Hello from the Las Vegas where another Microsoft Management Summit (MMS) is underway after two great keynote sessions! This is a second year at The Venetian in the heart of Vegas and our 3rd year with App-V under the MDOP product suite. Sean’s back at it and working hard to help partners extend App-V and bring new innovative solutions to market.
At TechEd EMEA in November of last year we announced partnerships with various ISVs in the industry. Over the past year we’ve been working with partners who have developed some great solutions around App-V all with a common thread of speeding up deployments of one of Microsoft’s fastest selling products. Take a look and see how these partners can help solve your business challenges.
-
Acresso Software, makers of AdminStudio and InstallShield, are showing the GA version of the AdminStudio support for speeding App-V implementations. Announced in Nov at TechEd EMEA, the beta feedback for this new support of converting existing MSI’s to the SFT format is continuing with a lot of buzz coming into this event. One beta tester was able to convert 238 applications to the SFT format in under 2 hours! Needless to say this is a great help in moving more quickly to App-V. Acresso is showing the speedy process in a partner technical showcase Wednesday morning, Efficiently Managing Your Desktop Strategy for Application Virtualization.
Acresso delivered a standing room only session at MMS today and customers were buzzing about the new App-V integration on the showroom floor all day.
Check out http://www.acresso.com for more information about Adminstudio or to download the trial version on their latest release!
-
App-DNA, creators of AppTitude has been introduced to a number of App-V projects over the past year including one of the largest App-V deployments in Europe. With their ability to provide insight into potential issues across an entire collection of applications means that projects can, initially, be more accurately planned and estimated reducing the risk of. In addition to planning and remediation reporting, AppTitude can be used to provide the sequencing platform either as a command-line driven or GUI based activity where install and sequencing steps are automatically documented with screenshots providing recipes and valuable information for any future updates. Knowing when an application has incompatible components or is inherently unsuited to application virtualization saves significant amounts of time. App-DNA even has future plans to focus on a number of upcoming development initiatives on App-V analysis, importing and extended reporting to further improve the efficiency of App-V adoption.
Check out www.app-dna.com for additional information on how this product can help you review you application portfolio and determine which applications are candidates for virtualization.
-
Blue Coat Systems, a technology leader in Application Delivery Networking, has joined the Microsoft System Center Alliance to enhance and support Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) 2007 and Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) over the Wide Area Network (WAN) to branch offices for remote workers. Blue Coat will participate and exhibit at Microsoft Management Summit 2009 from April 27-May 1, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Blue Coat ProxySG appliances can optimize and accelerate the delivery of on-demand Microsoft App-V applications for remote users situated across WAN links.
In Blue Coat performance tests, Microsoft Office Word 2007 delivered through App-V benefited from a 70 percent improvement in the amount of time to load the application remotely and a 98 percent reduction in WAN bandwidth consumption. Most importantly, ProxySG provides optimization for App-V using application level optimization via its HTTP and RTSP proxies, delivering almost 2x performance compared to competition.
Blue Coat will deliver a session at MMS on Thursday April 30 at 11:45 AM PDT. For more information please visit http://www.bluecoat.com
-
Certeon just announced at MMS their support for Microsoft APP-V and SCCM 2007 R2 with their aCelera product. aCelera is a virtual appliance (running on Hyper-V, managed through SCVMM) that accelerates application deployment, access and management throughout a distributed enterprise. Since aCelera is a virtual appliance, the time to bring an APP-V infrastructure live is drastically reduced. In testing conducted by Certeon aCelera Virtual Appliances reduced APP-V and SCCM application deployment times over the WAN by more than 95% without the need for proprietary hardware appliances. It also helps the APP-V update process by only sending the delta differences for virtual application file versions between servers. For example, if Microsoft Office was packaged originally with an 800 MB SFT file and was later updated with a 1 MB patch then instead of transferring 801 MB to the branch it is now reduced to just the 1 MB transfer with Certeon aCelera! aCelera software also accelerates business applications such as Microsoft Office, SharePoint/MOSS, and Exchange through the same infrastructure.
For more information please visit http://www.certeon.com
For more information please visit http://www.fullarmor.com
-
Quest Software recently announced Quest vWorkspace which integrates with Microsoft App-V by importing App-V servers and their sequenced applications, bringing the App-V resources within the vWorkspace desktop and application management infrastructure. This consolidated management infrastructure enhances deployments of the App-V applications across load-balanced terminal servers, Hyper-V virtualized Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7 virtual desktops, and physical or blade pc workstations. This empowers enterprise IT managers to seamlessly match virtualized application CPU and memory resource needs to the underlying IT physical resources. vWorkspace further extends delivery of App-V virtual application to remote connected users, at any time, from either a remote desktop session or as a seamless windowed remote virtual application. vWorkspace integrates the deployment and delivery of App-V allocations in the same way as installed applications, providing end-users a consistent desktop experience. vWorkspace integrates App-V applications with the Quest End-User Optimized Protocol enhancements to RDP to take advantage of remote session graphics and flash acceleration, latency reduction local text echo, microphone redirection, multimedia acceleration, as well as usb device redirection so that the App-V application experience is optimized to meet the end-user needs.
For more information please visit http://www.quest.com
Sean and I want to extend hardy congratulations to all of the System Center Alliance partners for their accomplishments in the past year and we look forward to what our partners can bring to market in the coming months. If you’re an ISV interested in integration with App-V please contact Sean.
I wanted to let people know we just posted the details on MED-V v2 (the next version of MED-V which we are talking about for the first time today) and how it relates to the Windows XP Mode feature of Windows 7 Professional over in the windows team blog.
Check it out here
As part of our promise to maximize productivity, manageability and TCO for enterprise desktops, we are excited to announce our new version of Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP), available for purchase to Software Assurance customers. MDOP 2009 includes the first release of Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V 1.0), a Cumulative Update to Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V 4.5 CU1) and an update to the Asset Inventory Service (AIS). Alongside these updated releases, MDOP 2009 also includes the other standard MDOP tools: Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset, Microsoft Advanced Group Policy Management, and Microsoft System Center Desktop Error Monitoring. The updates are available to 14.4 million MDOP customers.
MED-V provides deployment and management of virtual Windows desktops to enable key enterprise scenarios. MED-V 1.0 helps enterprises upgrade to the latest version of Windows even when some applications are not yet compatible. MED-V builds on top of Microsoft Virtual PC to run two operating systems on one device, adding virtual image delivery, policy-based provisioning and centralized management.
A recent brief by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) emphasized some of the customer benefits of using MED-V: "We found that MED-V really solved our application compatibility problems. It allowed us to deploy the applications that we were having difficulty with, where third party vendors were not providing a supported version. Where we used to have hundreds of images, we were able to move to one [Windows] Vista image, and use MED-V to deploy [legacy] applications on top of that," said IT Deployment Manger at Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, an organization of 22,000 staff members.
"We are really happy with MED-V. We can virtualize the applications that are made only for XP, and they work fine, with all the functionality intact," said a large European telecommunications company with almost 80,000 employees.
App-V 4.5 CU1 is now available as part of MDOP 2009. App-V 4.5 CU1 adds support for Windows 7 beta, so customers can move ahead with application testing in preparation for enterprise deployments. It also contains a few improvements such as instant access or removal of applications assigned to end users. When Windows 7 releases, we are committed to supporting the final product within 90 days of general availability.
AIS 1.5 update, now available to all MDOP end users through Windows Update, enhances the license reconciliation feature and the task scheduler. It now provides a detailed report for each application (e.g. whether license type is retail or volume license) to simplify license inventory tasks and to improve licensing compliance. The inventory scan scheduling has been improved to ensure data is collected even from devices that are turned off regularly.
MDOP 2009 is available for MDOP subscribers at Microsoft Volume Licensing Site (MVLS).
Today I’d like to share with you the immediate availability of Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) for use with the Windows 7 Beta and more roadmap information around App-V 4.6.
We’ve been listening to customers who want to see us support Windows 7 early so they can move ahead with their application testing in preparation for their enterprise deployments. Today, we are pleased to announce the immediate availability of App-V 4.5 CU1 for the Windows 7 Beta.
As you know, we have a high bar for application compatibility between Windows Vista and Windows 7, so you might be wondering why we need an update of App-V specific to Windows 7. Application virtualization is in a small class of applications that have very deep interactions specific to a Windows release – in App-V’s case it is redirecting the registry, file-system and component calls. So as we update Windows, we will continue to require new versions of App-V.
All subscribers of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) can register to download the update from Microsoft Connect and get ahead on their Windows 7 planning right now. Through MDOP, our goal is to continuously offer technology and updates to our enterprise customers. When Windows 7 releases, we are committed to supporting the final product within 90 days of general availability. App-V 4.5 CU1 also contains a small number of improvements such as instant access or removal of applications assigned to end users.
In addition to today’s release, we are also pleased to announce that engineering of the next App-V release is progressing well, and we will be opening the Technical Adoption Program (TAP) for App-V 4.6 shortly. When released, App-V 4.6 will be available to all existing MDOP customers and provide new key features including 64-bit platform support. Customers interested in App-V 4.6 can watch for registration to become available at Microsoft Connect in Q1 of 2009.
Customers using App-V today are already realizing the many of the benefits of the product. Some examples include the reduction in application compatibility test cycles, the increased speed at which they can package and deploy applications to their end users and the flexible deployment options.
We remain dedicated to providing customers with application virtualization technology that has a high degree of compatibility with your existing applications and includes strong, flexible management capabilities. The management is flexible in that it can stand alone or be integrated with your management suite of choice, such as Microsoft System Center. This flexibility allows you to easily manage your applications, dramatically reduce your application testing costs, and deploy applications to your business faster.
A message from my colleague, Ran Oelgiesser, Senior Product Manager for MED-V:
In May 2008, Microsoft closed the acquisition of the desktop virtualization vendor Kidaro, which soon became Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) – the sixth product in MDOP. I came to Microsoft with this acquisition, and today I’m proud to let you all know that MED-V 1.0, the first product from the Kidaro technology, is available in beta today. Simply register at https://connect.microsoft.com/site/sitehome.aspx?SiteID=665 and download the beta software. For an easy start, on the site, we also prepared a Quick Start guide to walk you through the installation and testing of MED-V 1.0 beta.
For those of us on the MED-V product team, our primary goal was to deliver an enterprise virtualization solution for the compatibility challenges that IT teams have with some of their line-of-business applications, during the upgrade to new operating systems (like Windows Vista). With MED-V 1.0, you can easily create, deliver and centrally manage virtual Windows XP or 2000 environments (based on Microsoft Virtual PC 2007), and help your users to run legacy applications on their Windows Vista desktops. No need to wait for the testing and migration of those incompatible applications to complete.
The final version of MED-V 1.0 is slated to release in the second quarter of this year as a part of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack. As you know, the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) is a suite of virtualization and management technologies that extends the Windows platform by enabling user productivity anywhere, greater IT control of the desktop, and streamlined PC management.
Finally, I want to invite you to explore our new website where you can find everything you want to know about MED-V: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/enterprise/products/med-v.aspx.
Looking forward to your feedback (medvbeta@microsoft.com)!
We understand IT is critical to your business. We hear you, our customers - both end user and IT Pro alike - you want your systems, applications and data to be available when you need it, where you need it. I suspect you've heard many Microsoft resources demonstrating and discussing the value of combining Windows Vista and MDOP together, here is an opportunity to see it for yourself without a Microsoftie pitching to you :-)
With all the technologies available in the market it can be overwhelming to determine which one to use to solve your business challenge. Here is an example of how Windows Vista’s BitLocker and MDOP’s App-V can help you be more productive while on the road and when disaster strikes. Now you can take your profile settings, applications and data wherever you go.
We're serious about providing world class solutions to our customers but we also have a sense of humor and like to have a little fun along the way. Are you a Ralph or a Ruby? Enjoy!
Adventures in Windows Vista video.
This is a fun, yet instructive video, showcasing with a great sense of humor the value of Windows Vista Enterprise and MDOP from an enterprise end user perspective. Click here to watch the video.
For those of you attending the Convergence conference in Copenhagen this week, join in on the MDOP fun. Come stop by the booth to see a demo of the upcoming Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization product, which is scheduled to release in the first half of next year. We will also be doing an interactive session on simplifying your IT. The talk will be from 3-4pm in room B5.3. The session title is IDAPP03 - Simplifying Your IT Environment using Microsoft Windows.
See you there!
As we blogged last time, AIS 1.5 was to be made available to customers in November. The Microsoft Asset Inventory Service (AIS) team is excited to announce that AIS 1.5 is ready ahead of schedule and is available to existing users starting today. AIS 1.5 offers new capabilities to help you better track your Microsoft Volume Licenses. Initially, AIS 1.5 will be in 'preview' form, which includes all of the new licensing features. So if you are a user of AIS today, you will notice over the coming days that you are seeing AIS 1.5 capabilities. You do not have to do anything to upgrade to version 1.5, which is one of the really cool things about subscribing to a service is that it is updated on the service side. As for the AIS agent, you can either update it yourself, or have it self-update through Microsoft Update. You can expect to see new areas on the AIS console when you next log in, and depending on how long it takes for all your clients to upgrade themselves (typically about 24 hours), you'll have a fresh inventory and will be able to start uploading your license agreement information. During the preview phase, we are inviting customers to try AIS 1.5 out and to provide their feedback and input on their experience. We hope to use this feedback to improve the service further before making the final release available. Note that this is not beta quality software, but is ready-for-primetime! To submit feedback on your 1.5 experience, please go to our feedback forum at http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/ais/threads/. All current users of AIS will also be receiving an email directly from us to prompt them that this version of the service is now available.
TechEd EMEA was great this year! There were so many partners on the expo floor but one ISV that wasn't there but whom I did have a chance to talk to is Aspen Technology. I was lucky enough to talk to Al Cassista, Microsoft Alliance Director for AspenTech. AspenTech is one of the first ISV’s to issue their own declarative support statement for running their applications on App-V.
SeanDô – Hi Al, thanks for taking a few minutes to talk to me today. I’m keen to hear more aboutt AspenTech and your engineering suite.
AC - aspenONE™ Process Engineering, which is "Virtualization Ready", is an integrated lifecycle solution that helps companies optimize process designs and operations, leading to safer, competitive and more reliable process plants. It supports the entire engineering lifecycle – from conceptual design through to plant startup and operations support – providing a significant competitive advantage and sustained economic value. By using consistent models based on consistent data throughout the lifecycle, reliable insights are gained into plant behavior, enabling safer and smarter decisions with the greatest economic value. Companies are able to reduce capital and operating costs, increase engineering efficiency and quality, and accelerate time-to-market with payback in months instead of years.
SeanDô - So, as an application that runs on the desktop, how does aspenONE provide a business value in conjunction with App-V?
AC - Using Microsoft Application Virtualization, AspenTech customers can accelerate the deployment of aspenONE updates as well as enable customers to run multiple versions of our software simultaneously. Virtualization also transforms aspenONE into a centrally managed virtualized service, resulting in dynamic delivery of software that is never installed on the client device, never conflicts, and minimizes tedious application compatibility testing.
SeanDô – Sounds like a great story, running aspenONE on App-V. When can our customers get access to this “Virtualization Ready” product?
AC - aspenONE V7 is shipping now. For more information, contact Al Cassista, Microsoft Alliance Director, +1 781-221-5268, al.cassista@aspentech.com
Thanks for the information Al. I am thrilled to see an ISV such as AspenTech adopt this new technology and see such great success so quickly. I think you will start to see many more ISV’s following suit.
That wraps up our Partner series. I hope you've learned alot about the great solutions that are integrated with App-V, we're excited to partner with them to bring great technology to our joint customers!
Last week was a crazy week and the number of partners with App-V stories has been phenomenal, especially when compared to this time last year. As I was making way out of the Convention Center I saw Paul Schnell, CTO of App-DNA. I didn't get to post this in Spain but wanted to make sure I shared it with you now.
SeanDô – So Paul, AppTitude has seen some amazing success in the adoption of Vista. Can you give me the skinny on what AppTitude is doing for virtual applications?
PS - The AppTitude solution from AppDNA extracts and stores the application DNA from an application portfolio and automatically analyzes application compatibility, identifies any specific issues and provides a combination of automatic fixes and remediation advice required to resolve them. Virtualization Manager for App-V quickly highlights issues in advance of sequencing, and enables complex and difficult to identify dependencies to be identified early. This results in greater accuracy, time savings and success in sequencing. The AppTitude Production Manager allows applications to be automatically sequenced during import with or without interaction with the sequencer and automatically documents the sequencing process to support the creation of sequencing recipes.
Thanks Paul, I look forward to seeing even more from App-Dna in the coming year.
It just keeps getting better and better. I saw Steve Schmidt, VP Product Management, Acresso Software as I made my way over to the coffee station on the last day and told him that the excitement generated by their recent announcement for AdminStudio and App-V was amazing.
SeanDô – Steve, your recent announcement that AdminStudio would soon start to generate App-V packages in the same way it does MSI’s was big. Can you give me the high level details of the solution?
SS - For years, AdminStudio has helped thousands of IT teams prepare and manage their applications for error-free deployment. Now our customers are asking us to help them with one of their biggest challenges – rolling out virtualized applications. This can be a daunting task that requires intense coordination of resources and time to plan and test. AdminStudio, with expertise in application readiness, will help Microsoft App-V customers simplify the rollout by allowing them to leverage the work that they have already done. AdminStudio can confirm which applications are appropriate for virtualization and enables rapid deployment to the new App-V SFT virtual format.
SeanDô – OK. So I have heard from customers for the better part of 5 years now reluctance to learn and use a different packaging solution like the App-V Sequencer. Is there more business value to this than solving the packager concern?
SS - The key value that AdminStudio offers is to eliminate tedious and time consuming steps in planning for, creating, and managing virtualized applications (as well as MSI applications). When dealing with thousands of applications at one time, IT teams are looking for a way to save time and money to keep on track with the reality of tightened budgets in today’s economy. In recent third-party studies, AdminStudio demonstrated up to 60% time savings in preparing applications for virtualization, compared to natively provided tools by virtualization technology vendors. AdminStudio also provides a management infrastructure for cataloging, tracking and reporting on all the applications and the process around their preparation. In addition, all of this functionality is provided via the familiar interface used by thousands of customers today to create MSI packages, further increasing their efficiency and the reliability of the output.
SeanDô – Sounds great Steve. When do you expect this to be available?
SS - A beta version of the new AdminStudio Virtualization Pack will support App-V at the end of 2008. Our early adopter customers can apply to participate in the Beta program now. General release of the updated Virtualization Pack is expected in early 2009. You can get more information at http://www.acresso.com/pl/adminstudio-appv-beta.htm
Thanks for the information Steve. This will be a fundamental change in how people virtualize their applications.
Phew! Day 2 was a whirlwind of activity here at Tech EMEA in Barcelona. And day 3 promises to be even more so. The tapas and cerveza are as good as the sessions, filling and refreshing. On my way out of the expo floor this morning as I was headed to my presentation I had a chance to pull aside Bob Gilbert, Director of Marketing for Riverbed Technology, Inc. for a very brief conversation.
SeanDô – So, Bob, integrations around App-V are happening as fast as a WAN accelerator this year. What has Riverbed been doing on the App-V delivery front?
BG – Riverbed Technology is the pioneer and, with over 5000 customers, the worldwide technology and market share leader in wide-area data services (WDS). Riverbed provides the first and only comprehensive WDS solution to a host of severe problems that have effectively prevented enterprises from sharing applications and data across wide areas. By wide area, we mean anywhere in the world. Between Chicago and New York. Or between Moscow and London.
SeanDô – Bob, one of the things that I have been most excited about in App-V 4.5 is the diversity of deployment options available, especially when compared to the SoftGrid versions of the product. How do you see Riverbed providing your customers with a new business value in this new diverse model?
BG - With the combination of Riverbed Steelhead appliances and Steelhead Mobile software with the App-V application platform, customers can deliver applications at near LAN-like performance to remote locations, including branch offices and mobile workers.
SeanDô – Sounds like some pretty interesting results from your testing Bob. When will Steelhead be available for customers of App-V?
BG - The solution is available today from Riverbed and App-V resellers and partners worldwide. If people want to learn more they can visit our web site at http://www.riverbed.com or read our Riverbed blog at http://www.wdsforum.org
Another great day in Barcelona and the expo floor opened a short time ago for the day. I was trolling the expo floor again trying to get more of those rubber bouncing balls that flash colored lights when you bounce them. Anyone with small kids will know that you have to bring home enough for each kid. I caught up with Thorbjörn Sjövold , CTO of Special Operation Software and asked him a few questions about Virtual Deploy.
SeanDô – So Thorbjörn, you and I met for the first time last year at this event. Tell me what Specops has developed in that year for App-V.
TS - Specops Virtual Deploy gives the medium and small size organizations the ideal solution to benefit from Microsoft App-V without heavy investment in infrastructure and education. Specops Virtual Deploy extends Group Policy to natively, i.e. not through the Windows Installer wrapper, to deploy and un-deploy App-V packages, with full feedback on the exact error messages if anything fails. Specops Virtual Deploy also automatically installs the Microsoft App-V client, all needed prerequisites, and adds a full UI inside the Microsoft group policy management tools to configure all aspects of the Microsoft App-V client. Specops Virtual Deploy introduces the same Target mechanism as in Group Policy Preferences, adding a very fine granular approach to the way App-V packages are being deployed. By using Microsoft Advanced Group Policy Management (AGPM), also included in the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) together with App-V, it is possible to add version control and workflow management to App-V Package Deployments with Specops Virtual Deploy.
SeanDô – That sounds really interesting. So, these organizations may not have SCCM deployed and could use Specops to fill that gap. Is that the only business value in Virtual Deploy?
TS- By leveraging the customer’s existing investment in infrastructure and training, the additional investment to gain the benefits of application virtualization with Microsoft App-V is drastically reduced. Using only Active Directory and Group Policy, sequenced applications can be deployed to any computer without even having to consider the prerequisites of the Microsoft App-V client, using tools and techniques that are already in place in the organization. Since Specops Virtual Deploy is a Group Policy extension, the investment in MDOP is also leveraged even further since AGPM will enable the management of the Specops Virtual Deploy enabled Group Policy Objects to be both version controlled and managed in a workflow fashion.
SeanDô – I love the added tie in to Advanced Group Policy Management as well, Thorbjörn. When is Virtual Deploy going to be available?
TS - Specops Virtual Deploy 1.0 is generally available from October 11th 2008 from www.specopssoft.com/products/specops-virtual-deploy and will be showcased at Microsoft TechEd:IT Professionals in Barcelona, Spain 3-7 2008 November. Contact sales@specopssoft.com for more information.
Thanks for a great chat Thorbjörn and for the details on Virtual Deploy.
Sean Donahue is a Sr. Program Manager in System Center Alliances. If you are an ISV who has an integration point with App-V or MDOP please contact Sean
Well, it certainly has been an exciting start to the TechEd EMEA show this year. The sessions are well underway and the buzz surrounding the show is really hot. One of the hottest topics was actually announced last week at the PDC show in Los Angeles. Microsoft Windows Azure. Sean was fortunate enough to catch Danny Kim, CTO of FullArmor and ask him about PolicyPortal. In case you missed my first blog from this show, PolicyPortal is one of the applications being used on Windows Azure.
SeanDô: - So Danny, can you give me a brief description of PolicyPortal?
Danny: - With PolicyPortal, organizations can manage their remote end-points by extending their directory-based policies and applications over the Internet. A small piece of software resides on the client PC to communicate with the PolicyPortal application. Then, from a central location, administrators can manage PCs, set up user policies using Group Policy, distribute virtual applications and updates via App-V, monitor the health of specific PCs, manage PC inventories, and enforce security policies.
Hello from TechEd EMEA in sunny Barcelona! Sean Donahue from the App-V Partner Program has been working hard to create strong partnerships with various ISVs to create add-on solutions for App-V to meet your business needs. This marks a significant (and really inspiring!) change in the year since IT Forum 2007 where most ISV’s had barely heard of SoftGrid, and were waiting to see what Microsoft was going to do in the application virtualization space. Here at TechEd EMEA, we’re proud to announce partnerships with the following ISVs:
Intel continues to demonstrate how its current vPro technology complements the recently released SCCM R2 and App-V 4.5 to achieve IT’s objectives of Green Computing and reduced TCO. Through the management console with SCCM R2, vPro’s unique Remote Wake technology can power up a client computer and dynamically deploy App-V advertised virtual applications. vPro can then shut the machine down again to help organizations, save costs, conserve energy, and provide an enhanced end-user experience.
Makers of the most popular packaging product, “AdminStudio”, Acresso will announce that their packaging product will soon be able to take a physical application and create both an MSI and App-V Virtual application packages simultaneously. In addition, at release time, AdminStudio will be able to read an existing MSI and from its content, generate an App-V SFT file. This feature promises to save customers significant time when moving their applications to the virtualized format. One tool, one process for your physical and virtual application packaging needs.
www.acresso.com
AppTitude is an application compatibility platform which rapidly identifies application issues based on a comprehensive import of each application’s “DNA”. AppTitude Virtualization Manager for Microsoft App-V highlights properties and behaviours which make applications unsuitable or problematic for virtualization and identifies co-dependent resources. Additionally, AppTitude production manager facilitates the creation of App-V sequences using the App-V Sequencer as part of its import process.
www.app-dna.com
Makers of AspenTech Engineering Suite have already issued a declarative support statement, best practices document and prescriptive guidance around using AES with App-V. They have also worked with Microsoft on a joint case study on how they had a customer win at BASF in Germany by using their applications on App-V. AspenTech is a great example of how a mainstream ISV has enabled their application to be optimized for both physical and virtual environments.
www.aspentech.com
PolicyPortal allows for turn-key management of remote users, servers or home based computers connecting to a corporate LAN all over an internet connection. By teaming with Microsoft Cloud Services PolicyPortal can scale to any number of devices seamlessly. In a project with the Government of Ethiopia, FullArmor will start to deploy a custom application to the Educators of this developing country by leveraging Windows Azure, Vista and App-V for the streaming delivery and updates of this application. Initially this will start with 30,000 teachers and after successful deployment their goal is to expand it to the rest of the teachers in Ethiopia.
www.fullarmor.com
Makers of the Steelhead appliance WAN accelerator, Riverbed will announce the results of their testing efforts with App-V. By using Steelhead in a branch office scenario Riverbed’s results show that streaming applications can be improved by a factor of 9x. Over a T1 link with 100 ms latency PowerPoint was taken from an initial stream of 68 seconds down to 26 seconds. This streaming result is focused on the cold hit user, that user that performs the initial stream in the branch office. Users their after will stream via a warm hit.
www.riverbed.com
Special Operations Software’s Specops Virtual Deploy allows for the distribution and management of native Microsoft App-V packages through existing Group Policy infrastructures. Specops Virtual Deploy is a great solution for medium and small sized organizations. Using only their existing infrastructure, organizations will not only benefit directly from the management of Microsoft App-V packages, they can also, using the same Group Policy infrastructure, manage the deployment and configuration of the actual App-V client itself. Specops Virtual Deploy, being a full Group Policy Extension, is fully manageable from MDOP’s Advanced Group Policy Management (Advanced Group Policy Management) which also enhances the organizations investment in MDOP.
www.specopssoft.com
Next Up: Daily Partner Q/A on the above solutions. Have an ISV solution or application that you’d like to see integrated with App-V? Email Sean, and let him know what you’re looking for!
