW!)
  • Application Virtualization Assessment Reports (Microsoft Application Virtualization, formerly SoftGrid)
  • Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007 Hardware Assessment Reports and Proposals

What does it provide?

  • Fast and Zero-Touch. MAP provides secure network-wide assessment of a typical environment in a matter of hours instead of days, all without the deployment of any software agents on each inventoried machines.
  • Saves Pre-Sales and Planning Time. For most IT consultants and Microsoft Partners, a detailed network inventory and assessment of servers and desktops would typically take 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, it significantly reduces the time it takes to gather the information 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.
  • From Desktops to Servers. MAP provides technology assessment and planning recommendations for many Microsoft products including Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Hyper-V, Virtual Server 2005 R2, Microsoft Application Virtualization (formerly SoftGrid), Terminal Services, System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007, SQL Server 2008, and also desktop security.

Tool Features

The Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkitperforms three key functions - including hardware and device inventory, compatibility analysis, and readiness reporting.

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MAP is based upon an agent-less infrastructure scanning technology that allows users to conduct a network inventory of their servers, desktops, applications, and devices - all without installing any software agents on each machine being assessed. This tool has the ability to discover machines within Active-Directory managed domains and forests as well as workgroups.

With the new user interface and enterprise-scale inventory engine, users can generate multiple technology migration reports and proposals for their OS migration and virtualization projects in a matter of hours.

Additionally, MAP can generate localized desktop readiness reports in 7 languages including N. American English, German, French, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, and Portuguese.

How to get access to the toolkit and additional resources