Asset Inventory Services (AIS) BETA sign up open!

Today, I am happy to announce that sign up for the Asset Inventory Services (AIS) 2.0 BETA sign up is open! AIS 2.0 will release in the second half of 2010.

AIS 2.0 will have a series of enhancements that many of you have been vocal about for some time now.

Specifically:

· Enhanced hardware inventory capabilities

· New and improved user interface (V 2.0 will be Silverlight-based)

· Redesigned client technology

· Scalable to support organizations of up to 100,000 PCs

· Improved volume license reconciliation capabilities

 

For those that sign up now and are accepted into the program there will be a BETA release in November where selected MDOP customers, non-MDOP customers, and partners can get advance access to the technology. We ask participants to submit their feedback to us on their experiences with the tool and will consider this input for the RTW version.

Call to Action:

Sign up is open NOW! If you are interested in applying for this opportunity, please complete the following survey by Thursday October 24th, 2009.

https://connect.microsoft.com/InvitationUse.aspx?ProgramID=3615&InvitationID=AIS2-FTVM-82QY&SiteID=310

If you are selected to participate, you will be notified via email no later then November 1st . Selected participants should be prepared to deploy the AIS client to a number of test machines, participate in newsgroup discussions, and provide feedback.

More information on the BETA:

Available BETA Features:

· Current AIS 1.5 functionality (but no history)

· Hardware inventory per PC

· 'Computers' view with drill-down filters and sortable columns

· New User interface

· Licensing enhancements

Participation:

1. Please note that there will be no migration path from this BETA. Once the beta is completed, all data will be deleted.

2. In order to use the BETA service, you will be required to indicate acceptance of the AIS privacy statement

3. The Connect site will be used for all BETA communications