MDOP 2008 R2 RTMs

Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack 2008 R2 has been released to manufacturing (RTM) and will be available to download in the next couple of weeks.

This version of MDOP will include the highly acclaimed Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 (also called App-V) but there are a lot of other new and useful upgrades and improvements in MDOP 2008 R2 as well:

Asset Inventory Service 1.5 (AIS)

Asset Inventory Service is a hosted inventory service that scans and analyzes all the applications on customers’ desktops and translates inventory data into useful and actionable information. Basically, it’s a company-wide monitor that allows customers to track the software that they have deployed within their organization. With 1.5, customers can now see license reconciliation along with inventory information. This allows them to clearly see if all software deployed within their enterprise is compliant with license agreements. Having deployment and licensing information in one place is critical to software asset management, specifically when looking at true-ups, renewals, and license reallocation. This new version of the service will be available in November 2008.

Advanced Group Policy Management 3.0 (AGPM)

Advanced Group Policy Management 3.0, which enables governance and change controls over the deployment of group policy objects in your IT environment, adds customizable permissions to enforce the use of the Group Policy change management tool within an organization. This new feature gives AGPM administrators the ability to customize the permissions that are set on production GPOs controlled by AGPM. Enhanced Tracking allows customers to use AGPM for compliance with branch specific regulations. The new version of AGPM is compatible with Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista SP1, and offers full support for 64 bit machines, as well as and the newly introduced Group Policy Preferences. It’s a major overhaul that makes AGPM a true “must-have.”