Notes

Softricity's SMS Announcement - What does this particular really mean regarding the Application Virtualization Market
For the past few months I? ve been organizing my ideas about Softricity? s i9000 February 6, 2006 announcement on how that they will be functioning with the Microsof company Manageability Team in order to offer application virtualization and streaming in Microsoft Systems Managing Server (SMS). Just what did the headline really say? What can we learn from this for Microsoft? What can we learn from this for Citrix? t Project Tarpon and even Altiris? s Software Virtualization Solution? Most importantly, what does this kind of mean for you?

What Is This Announcement almost all about?

First off, allow me explain basic principles of this really important announcement. To be able to summarize, Softricity provides partnered with Microsof company to offer a new product that has a build-in Softricity SoftGrid : including application virtualization, on-demand streaming plus self-provisioning? directly into Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS). Which means that virtually any SMS customer can now virtualize their very own applications and use them throughout their prevailing SMS application application. They can drive out virtualized programs using SMS? delivery push methods, steady stream them on-demand applying Softricity? s draw methods, and they can use SMS? s metering and even asset management tools to discover in addition to track both MSIs and virtualized programs.

Softricity is supplying two version regarding the product. SoftGrid for SMS Common allows you to do everything a person can do along with SoftGrid (virtualization plus streaming) from inside SMS. SoftGrid with regard to SMS VX (virtual extensions) just lets you virtualize? in check here to uses the SMS push delivery to find the virtualized applications to end-users.

With this kind of solution, there is usually no longer a purpose for a SoftGrid Management Console and, using their VX type (virtualization only, zero streaming), the SoftGrid Server. The only requirement is good for software to be virtualized through Softricity? h Sequencer. This procedure is extremely similar to most traditional packaging tools, so fundamentally it means of which if you have a great SMS deployment, you don? t include to change much in your procedure to obtain the benefits of virtualization and loading.

What does this specific mean for Softricity?

This is big for Softricity! The actual announcement amounts to be able to is a communication to the market that Microsoft has picked its partner for virtualization and loading. In addition to the technical rewards of this announcement, it is crucial to recognize that Microsoft company is working with Softricity to sell this kind of solution to their particular SMS user base. The reason for this is that that benefits both parties as well as the end-user. Softricity positive aspects by being determined as the first choice player for virtualization and streaming? and even the ability to enter a market exactly where Microsoft currently holds 40% of the enterprise and 30% of SMB program seats. Microsoft gains since they can right now say they solve many of typically the underling issues that will have caused difficulties and organized TXT deployments. During my very humble opinion, this statement is ground breaking since you are today capable to manage the application deployment, upgrades, removal, licensing conformity, and asset products needs with one solution.

What can we learn from this with regard to Microsoft?

Much of the moaning about SMS, regardless of whether by users or perhaps the press, can get boiled down to one particular thing: the issue involving application conflicts. With regard to more information upon this issue with TXT and other EDS solutions, please examine my To Install delete word paper.

Today with SoftGrid intended for Microsoft SMS, right now there is the chance for SMS to be able to eliminate many of the problems that provides held up it is adoption. Most regarding the cons outlined in my? To set up or Not? report (conflicts, testing, and so forth. ) are negated by deploying those applications through application virtualization via SoftGrid. To put it simply, this signifies Microsoft has tackled SMS? s short-comings, enabling as the virtually all complete solution regarding application deployment on the market today.

What does this kind of mean for Citrix?

Since Microsoft has partnered with Softricity, the question in that case becomes where this particular leaves Citrix? h Project Tarpon in addition to Altiris? s Computer software Virtualization Solution? Let? s talk about Citrix Project Tarpon first.

Citrix? s Project Tarpon has been first announced at Citrix iForum 2005. Citrix describes this a? streaming? answer. It is fundamentally Citrix? s entry to the software supply and systems managing market, designed to distribute applications to be able to a desktop in addition to address application conflicts by utilizing their? Application Isolation Surroundings? technology found within their flagship item, Presentation Server 5. 0 (which, in the event that you read my personal? To Install or perhaps Not? paper, My partner and i believe is not necessarily true application virtualization). As Project Tarpon remains to be in alpha, and no official beta and/or technical termes conseillés are already made accessible to us/me, I will be not able in order to go into how Citrix products even comes close and competes together with Microsoft SMS aside from what is already detailed in the To Install or Not paper.

But a person do have to question just what will happen after they start to compete with SMS. Generally there? s no doubt the best thing proceeding for Citrix is their channel. That they have one regarding the biggest and many loyal resellers in the industry. Just look what they did to you with Citrix Gain access to Gateway. Acquired coming from Net6, Citrix could use their huge channel to get the SSL VPN market by storm. However , it is usually going to always be interesting to watch what happens any time Project Tarpon ultimately ships and these people start competing using Microsoft. Citrix may possibly find that doing well in a marketplace Microsoft currently dominates may be a little bit more difficult than even they could muster. We is going to have to wait and see.

For more information in Citrix Application Streaming (Project Tarpon) please visit:
[http://www.citrix.com/English/ps2/technology/feature.asp?contentID=22714]

What can we learn from this for Altiris?

As opposed to Citrix, Altiris at present has a beta version of application virtualization solution on the market together with plans to assimilate it into their broader application deployment solution. Altiris at the moment holds 6% involving the enterprise plus 10% of SMB application deployment market, and has alternatives for nearly every factor of server in addition to application deployment in addition to management (they usually are Microsoft? s quantity one competitor within the systems management space). This has usually given Altiris the leg up in any new area of application application they want in order to dive into, although with the Softricity / Microsoft agreement, Altiris has discovered that their competitor in traditional application deployment, Microsoft, may be marketing against them. Thus Altiris has become a much more direct competitor to Microsoft SMS. As Microsoft is extremely competitive in the enterprise space and even because SMS is practically given away to be able to Microsoft enterprise buyers, it seems to me personally that Softricity features the upper hands in gaining even more business on the application virtualization market.

For a lot more information on Altiris Software Virtualization please visit: http://www.altiris.com/Products/SoftwareVirtualizationSolution.aspx

What does this mean for you?

Therefore what performs this mean to you? With out going in to be able to a lot of detail in relation to the problems all of us face around implementing and managing software, I will present say that we all have always experienced a problem together with application deployments because of to the nature of distributed system computing. We are necessary to perform advantage inventory and application license metering due to license agreements and industry conformity regulations that can be performed using the quite a few products available today. Using the new Microsoft / Softricity partnership there is typically the opportunity to standardize on the industry leader, Microsoft Technique Management Sever (SMS), while overcoming application conflicts with the particular Softricity SoftGrid intended for Microsoft SMS.

Associated with course, this is only one element of the single treatment for the program management and application challenge. Microsoft TXT coupled with Softricity SoftGrid for TEXT, Terminal Services and Citrix, and VACA PowerFuse (as talked about in The Mission for Unified Management) guarantees excellent application response time and functionality for end-users by simply allowing them to compute via workstations, laptops and terminal servers, while the particular backend system plus application administration, licensing, asset control is controlled through 2 easy-to-use tools.

Added Resources:

See the Recognized Softricity announcement web seminar. Presented by Softricity? s Don Potts, Microsoft Alliance Administrator and Jeff Fisher, Director of Business Development.
http://www.softricity.com/news/webinar-archive.asp?eventID=sms20060209

See the Application Internet streaming for Desktop Software section of the iForum 2005 Common Session Keynote. Presented by: Mark Templeton, Citrix president and CEO.
[http://www.citrixevents.com/English/news/videoset.asp?eventID=104&cID=2155&section=News]

Listen to the Altiris Software Virtualization Answer Podcast. Presented simply by Steve Morton, Altiris? s VP regarding Product Marketing and Jeff Jones, Software Virtualization Solution Product Supervisor.
http://news.altiris.com/podcast/Altiris_Podcast_1_SVS.mp3

About the Author

Douglas Brown runs http://www.dabcc.com, a web site dedicated to design in addition to development of approaches, methodologies, authoring, training, training, outsourcing and software products that will add immediate price to server-based computer and on-demand digital application computing planet. Douglas worked in Citrix Systems, Incorporation. as an Older Systems Engineer by 2001 to 2005 in which period he was voted Methods Engineer of the Year 2002 by simply his peers and management at Citrix. He was awarded the Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) by Microsoft Firm in 2005 plus 2006 for his contributions to the particular industry. Mr. Dark brown has earned worldwide recognition for his / her dedication to supplying server-based computing specialists with proven options for implementation, system design, time-saving ammenities, performance tips and even best practices. DABCC. com is one particular of the most regularly visited sites globally for server-based computer information and networking opportunities.
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