Notes

Softricity's SMS Announcement instructions What does this specific really mean for the Application Virtualization Market
For the past few months I? ve been organizing my feelings about Softricity? h February 6, 06 announcement how that they will be functioning with the Ms Manageability Team to be able to offer application virtualization and streaming inside Microsoft Systems Supervision Server (SMS). Just what did the announcement really say? What does this mean for Microsoft? What can we learn from this for Citrix? s i9000 Project Tarpon and even Altiris? s Software Virtualization Solution? Most significantly, what does this particular mean for an individual?

Psychological Announcement almost all about?

First off, let me explain basic principles of this really important announcement. In order to summarize, Softricity offers partnered with Microsoft to offer a new product that integrates Softricity SoftGrid - including application virtualization, on-demand streaming and self-provisioning? right into Ms Systems Management Storage space (SMS). Because of this virtually any SMS customer could now virtualize their very own applications and use them throughout their present SMS application application. They can push out virtualized applications using SMS? delivery push methods, flow them on-demand making use of Softricity? s draw methods, and they can use TEXT MESSAGE? s metering and asset management tools to discover and even track both MSIs and virtualized apps.

Softricity is providing two version regarding the product. SoftGrid for SMS Simple allows you to do all the things an individual can do together with SoftGrid (virtualization and streaming) from within SMS. SoftGrid for SMS VX (virtual extensions) just allows you virtualize? and uses the SMS push delivery to get the virtualized applications in order to end-users.

With this kind of solution, there will be no longer a purpose for a SoftGrid Management Console and even, with their VX version (virtualization only, no streaming), the SoftGrid Server. The sole requirement is for applications to be virtualized through Softricity? t Sequencer. This procedure is incredibly similar to be able to most traditional product packaging tools, so basically it means of which if you might have an SMS deployment, a person don? t have got to change very much in your procedure to obtain the benefits associated with virtualization and buffering.

What does this mean for Softricity?

This is massive for Softricity! Wht is the announcement amounts in order to is a message towards the market that will Microsoft has selected its partner with regard to virtualization and loading. Besides the technical benefits of this headline, it is significant to recognize that Microsoft is dealing with Softricity to sell this solution to their SMS user basic. The reason for this is that that benefits each simply because well as typically the end-user. Softricity rewards by being determined as the first player for virtualization and streaming? plus the ability to enter in a market exactly where Microsoft currently retains 40% of typically the enterprise and thirty percent of SMB program seats. Microsoft benefits because they can nowadays say they resolve many of the particular underling issues that have caused troubles and organized TEXT deployments. During my very humble opinion, this headline is innovative since you are today able to manage your current application deployment, updates, removal, licensing complying, and asset inventory needs with one solution.

What does this mean regarding Microsoft?

Most of the stressing about SMS, whether or not by users or the press, can be boiled down to one thing: the issue of application conflicts. For more information about this problem with TEXT MESSAGE and other EDS solutions, please examine my To Set up delete word paper.

Right now with SoftGrid intended for Microsoft SMS, there is the prospect for SMS to be able to eliminate many regarding the issues that features held up their adoption. Most of the cons specified in my? To put in or Not? papers (conflicts, testing, etc. ) are negated by deploying individuals applications through software virtualization via SoftGrid. To put it simply, this signifies Microsoft has resolved SMS? s short-comings, enabling to be the virtually all complete solution for application deployment that you can buy.

What does this particular 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? Permit? s talk about Citrix Project Tarpon first.

Citrix? s Project Tarpon had been first announced with Citrix iForum 2005. Citrix describes it as a? streaming? answer. It is generally Citrix? s admittance in the software circulation and systems administration market, designed to be able to distribute applications to be able to a desktop plus address application issues by utilizing their own? Application Isolation Environment? technology found inside their flagship product, Presentation Server 4. 0 (which, in case you read the? To Install or even Not? paper, My partner and i believe is not necessarily true application virtualization). As Project Tarpon is still in alpha, with out official beta and/or technical previews happen to be made accessible to us/me, I will be not able to go into exactly how Citrix products even comes close and competes together with Microsoft SMS other than what is currently detailed in our To Install or Not paper.

But you do have to question exactly what will happen when they start to compete with SMS. Presently there? s certainly the best thing proceeding for Citrix is usually their channel. They have one associated with the biggest and a lot loyal resellers on the market. Just look what they did with Citrix Entry Gateway. Acquired from Net6, Citrix was able to use their great channel to acquire the SSL VPN market by storm. Yet , it will be going to always be interesting to view what happens any time Project Tarpon ultimately ships and they start competing together with Microsoft. Citrix may possibly find that making it in a marketplace Microsoft currently dominates may be a new little bit more difficult than even they could muster. We will certainly must wait plus see.

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

What can we learn from this for Altiris?

In contrast to Citrix, Altiris at present has a beta version of computer software virtualization solution upon the market with plans to combine it into their particular broader application deployment solution. Altiris at present holds 6% regarding the enterprise in addition to 10% of SMB application deployment market, and has options for nearly every aspect of server and even application deployment and even management (they are Microsoft? s quantity one competitor in the systems management space). This has constantly given Altiris some sort of leg up in any new area of application application they want in order to dive into, yet with the Softricity / Microsoft agreement, Altiris has located that their rival in traditional program deployment, Microsoft, may be marketing in opposition to them. Thus Altiris has become a more direct competitor to be able to Microsoft SMS. Just as Microsoft is quite competitive in typically the enterprise space and even because SMS is practically given away to Microsoft enterprise clients, it appears to me personally that Softricity has got the upper hands in gaining actually more business on the application virtualization market.

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

What can we learn from this for you?

Thus what does this indicate to you? With out going in in order to a lot of detail around the problems we all face around deploying and managing software, I will just simply say that many of us have always had a problem with application deployments because of to the characteristics of distributed system computing. We will be required to perform resource inventory and software license metering expected to license negotiating and industry complying regulations which is often done using some of the many products currently available. Using the new Ms / Softricity relationship t here is the opportunity to standardize on the market leader, Microsoft Program Management Sever (SMS), while overcoming program conflicts with the Softricity SoftGrid for Microsoft SMS.

Associated with course, this will be only one part of the single treatment for the software management and deployment challenge. Microsoft TEXT MESSAGE coupled with Softricity SoftGrid for TEXT, Terminal Services / Citrix, and RES PowerFuse (as reviewed in The Quest for Unified Management) guarantees excellent software response time and functionality for end-users simply by allowing them to be able to compute via workstations, laptops and port servers, while the backend system and application administration, certification, asset control is usually controlled through two easy-to-use tools.

Extra Resources:

View the Standard Softricity announcement webinar. Presented by Softricity? s Don Potts, Microsoft Alliance Office manager and Jeff Fisher, Director of Business Development.
Homepage: https://userscloud.com/8aof3c847nnm