add3 Limited - Technology Driven Consultancy

Solutions › Application Virtualisation

add3 has extensive experience and in-depth expertise with a large number of technologies which offer Application Virtualisation including:

• Microsoft App-V
• Microsoft MED-V (formerly Kidaro)
• VMware ThinApp (formerly Thinstall)
• InstallFree
• XenoCode
• SVS

These technologies offer a broadly similar solution with relative merits in their individual approach. add3 are able to offer independent guidance on which technology is most appropriate to our customers' needs.

APPLICABLE ENVIRONMENTS/CUSTOMERS

Application Virtualisation has the capability to reduce cost, reduce risk and improve IT responsiveness in almost any environment where applications are being installed on Microsoft Windows based machines. In more specific terms, there are very distinct benefits in Thin-Client and VDI type scenarios where a dynamic platform for user-specific application delivery is required.

This document is intended merely as a starting point to understanding the technical capabilities and benefits of these technologies - please contact add3 for more details on any of the points raised, or any other questions you may have

WHAT IS APPLICATION VIRTUALISATION?

Application Virtualisation is a concept which enables organisations to deploy their applications quickly, easily and securely without the headaches, risks or costs of regression and conflict testing associated with traditional techniques.

Specific Application Virtualisation technologies do this by isolating or 'sandboxing' applications into self-contained packages or 'bubbles' which means it is possible to not only deliver different versions or configurations of previously conflicting applications but also streamline the entire application lifecycle from instigation, through deployment, support, updates/patches to retirement.

Each application is still delivered to the client workstation (desktop, laptop or terminal server), and is still executed on the client, but it is NOT installed - in other words, no changes are made to the machine, the application or the way the user works. The benefits of this are many and varied - however the key business benefit is to allow an organisation to deploy its business applications safely, quickly and largely independent from the underlying IT infrastructure.

APPLICATION STREAMING

Alongside application isolation, Application Virtualisation is often coupled with some form of 'streaming' which is used to deliver the applications to the client device.

In addition to providing on-demand delivery of applications, streaming technologies usually offer two significant additional features:

MINIMUM LAUNCH DELIVERY. Most Application Virtualisation technologies ensure that only the minimum amount of data (usually between 10-30% of the total application) is delivered to a client before the application can be launched. Not only does this result in a much quicker first time launch for the user, it also results in significantly reduced load on the network. Additional features of an application are delivered on demand.

ACTIVE UPGRADE. Most Application Virtualisation technologies include the ability to implement an upgrade (Service Pack, Hot-fix or other modification) of an application once and have it delivered to users the next time they launch the application.

BUSINESS BENEFITS OF APPLICATION VIRTUALISATION

REDUCE APPLICATION MANAGEMENT COSTS. The cost of traditional application deployment methodologies is hugely expensive in manpower terms alone. By simplifying the entire deployment lifecycle, from inception to revocation and removing time-consuming regression testing and conflict resolution, the cost of delivering applications to users is greatly reduced. Since many applications can be packaged once for both terminal servers and desktop operating systems, Application Virtualisation reduces the expense of deploying a new application to these disparate environments.

REDUCE RISK AND IMPROVE IT RESPONSIVENESS. By removing the risk of deploying applications, and reducing the actual time taken to create a new/modified package, Application Virtualisation enables the IT organisation to respond to the demands of the business and get the applications to the people who need them quicker and than ever.

ENABLE ROAMING AND FREE SEATING. By isolating the applications from the Operating System, and instead linking them to Users or Group Membership, users are given access to the appropriate applications (with associated personalisation) regardless of the device from which the application is launched.

SIMPLIFY & ACCELERATE APP AND OS MIGRATIONS. In many cases, once an application has been virtualised it can be migrated between Operating Systems without modification. Even in cases where modifications are required the effort involved is significantly reduced compared to traditional methods.

ENABLE BUSINESS CONTINUITY FOR APPLICATIONS. A Virtualised Application consists of a small collection of files which can easily be replicated like any other kind of data to a co-location or Disaster Recovery location enabling rapid return to productivity without the headache of provisioning large numbers of "production build" workstations.

IMPROVE APPLICATION SECURITY. Once an application is deployed it is effectively read-only. This ensures that users cannot break an application and the risk of infection or malicious modification is removed. Additionally, the need to grant users elevated permissions to run their applications is frequently removed.

CONSOLIDATE SERVERS. Since all Application Virtualisation enabled applications can happily co-exist on a single client, the requirement to provide application 'silos' is removed. In many cases this dramatically reduces the number of servers required as well as improving the efficiency of those used.

LICENSE COMPLIANCE. Most Application Virtualisation solutions enable the enforcement of licensing models to ensure application license compliance. In addition, it is usually possible to enforce expiration dates on applications to ensure they are not used beyond their supported lifecycle.

TECHNICAL BENEFITS OF APPLICATION VIRTUALISATION

ELIMINATE APP CONFLICTS AND REGRESSION TESTING. Many projects involve the migration of a large number of desktop applications to different operating systems (e.g. Windows XP to Vista or terminal services). With even a small number of applications, the likelihood of conflicts is often high, but due to the unique way in which Application Virtualisation technologies isolate applications, these risks are eliminated and the effort required to test applications is significantly reduced.

ENABLE MULTI-USER EXECUTION OF APPLICATIONS. Many desktop applications do not work well in a multi-user terminal services environment. Application Virtualisation techniques resolve many of the common problems encountered in terminal server or Citrix deployments.

SUPPORT BRANCH OFFICES. Most Application Virtualisation technologies utilise architecture which is designed to accommodate distributed networks, whilst providing centralised management.

REDUCE HELP DESK CALLS. Since applications are essentially 'read-only' once deployed, the number of application related help-desk calls caused by user changes are significantly reduced.

RUN MULTIPLE JAVA VERSIONS ON THE SAME COMPUTER. Any organisation that deploys even a small number of web-based applications is likely to encounter Java version problems. Application Virtualisation enables the delivery of different Java Virtual Machines (including MS and Sun editions) as well as ActiveX controls which are often encountered.

CONSOLIDATE, STANDARDISE AND STABILISE IMAGES. By isolating the application from the underlying operating system, Application Virtualisation significantly reduces the management overhead of creating and managing server and desktop images or build scripts.

CONSOLIDATE AND TRACK APPLICATION PACKAGES. Some Application Virtualisation technologies include centralised reporting which provides detailed application and user usage patterns which can be used to ensure appropriate resources (including application licenses) are available.

CONSOLIDATE AND STABILISE WINDOWS PROFILES. By removing application personalisation from the users' profiles, the entire profile solution can be streamlined. In addition to improving logon/logoff times, this feature also enables IT to provide increased responsiveness to users' application issues. In addition, because the application personalisation is hosted in Per User/Per Application files, these can be used to provide the user with a consistent environment regardless of whether the applications are launched from a Terminal Server session or a PC/Laptop.

PROVIDE REAL-TIME UPGRADES. Most Application Virtualisation technologies include the concept of the 'package-upgrade'. This enables an administrator to make patched or updated applications available to users in such a way that the next time the application is launched the users are guaranteed to receive the latest version.

DEPLOY WITHOUT REBOOTS. Isolating the application from the operating system removes the need to reboot a client machine when deploying or revoking applications. This is particularly relevant in Terminal Services/Citrix environments.

IMPROVE SECURITY. Encapsulating the application specific registry settings and files inside the virtual 'bubble' makes it possible to enforce stricter security on the endpoint device even in cases where an application requires elevated rights.

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