Notes

Softricity's SMS Announcement - What does this really mean for the Application Virtualization Market
For recent weeks I?ve been organizing my thoughts about Softricity?s February 6, 2006 announcement on what they will be working with the Microsoft Manageability Team to provide application virtualization and streaming within Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS). What did the announcement really say? What does this mean for Microsoft? What does this mean for Citrix?s Project Tarpon and Altiris?s Software Virtualization Solution? Most importantly, what does this mean for you personally?

What Is This Announcement about?

First off, i want to explain the basics of this very important announcement. To conclude, Softricity has partnered with Microsoft to provide a product that integrates Softricity SoftGrid - including application virtualization, on-demand streaming and self-provisioning ? right into Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS). Because of this any SMS customer is now able to virtualize their applications and use them throughout their existing SMS application deployment. Additional info are able to push out virtualized applications using SMS? delivery push methods, stream them on-demand using Softricity?s pull methods, and they may use SMS?s metering and asset management tools to discover and track both MSIs and virtualized applications.

Softricity offers two version of the merchandise. SoftGrid for SMS Universal allows you to do all the things that you can do with SoftGrid (virtualization and streaming) from within SMS. SoftGrid for SMS VX (virtual extensions) just enables you to virtualize ? and uses the SMS push delivery to obtain the virtualized applications to end-users.

With this solution, there is absolutely no longer a need for a SoftGrid Management Console and, with their VX version (virtualization only, no streaming), the SoftGrid Server. The only real requirement is for applications to be virtualized through Softricity?s Sequencer. This process is very much like most traditional packaging tools, so basically it means that should you have an SMS deployment, you don?t have to change much in your process to find the great things about virtualization and streaming.

What does this mean for Softricity?

That is huge for Softricity! What the announcement amounts to is a message to the market that Microsoft has picked its partner for virtualization and streaming. In addition to the technical benefits of this announcement, it is important to understand that Microsoft is dealing with Softricity to sell this solution to their SMS user base. The reason behind that is that it benefits both parties plus the end-user. Softricity benefits when you are selected as the go-to player for virtualization and streaming ? and the capability to enter a market where Microsoft currently holds 40% of the enterprise and 30% of SMB application seats. Microsoft gains because they can now say they solve many of the underling conditions that have caused problems and held up SMS deployments. In my own humble opinion, this announcement is cutting edge when you are now in a position to manage the application deployment, upgrades, removal, licensing compliance, and asset inventory needs with one solution.

What does this mean for Microsoft?

Much of the complaining about SMS, whether by users or the press, could be boiled down to one thing: the issue of application conflicts. For additional information on this issue with SMS along with other EDS solutions, please read my TO SET UP or Not paper.

Now with SoftGrid for Microsoft SMS, there is the opportunity for SMS to eliminate many of the conditions that has held up its adoption. A lot of the cons detailed in my own ?To Install or Not? paper (conflicts, testing, etc.) are negated by deploying those applications through application virtualization via SoftGrid. To put it simply, this means Microsoft has addressed SMS?s short-comings, enabling to function as most satisfactory solution for application deployment on the market today.

What does this mean for Citrix?

Since Microsoft has now partnered with Softricity, the question then becomes where this leaves Citrix?s Project Tarpon and Altiris?s Software Virtualization Solution? Let?s talk about Citrix Project Tarpon first.

Citrix?s Project Tarpon was initially announced at Citrix iForum 2005. Citrix describes it as a ?streaming? solution. It really is basically Citrix?s entry into the software distribution and systems management market, designed to distribute applications to a desktop and address application conflicts by utilizing their ?Application Isolation Environment? technology found in their flagship product, Presentation Server 4.0 (which, if you read my ?TO SET UP or Not? paper, I really believe isn't true application virtualization). As Project Tarpon continues to be in alpha, no official beta and/or technical previews have been made available to us/me, I am not able to get into how Citrix products compares and competes with Microsoft SMS other than what's already detailed in my TO SET UP or Not paper.

But you do need to question what will happen when they start to compete with SMS. There?s no doubt the best thing going for Citrix is their channel. They will have one of the primary & most loyal resellers in the industry. Just look what they did with Citrix Access Gateway. Acquired from Net6, Citrix could use their vast channel to take the SSL VPN market by storm. However, it will be interesting to view what happens when Project Tarpon finally ships and they start competing with Microsoft. Citrix will dsicover that succeeding in a market Microsoft currently dominates might be a little bit more difficult than even they can muster. get more info will need to wait and see.

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

What does this mean for Altiris?

Unlike Citrix, Altiris currently includes a beta version of software virtualization solution on the market with plans to integrate it to their broader application deployment solution. Altiris currently holds 6% of the enterprise and 10% of SMB application deployment market, and contains solutions for nearly every facet of server and application deployment and management (they are Microsoft?s number one competitor in the systems management space). This has always given Altiris a leg through to any new section of application deployment they want to dive into, but with the Softricity / Microsoft agreement, Altiris has found that their rival in traditional application deployment, Microsoft, will be marketing against them. Thus Altiris has become an even more direct competitor to Microsoft SMS. As Microsoft is quite competitive in the enterprise space and because SMS is nearly given away to Microsoft enterprise customers, it appears if you ask me that Softricity has the upper hand in gaining even more market share in the application form virtualization market.

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

What does this mean for you personally?

So what does this mean for you? Without going in to too much detail about the problems we face around deploying and managing applications, I will just say that people have always had an issue with application deployments due to the nature of distributed network computing. We are necessary to perform asset inventory and software license metering due to license agreements and industry compliance regulations and this can be done using any of the numerous products on the market. With the brand new Microsoft / Softricity partnership there is the opportunity to standardize on the industry leader, Microsoft System Management Sever (SMS), while overcoming application conflicts with the Softricity SoftGrid for Microsoft SMS.

Of course, that is only one section of the unified solution to the application form management and deployment challenge. Microsoft SMS in conjunction with Softricity SoftGrid for SMS, Terminal Services / Citrix, and RES PowerFuse (as discussed in The Quest for Unified Management) guarantees excellent application response time and functionality for end-users by allowing them to compute via workstations, laptops and terminal servers, while the backend system and application administration, licensing, asset control is controlled through two easy-to-use tools.

Additional Resources:

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

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

Pay attention to the Altiris Software Virtualization Solution Podcast. Presented by Steve Morton, Altiris?s VP of Product Marketing and Scott Jones, Software Virtualization Solution Product Manager.
http://news.altiris.com/podcast/Altiris_Podcast_1_SVS.mp3

About the Author

Douglas Brown runs http://www.dabcc.com, a niche site focused on design and development of techniques, methodologies, authoring, education, training, outsourcing and software products that add immediate value to server-based computing and on-demand virtual application computing world. Additional info worked at Citrix Systems, Inc. as a Senior Systems Engineer from 2001 to 2004 in which time he was voted Systems Engineer of the entire year 2002 by his peers and management at Citrix. He was awarded the Microsoft MVP (MOST EFFECTIVE Professional) by Microsoft Corporation in 2005 and 2006 for his contributions to the industry. Mr. Brown has earned worldwide recognition for his dedication to providing server-based computing professionals with proven solutions for implementation, infrastructure design, time-saving utilities, performance tips and guidelines. DABCC.com is one of the most frequently visited sites internationally for server-based computing information and networking opportunities.
Here's my website: https://500px.com/p/nedergaardcpjhertz