imageIn case you missed it over on the MDOP blog, they just announced that Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) 2009 R2 will be released in late October 2009 and will add Windows 7 support for all components except for MED-V. Server and management components will also support Windows 2008 R2.  They go on to say:

“With its virtualization technologies and manageability components, MDOP 2009 R2 is an essential part of your Windows 7 planning and deployment strategy.
This is a great opportunity to highlight the key innovations of MDOP 2009 R2 and talk about how MDOP can help you rapidly migrate to Windows 7, deploy applications with greater ease, resolve application incompatibility, and reduce desktop management costs.


Optimize Windows 7 Application Deployment Using App-V

With Application Virtualization (App-V) you can transform applications into centrally-managed virtual services:

  • Reduce the costs of application deployment and increase user productivity - deliver most applications without actually installing them. Updates are made easier, application conflicts are minimized, and IT can spend less time in regression testing. For users, once they are granted access, the application is delivered and available instantly, following the user to enable easy roaming between corporate PCs.
  • Reduce your base image footprint and new PC provisioning time - separate your applications from the base image, and minimize the number of applications installed after the image is deployed.

Windows upgrade is the best time to adopt App-V - as part of Windows 7 deployment all applications are tested and re-deployed. This is a great time to take a look at your application delivery strategy and adopt Application Virtualization with minimum overhead and cost.

You can read more in the App-V Cost Reduction Study - savings of $156/PC/Yr in direct costs (11.6% of PC TCO) plus $125/PC/YR in user productivity gains.  The sources of direct savings generated by App-V are across automated deployment, patching/updates, non-standard applications, image management, PC provisioning and replacement, and installation risk, as well as user productivity gains. 

App-V 4.5 SP1 also offers new capabilities and unique integration with Windows 7:

  • Maintain user productivity regardless of application format - integration with the Windows 7 UI maintains the user experience and productivity as virtual applications behave just as regularly installed applications. Users are able to pin applications to the taskbar and leverage jumplists to navigate between applications.
  • Increased IT control with AppLocker integration - enforcing compliance of virtual applications with AppLocker policies, and providing consistent policy management for all application types.
  • Make users productive anywhere and save on IT infrastructure using BranchCache - virtual applications traverse the WAN only once and are available to users faster through local BranchCache points, eliminating the need for an IIS Server in every branch.
  • Secure application delivery with BitLocker ToGo - IT administrators can confidently deliver virtual applications on a secured USB drive, as the associated applications are protected against unauthorized use. Only authorized users have access to the applications, including remote users who may not have connectivity to corporate network.
  • Integrate with third-party LDAP directories - reduce administrative overhead for customers who maintain their user accounts in a third-party LDAP directory, and enable Kerberos via Active Directory trust.

Once available, App-V 4.5 SP1 can be deployed immediately to production environments running XP, Vista, Windows7, and Windows Server 32-bit platforms. For customers preparing to run App-V on 64-bit Windows Client and Server platforms they can download App-V 4.6 Beta at Microsoft Connect.   App-V 4.6 will be available in H1 2010…”

To read more about all the new features coming with MDOP 2009 R2 see http://blogs.technet.com/mdop/archive/2009/09/14/mdop-2009-r2-what-s-new-in-mdop-for-windows-7.aspx

J.C. Hornbeck | Manageability Knowledge Engineer