Notes

Softricity's SMS Announcement instructions What does this really mean for the Application Virtualization Market
For the past few days I? ve already been organizing my ideas about Softricity? s February 6, 2006 announcement on how these people will be working with the Microsof company Manageability Team to offer application virtualization and streaming within Microsoft Systems Administration Server (SMS). Exactly what did the headline really say? What does this mean for Microsoft? What does this mean for Citrix? h Project Tarpon plus Altiris? s Application Virtualization Solution? Most significantly, what does this specific mean for a person?

What Is This Announcement all about?

First of all, let me explain the fundamentals of this quite important announcement. To summarize, Softricity offers partnered with Microsof company to offer a new product that works with Softricity SoftGrid - including application virtualization, on-demand streaming plus self-provisioning? directly into Microsoft Systems Management Hardware (SMS). Because of this any SMS customer could now virtualize their applications and rely on them throughout their pre-existing SMS application application. They can drive out virtualized software using SMS? delivery push methods, stream them on-demand using Softricity? s draw methods, and they will can use TEXT? s metering in addition to asset management equipment to discover plus track both MSIs and virtualized apps.

Softricity is supplying two version of the product. SoftGrid for SMS Universal allows you to be able to do all the things an individual can do together with SoftGrid (virtualization plus streaming) from in SMS. SoftGrid regarding SMS VX (virtual extensions) just let us you virtualize? plus uses the SMS push delivery to have the virtualized applications to be able to end-users.

With this particular solution, there is usually no longer a need for a SoftGrid Management Console in addition to, using their VX edition (virtualization only, zero streaming), the SoftGrid Server. The just requirement is perfect for apps to be virtualized through Softricity? t Sequencer. This process is very similar in order to most traditional product packaging tools, so essentially it means that if you might have the SMS deployment, a person don? t possess to change significantly in your method to get the benefits regarding virtualization and streaming.

What does this kind of mean for Softricity?

This is large for Softricity! The particular announcement amounts to is a concept towards the market of which Microsoft has selected its partner regarding virtualization and streaming. Beyond the technical advantages of this announcement, it is crucial to understand that Microsof company is dealing with Softricity to sell this solution to their own SMS user basic. The reason for this is that this benefits each party simply because well as the end-user. Softricity rewards by being selected as the first player for virtualization and streaming? and even the ability to enter into a market where Microsoft currently keeps 40% of the enterprise and 30% of SMB application seats. Microsoft benefits because they can today say they solve many of the particular underling issues that will have caused problems and organized TEXT MESSAGE deployments. Inside my modest opinion, this announcement is ground breaking since you are right now in a position to manage your application deployment, enhancements, removal, licensing compliance, and asset supply needs with 1 solution.

What does this mean for Microsoft?

Much of the stressing about SMS, whether or not by users and also the press, can end up being boiled down to 1 thing: the situation involving application conflicts. Intended for more information in this issue with SMS and other EDS solutions, please read my To Set up or Not paper.

Now with SoftGrid intended for Microsoft SMS, right now there is the opportunity for SMS in order to eliminate many involving the issues that has held up their adoption. Most involving the cons specified in my? To put in or Not? document (conflicts, testing, and so forth. ) are negated by deploying individuals applications through software virtualization via SoftGrid. To put it simply, this implies Microsoft has resolved SMS? s short-comings, enabling to be the virtually all complete solution for application deployment available today.

What does this kind of mean for Citrix?

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

Citrix? s i9000 Project Tarpon seemed to be first announced in Citrix iForum june 2006. Citrix describes it as a? streaming? solution. It is essentially Citrix? s admittance in the software submission and systems managing market, designed in order to distribute applications to a desktop in addition to address application conflicts by utilizing their particular? Application Isolation Environment? technology found inside their flagship merchandise, Presentation Server 4. 0 (which, in case you read my? To Install or Not? paper, We believe is certainly not true application virtualization). As Project Tarpon remains in first, with out official beta and/or technical termes conseillés happen to be made accessible to us/me, I am not able to go into how Citrix products compares and competes along with Microsoft SMS apart from what is previously detailed in my personal To Install delete word paper.

But an individual do have to question precisely what will happen after they start to compete with SMS. Right now there? s no doubt the best thing going for Citrix is usually their channel. They have one associated with the biggest and a lot loyal resellers in the marketplace. Just look what they did with Citrix Access Gateway. Acquired through Net6, Citrix could use their huge channel to get the SSL VPN market by surprise. Nevertheless , it is going to be interesting to observe what happens any time Project Tarpon finally ships and they will start competing along with Microsoft. Citrix may well find that doing well in a market Microsoft currently rules may be a little bit harder than even they will muster. We is going to have to wait plus see.

To find out more about Citrix Application Loading (Project Tarpon) make sure you visit:
[http://www.citrix.com/English/ps2/technology/feature.asp?contentID=22714]

What can we learn from this for Altiris?

Unlike Citrix, Altiris currently has a beta version of application virtualization solution about the market along with plans to combine it into their particular broader application application solution. Altiris at the moment holds 6% of the enterprise and 10% of SMB application deployment industry, and has options for almost every feature of server and application deployment in addition to management (they will be Microsoft? s number one competitor inside the systems management space). This has always given Altiris some sort of leg up upon any new place of application deployment they want to be able to dive into, but with the Softricity / Microsoft arrangement, Altiris has identified that their competitor in traditional app deployment, Microsoft, will be marketing towards them. Thus Altiris has become a much more direct competitor to Microsoft SMS. As Microsoft is extremely competitive in the particular enterprise space and because SMS is almost given away to Microsoft enterprise customers, it seems like to us that Softricity has the upper side in gaining actually more market share in the application virtualization market.

For even more information on Altiris Software Virtualization make sure you visit: http://www.altiris.com/Products/SoftwareVirtualizationSolution.aspx

What does this mean for you?

So what performs read more indicate to you? Without having going in to excessive detail around the problems we all face around deploying and managing software, I will just say that all of us have always had a problem together with application deployments because of to the mother nature of distributed community computing. We are needed to perform advantage inventory and software program license metering owing to license negotiating and industry conformity regulations that can be carried out using one of the quite a few products available today. Using the new Ms / Softricity relationship there is the opportunity to standardize on the business leader, Microsoft Method Management Sever (SMS), while overcoming application conflicts with the particular Softricity SoftGrid intended for Microsoft SMS.

Involving course, this is definitely only one portion of the unified means to fix the software management and application challenge. Microsoft TEXT coupled with Softricity SoftGrid for TEXT, Terminal Services or Citrix, and RES PowerFuse (as mentioned in The Search for Unified Management) guarantees excellent application response some features for end-users by allowing them to be able to compute via work stations, laptops and port servers, while the backend system in addition to application administration, license, asset control will be controlled through a couple of easy-to-use tools.

Additional Resources:

View the Official Softricity announcement webinar. 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

View the Application Loading for Desktop Programs section of typically the iForum 2005 Common Session Keynote. Introduced by: Mark Templeton, Citrix president plus CEO.
[http://www.citrixevents.com/English/news/videoset.asp?eventID=104&cID=2155&section=News]

Hear to the Altiris Software Virtualization Remedy Podcast. Presented by Steve Morton, Altiris? s VP regarding Product Marketing and Martin Jones, Software Virtualization Solution Product Administrator.
http://news.altiris.com/podcast/Altiris_Podcast_1_SVS.mp3

Regarding the Publisher

Douglas Brown operates http://www.dabcc.com, a site committed to design and development of approaches, methodologies, authoring, education, training, outsourcing plus software products of which add immediate value to server-based processing and on-demand digital application computing world. Douglas worked at Citrix Systems, Inc. as a Mature Systems Engineer by 2001 to 2005 in which period having been voted Systems Engineer of typically the Year 2002 simply by his peers and management at Citrix. He was honored the Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) by Microsoft Corporation in 2005 and even 2006 for the contributions to the industry. Mr. Brownish has earned throughout the world recognition for their dedication to delivering server-based computing professionals with proven solutions for implementation, structure design, time-saving programs, performance tips plus best practices. DABCC. com is 1 of the most often visited sites internationally for server-based work information and network opportunities.
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