Vista: Tools that you need to make the move
If you want to make that move to Vista, you need these tools to do it.
The tools include Windows Vista Hardware Assessment (WVHA) 2.0, the Windows Vista Business Value Assessment, and Microsoft LicenseWise.
Hardware Assessment
With the ability to scan up to 25,000 PCs per domain, WVHA 2.0 is an updated version of a network-wide assessment tool Microsoft introduced in February.
WVHA 2.0 lets you or Microsoft’s partners determine whether your hardware can support Vista and Microsoft Office 2007. With your cooperation, a partner can remotely and securely connect to your network, without installing agents, and collect relevant hardware information through Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI).
WVHA could return results within one hour and give you guidance on driver updates. WVHA 2.0 is available to IT pros, as well as partners, and you can download it here.
Vista’s ROI
Microsoft has developed the Business Value Assessment tool to help customers “realize an increased value of up to $130 per PC annually. Value-added resellers, systems integrators, and managed service providers can use the tool to calculate Vista’s potential ROI and build a business case for deploying it. This tool isn’t available to IT pros without going through a Microsoft partner.
Microsoft LicenseWise
The Microsoft Product Licensing Advisor (MPLA) became available in November 2005 to address midmarket IT pros’ complaints about the complexity of Microsoft’s licensing.
Microsoft has now released a companion product, Microsoft LicenseWise, for Microsoft partners.
LicenseWise provides information across programs such as Open License, Open Value, Select License, and Enterprise Agreement and informs users about product prerequisites and programs such as Software Assurance.
LicenseWise is linked with the MPLA to strengthen collaboration between partners and their customers through a seamless, consistent and predictable interaction.
So you can use MPLA to compile a quote for licensing a particular product, then call a Microsoft partner and give the product-specific quote from MPLA. LicenseWise will automatically pull up a fully configured partner UI and let the partner customize the quote to add in partner-specific products and services.
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