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Microsoft Releases Assessment and Planning Solution Accelerator MAP 3.1

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Microsoft has announced that its Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Solution Accelerator is no longer in beta mode, as it has been released to the general public as the MAP 3.1 tool.

As we wrote in previous coverage, the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Solution Accelerator is a tool that makes it easy to assess your current IT infrastructure for a variety of technology migration projects. It includes the features previously provided with the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment Solution Accelerator.
The MAP Solution Accelerator is an agentless tool that will find computers on a network and perform a detailed inventory of the computers using Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), the Remote Registry Service, or the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP).  Using the inventory data, the tool will assess and report whether computers can run Windows Vista, Microsoft Office 2007, Microsoft Application Virtualization (SoftGrid), and Windows Server 2008.  This includes assessment of device driver availability and recommendations for hardware upgrades that may be required.
This release also includes new features for gathering performance metrics from computers you are considering for consolidation using Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2.  Using the performance metrics and a model virtual server host computer, you can generate reports that recommend placement of the physical servers in a virtual server environment.
[Source: VMBlog]

Free Virtualization Capacity Planning, Courtesy of Microsoft MAP

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Are you familiar with the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Solution Accelerator (MAP)? If you’re not, you might want to be. From the resources library:

“MAP (download) is a powerful inventory, assessment, and reporting tool that can securely run in small or large IT environments without requiring the installation of agent software on any computers or devices. The data and analysis provided by this Solution Accelerator can significantly simplify the planning process for migrating to Windows Vista, Microsoft Office 2007, Windows Server 2008, Microsoft Application Virtualization (formerly SoftGrid), and Windows Server virtualization technologies including Virtual Server 2005 R2 and Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V.”

Microsoft Assessment and Planning Solution Accelerator

As Virtualization.info points out, Microsoft doesn’t seem to put much effort into making the tool known by the rest of the world. The tool could however be useful, and comes at a great price considering its feature list; it’s completely free!