Year: 2007

Thinstall is working on new 3.2 plaform, which will introduce remarkable capability to virtualize multiple Internet Explorer versions.

All application virtualization vendors are currently offering capability to isolate and deliver multiple browser versions on the same plaftorm, including FireFox and Opera, but virtualizing Internet Explorer is a a more complex task because of its tight relationship with Windows.

Thinstall 3.2 will provide such capability as this webcast demonstrates (IE5, IE6 and IE7 on the same OS).

From corporate blog Softgrid development team unofficially opens version 4.5 Technology Adoption Program (TAP):

The Microsoft SoftGrid team is currently wrapping up our SoftGrid 4.2 release, but is also already hard at work on our next release, version 4.5. New capabilities that we are building into SoftGrid 4.5 include:

• Enhanced client scalability: improvements to allow very large deployments and integration with ESD systems, such as System Center Configuration Manager
• Availability and maintainability: the most stable and reliable version of SoftGrid to date
• Security tightening: the first SoftGrid release to go through the Microsoft Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) and enhancements to support internet-facing scenarios
• Globalization and localization: support for both virtualizing non-English language applications and running the SoftGrid user interface in certain non-English languages

Surprisingly SoftGrid team also discloses details about release scheduling:

• September: Lab-only use release of SoftGrid 4.5
• Late October: Beta release of SoftGrid 4.5 and production deployments begin
• Mid March: Release Candidate release of SoftGrid 4.5 and production upgrades/additional deployments begin
• May/June: RTM of SoftGrid 4.5

Before this release anyway Microsoft plans to release client-only update of the platform, introducing support for new Windows Vista. This new version dubbed SoftGrid 4.2 is expected for July 1st, as announced at TechEd 2007 conference.

To enroll for SoftGrid 4.5 TAP compile a survey here.

The virtualization.info Virtualization Industry Roadmap has been updated accordingly.

Quoting from the Trigence official announcement:

At Microsoft TechEd 2007, Trigence, the leader in virtualization at the application level, announced Trigence AE 3.0 for Windows, a major new release of its flagship application virtualization offering, Trigence AE 3.0.

Trigence AE 3.0 for Windows is the industry’s first cross-platform application virtualization solution. By including all of the functionality created for the Linux and UNIX operating systems and integrating Windows environment functionality and features important to end users, Trigence is providing a true end-to-end application virtualization solution that can be used at both the desktop and server level throughout the enterprise.

…

The product is currently being tested by several beta customers and will be generally available in Q4 2007.

While working to extend its market coverage, Trigence is also trying to enforce its engineering capabilities, hiring Donna Grare as Vice President of Engineering:

Prior to joining Trigence, Grare was managing principal at Internosis, an information technology consulting firm which acquired Stratis Group ,a software development consulting firm that Grare co-founded and built into an award-winning technology company. At Stratis Group, she delivered custom software solutions for several leading Fortune 500 clients. Previously, Grare held senior management positions at PCSI (currently Ness International), TRECOM (currently Fujitsu/DMR), Dell-Plural (formerly Micro Modeling Associates), and AT&T.

The virtualization.info Virtualization Industry Roadmap has been updated accordingly.

Quoting from the PHD Technologies official announcement:

…

PHD has also announced that esXpress v3.1 has entered final beta and will available July 1. In addition to the ability to backup templates, this version will include our popular Auto/Mass Restoration feature that allows administrators to restore an entire datacenter quickly and easily. This feature also allows for scheduled replication to a disaster recovery site allowing for a continuous warm standby datacenter.

The virtualization.info Virtualization Industry Roadmap has been updated accordingly.

For June 6 (near Copenhagen, Denmark) Magirus Nordic arranged first edition of Virtual Day conference for nordic countries.

I’ll perform the event keynote talking about current situation of virtualization market, challenges virtualization customers and vendors are called to address, and future trends. If you are a virtualization.info reader I hope to see you there.

Check the agenda here (PDF) and register for the event here.

(to see other events where I’ll have a lecture check my speaking schedule)

Mass High Tech reveals US company Quest Software, already controlling a very popular virtualization vendor, vizioncore, is extending its influence on the market acquiring another startup: Invirtus.

Invirtus entered the virtualization space with a shrinker for virtual hard drives, but recently extended its action in the P2V migration segment, with Enterprise VM Converter, competing against PlateSpin, LeoStream and VMware itself.

At the moment of writing nor Quest neither Inviruts released any official announcement about the agreement.

Massimiliano Daneri, famous on the virtualization scene for its free high-availability script, VMBK, working with VMware ESX Server, launches today a new tool: VMTS Patch Manager.

VMTS Patch Manager addresses a critical need for VMware customers, allowing automatic (or manual) patching of ESX Servers platforms.

This first version, only for Windows platforms (including 2003, XP and Vista), is already full of great capabilities, like integration with VMware VirtualCenter and support for Microsoft Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS).

Download it here.

Handling patch management on ESX Server is a complex tasl customers are waiting VMware to address in upcoming versions of the product (possibly a 3.1). Meanwhile other virtualization experts are working on similar toos, like Mightycare ones with their esxPatcher.

On end of May Google silently acquired application virtualization startup GreenBorder.

GreenBorder uses application virtualization for security containment of desktop software like browsers, email clients, rich-media players, archivers, etc.

Despite Google doesn’t reveal in which form will integrate GreenBorder in its offering, it’s very probable the product will be available for free, following a strategy already applied for previous acquisitions like Picasa and SketchUp.

This would put in serious troubles another application virtualization startup using same approach, TrustWare, which got some attention in the security industry with the launch of its BufferZone last year. But depending on how flexible Google will make GreenBorder platform this acquisition may translate in competition against Microsoft, Citrix, and all other application virtualization providers as well.

GreenBorder has been included in the virtualization.info Industry Radar, while Google will not be included until a formal product launch.

After reaching a deal with Microsoft (because of Softricity acquisition) and Citrix (because of Ardence acquisition) in March 2006, Tadpole Technology and its subsidiary Endeavors Technologies, owning Stream Theory patents, now closed an agreement with AppStream as well.

Quoting from the official announcement:

Endeavors Technologies Inc. today announced a broad settlement with AppStream, Inc. ending all legal disputes between Stream Theory and AppStream. Stream Theory, now part of Endeavors, was granted the earliest established application streaming patents, initially filed in 1996, and pre-dating patents filed by AppStream. AppStream was also granted early patents. As the two pioneers of application streaming, the settlement allows both companies to focus their expertise on this rapidly emerging market and continue to develop industry leading technologies…

Tadpole Technology doesn’t seem interested in relaunching Stream Theory brand on the market, since Endeavors Technologies website only exposes an information request form (probably for licensing opportunities).

Virtual Iron continues its tightly release schedule launching version 3.7.

This new edition introduces supports for a new kind of storage unit: logical disks. Beside traditional virtual disks and raw SAN LUNs, now Virtual Iron allows virtual machines storage in phisical disks portions called logical disks.

This new segmentation provides benefits of raw LUNs (like shared access from multiple VMs or cloning capability) and flexibility of virtual disks (like support for iSCSI, FC and local disks).

Download the free edition or the enterprise trial here.

The virtualization.info Industry Roadmap has been updated accordingly.