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May 01, 2006
Softricity Releases SoftGrid 4.0
The advances in SoftGrid 4.0 are based on thousands of hours of development, combined with feedback from hundreds of customers and partners who have been using Softricity since 2001 to virtualize over 25,000 applications and deploy to hundreds of thousands of end-users.
Cerner Corp., a provider of healthcare information technology, uses Softricity to help its clients deploy and upgrade its 1.5GB suite of more than 55 applications. According to Cerner's senior technology architect, Jim Coons, "With Softricity's Sequencer enhancements, our clients can accelerate deployments of key Millennium applications and functionality. In fact, they can package the entire suite in just one hour.
"In addition, Active Upgrade will allow packages to be updated without disabling connections, requiring users to log off the system or rebooting to roll out new code."
SoftGrid 4.0 turns locally installed Windows applications into virtual network services that are centrally managed and deployed on-demand -- without any recoding -- to any desktop, server, laptop or virtual machine. With the new version, Softricity's application virtualization technology more easily enables applications to run in a protected "sandbox" environment without installation or alteration to the host operating system, and without conflicting with any other applications. This is combined with Softricity's streaming technology, which sends only the minimum code needed (often less than 15 percent) to run applications on the client machine. The result is the transformation of installed software into on-demand, available-anywhere services that solve a wide range of previously debilitating IT challenges inherent in application deployments, testing, security, help-desk support and business continuity.
"With SoftGrid version 4.0, application virtualization is as easy to deploy as machine virtualization, making it more compelling than ever for enterprises to virtualize their entire application environment," said Bill Corrigan, vice president of product management at Softricity. "Simply put, Softricity's application virtualization is proven to be the most effective way for IT organizations to dramatically reduce application management costs while adopting transformational computing approaches such as utility computing and software as a service."
Softricity also announced it is a member of Blade.org, an open community dedicated to developing next-generation technologies for blade computing, the world's fastest growing server market segment.
"With Softricity's application virtualization for IBM's BladeCenter products and solutions, such as the Virtualized Hosted Client Infrastructure, customers can better manage the way users receive their applications," said Juhi Jotwani, director of BladeCenter Alliances and Solutions for IBM. "We're excited to see Softricity focusing on customer pain points such as time to application availability, standardization, business continuity and cost management."
SoftGrid 4.0 adds new features that significantly extend the value of customers' virtual application environments:
- Rapid Virtualization: SoftGrid 4.0 virtualizes all components of an application--not just redirecting files or the registry -- turning them into portable run-time "application images" that can be run on any computer the moment a user needs them. SoftGrid 4.0's Sequencer, the packager that virtualizes applications, has been completely re-designed to turn sequencing into a completely automated process that has been optimized for speed. For example, the latest Microsoft Office suite now takes less than 10 minutes to virtualize. SoftGrid 4.0's virtualization engine is also significantly more comprehensive, including the virtualization of Windows services (used by many complex applications) and user specific preferences (which enables end-users' customizations to follow them to any computer they log into). SoftGrid can now also virtualize administrative mode, enabling applications that require administrative rights to run in the much more secure user mode. In sum, with SoftGrid 4.0 Softricity continues to pioneer new levels of application virtualization that is unmatched by any other vendor.
- Controlled Streaming: The SoftGrid platform is the only application virtualization product on the market that combines virtualization and on-demand streaming into a single, powerful solution. With SoftGrid 4.0, administrators and end-users have more control over streaming, including the ability to both "pre-cache" applications (stream 100 percent of the program on demand) and work in a disconnected mode. Cached applications are now locked in memory, preserved even in the case of unexpected computer shutdown. Streaming has also been accelerated, by an average of 40 percent faster than previous versions.
- Scalable Centralized Management: New usability features and functions in 4.0 enable much easier centralized management of both small and large-scale deployments. The most compelling of these features is the ability for administrators to remotely control SoftGrid clients from any other computer, providing help-desk support and terminating unattended sessions without desk-side visits. Another key addition is "Active Upgrade," where updates to virtualized applications on the server are now accomplished without disconnecting connected users, while SoftGrid server configurations can be migrated to other servers simply with a single click of the mouse from the management console. For customers with hundreds or thousands of users and applications, there is a new hierarchical management interface that allows for easy and organized access.
- Microsoft Integration: SoftGrid 4.0 has also been designed to integrate directly into Microsoft's Systems Management Server (SMS). SoftGrid for SMS allows users to virtualize applications and stream them from within SMS.
- Support for Virtual Machines: Version 4.0 has been certified to work with virtual machines by Microsoft and VMware. This has been completed to assist customers who are employing a hosted virtual desktop infrastructure. This enables Softricity to provide on-demand applications for on-demand virtual desktop solutions.
- Cost Savings: Many of SoftGrid 4.0's new features further improve the cost savings captured by the Softricity's Forrester TEI-Compliant Return on Virtualization Calculator. These savings stem from increased centralized control, the ability to remotely help end-users, faster sequencings and active application upgrades.
Alamance Regional Medical Center has a staff of 2,000 end-users, including physicians, nurses and administrators, serving the Burlington, N.C. area. Andy Gerringer, senior network administrator, explained: "When we first implemented SoftGrid we had planned on a 30-day trial, but it worked so well and so easily that we were able to confidently go into production right away. Now, with SoftGrid 4.0's ability to virtualize Windows services, we can finally eliminate our few remaining physically installed applications and turn our entire environment into an on-demand, worry-free infrastructure. And with Softricity's new Active Upgrade capabilities, we can update even the most complex package for all our computers in one fell swoop. Applications that took three to four hours to update on terminal servers now take no time at all. Best of all, end-user downtime is only needed for backend database changes."
