Application Virtualisation and Lifecycle Management

Application Virtualisation is a solution in its own right as well as an extension of the concept and theories associated with Desktop Virtualisation. For many organisations this is a natural progression of their virtualisation plans around the client layer as they see this further simplifying the desktop and the management around this.

True Application Virtualisation works on the basis of removing application logic and code from the underlying OS acting as its platform. Applications are delivered in self contained sandboxes or bubbles and behave as self dependent files, rather than relying on physical integration with the OS. This solves many of the traditional management headaches associated with application lifecycle management and specifically removes the need to perform lengthy regression testing, as well as greatly simplifying both the application introduction and removal process.

Application Virtualisation is also used to refer to the more traditional approach of removing the application interface from the end user’s desktop. This is in many ways the solution that gave birth to this whole industry and has long been a mainstay of many organisations in the shape of Citrix XenApp, Presentation Server and even Metaframe before that. The virtualisation element here is that end users can access apps that appear to be working on their local device whilst they are executing in the datacentre. From a purist perspective, the application code is still physical in an OS, albeit in the datacentre and many of our customers look to truly virtualise applications in the traditional Citrix thin client based delivery model, adding further benefit to this already centralised application delivery model.

Application Virtualisation is increasingly becoming an active strategy in its own right and is being used to support both the world of physical and virtual desktops. The benefits of single image, self contained applications are significant and our customers are engaging with us to help them understand the potential for the technology in their environment, as well as to make this strategic transition through our remediation process