ProfileUnity v6.0 Solves Significant ARM and Granular Management Issues

July 16, 2014 – Chicago, IL. - Liquidware Labs, the leader in desktop transformation software solutions, today announced the availability of ProfileUnity v6.0. This latest version of this industry leading user virtualization solution introduces several important user environment management features.  These sophisticated features provide desktop administrators with significantly more granular ability to elevate application privilege rights to users without the need to give them administrator status, thus creating a much more controlled and secure desktop environment.  In addition, administrators can respond to desktop environment events and to assign user resources in near real time, keeping their environments up to the minute.   By offering highly sophisticated enterprise functionality at an extremely competitive price point, ProfileUnity v6.0 offers value that cannot be matched by other vendors today.

New features in ProfileUnity v6.0 include:

Application Rights Management (ARM)

New Application Rights Management (ARM) features in ProfileUnity enables ProfileUnity Administrators to securely grant specific Standard Users detailed application rights without making them a Windows Administrator. While some User Environment Management vendors have separate products at significant additional cost to cover ARM, the new features will be included in ProfileUnity at no extra cost. ProfileUnity’s ARM capabilities include:

• Secure elevation of applications that require Admin rights for standard users
• Allow application installations on persistent virtual or physical for Standard users
• Allow/Deny Process – Whitelist/Blacklist options for installed applications per user

“Our new Application Rights Management avoids the need to make users desktop or server Administrators. This helps keep users productive while strengthening security and needless help desk calls,” said Jason Mattox, CTO, Liquidware Labs. “Application Rights Management can make many applications compatible with server based computing such as Citrix XenApp and VMware’s forthcoming RDSH offering in Horizon 6.  RDSH servers cannot run applications that require admin rights for users without compromising security. The new ARM features in ProfileUnity v6.0 removes this barrier.”

With the addition of ARM, ProfileUnity provides a consistent user experience across all desktop platforms, modes of delivery and devices that users today expect to use to access their workspaces under all conditions.

As Gartner recently commented*, end-user computing environments are increasingly hybrid. Users are accessing their workspace or portion of it from a variety of devices in different contexts. This further increases the need for a consistent user experience across devices, applications and desktop delivery mechanisms.

Trigger Points

Trigger Points have also been added to ProfileUnity as an option to increase the frequency of User Profile saves and to assign resources such as printers on a real-time context aware basis. Trigger Points now give the ProfileUnity agent the ability to detect environment changes and apply an action.  Examples include:

•        Profile synch during session on application open and/or application close
•        Location aware printer reassignment during a user session based on session reconnect and/or disconnect
•        Assignment of applications, such as RDSH, virtual, or SAAS apps, based on location aware settings that have changed during user session

“Trigger Points will help automate the last mile of User Environment Management for our customers,” said Jason E. Smith, director of User Management, Liquidware Labs. “With this new feature, ProfileUnity keeps user profiles and policies up to date, even during user session and working across simultaneous logins such as a virtual desktop with published applications from a RDSH server.”

Windows 8.x Start Menu Choices

While Microsoft has announced that they’ll include a Start Menu in future version of their OSs, ProfileUnity v6.0 will deliver classic start menu options to Windows 8.x.  Administrators will be able to specify an XP style or Windows 7 style start menu for Windows 8.x.  Liquidware Labs sees this option of increasing user adoption of Windows 8.x, helping with user productivity, and ending needless helpdesk call from users new to the OS.

ProfileUnity v6.0 is available for download now. A free 15-day trial of ProfileUnity is available by visiting www.LiquidwareLabs.com.

* Gartner Research Report #G00262523 - Market Guide for User Personalization Management, Published: 8 May 2014, Analyst(s): Federica Troni, Nathan Hill.