The Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit’s new capabilities help you assess the readiness of your environment for deploying Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012. You can join the MAP 8.0 Beta here.


Included in the latest version of the toolkit are hardware and infrastructure readiness assessments to plan your deployment of Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, prepare your migration to Windows Azure Virtual Machines, ready your environment for Office 2013, and track your Lync users.

Key features and benefits of MAP 8.0 Beta help you:

• Determine readiness for Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8.
• Assess environment for Office 2013.
• Plan migration to Windows Azure Virtual Machines.
• Track Lync Enterprise/Plus users.

Determine your Windows Server 2012 readiness

MAP 8.0 Beta assesses the readiness of your IT infrastructure for a Windows Server 2012 deployment. This feature includes detailed and actionable recommendations indicating which machines meet Windows Server 2012 system requirements and which may need hardware updates. A comprehensive inventory of servers, operating systems, workloads, devices, and server roles is included to help in your planning efforts.

Determine your Windows 8 readiness

MAP 8.0 Beta assesses the readiness of your IT environment for a Windows 8 deployment. This feature evaluates your existing hardware against the recommended system requirements for Windows 8. It provides recommendations detailing which machines meet the requirements and which may need hardware upgrades.

Assess your environment for Office 2013

MAP 8.0 Beta assesses readiness for Office 2013 and provides an in-depth assessment of client desktops for upgrading or migration. This feature also offers support for Office 365 features such as web apps, Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, or full Office 365 client support.

Migrate to Windows Azure Virtual Machines

MAP 8.0 Beta performs a comprehensive assessment of Windows Server and Linux machines to determine if a migration to Windows Azure Virtual Machines is possible. The toolkit then offers suggested changes to prepare the machines for migration. Key features help you reduce the operating costs of hosting on-premise servers as well as estimating the required size and monthly network and storage usage required to migrate on-premise Windows and Linux servers to Windows Azure Virtual Machines using the data from the environment.

Assess your software usage and evaluate your licensing needs for Lync

MAP 8.0 Beta’s Lync Enterprise and Usage Tracking feature counts the number of Lync Enterprise/Plus users as well as device activities for determining the number of required client access licenses (CAL). For Lync 2010, MAP provides a server inventory and software usage by device and user for Lync Standard features. MAP’s updated Software Usage Tracking feature provides consistent software usage reports for key Microsoft products including Windows Server, SQL Server, System Center, Forefront Endpoint Protection (FEP), and Lync.