http://www.virtualizationpractice.com/blog/?p=6422

MED-V is part of Microsoft’s Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP). Bear in mind, MDOP is only available as a subscription for Software Assurance customers.

The MDOP suite has six components:

•Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) building on the engine that enables Windows Virtual PC, MED-V provides for deployment and management of virtual PC images which even Microsoft state is to primarily resolving application compatibility with a new version of Windows. If you’re considering migrating from Windows to another OS – MED-V is not an option.
•Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) turns most applications into centrally managed services that are never installed, never conflict, and are streamed on demand to end users: but not all applications, App-V is not a solution to deploy IE6 and IE7 for example.
•Microsoft Advanced Group Policy Management (AGPM) enhances governance and control over Group Policy through robust change management, versioning, and role-based administration: arguably functions that should not be an “add-on” but should be core to the service.
•Microsoft Asset Inventory Service (AIS) is a hosted service that collects software inventory data and translates it into actionable business intelligence; or ‘we’ll tell you what it is that you’ve got’ – although in all fairness – this is often a revelation.
•Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset (DaRT) which is marketed as “reducing downtime by accelerating troubleshooting, repair, and data recovery of unbootable Windows-based desktops” but in all fairness – are you going to use this tool often? Will you regularly spend time troubleshooting a standardised build to a standardised desktop?
•Microsoft System Center Desktop Error Monitoring (DEM) provides insights into application and operating system failures, allowing helpdesk to be more proactive in managing PC problems, without installing an agent to the endpoint. It monitors failures and can help identify their causes and their resolutions. If you deploy DEM early, you can compare metrics before and after a rollout. This comparison can give you invaluable insight in to the impact of deployment: has the update made your environment, more or less, stable?