Control App Security and Manageability throughout Their Lifecycle
Many organizations today struggle with Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) across their enterprises. Over years, IT staff lose track of the age and versions of applications in their environments as users come and go or choose to install their own apps. Each subsequent PC refresh cycle or application upgrade project also add complexity as new Windows OS and widely differing device types are introduced into the environment. Digital workspaces running in hybrid environments and on cloud platforms add even more complexity in the delivery and management of applications. The graphic below represents a basic workflow that applies to ALM in enterprise environments.
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Liquidware solutions can support requirement specification, delivery and maintenance phases for Application Lifecycle Management in an enterprise.
An Application Strategy Assessment with Stratusphere UX is the critical starting point to determine the specific requirements of applications both in terms of compute resources and dependencies and or conflicts with other applications. With Stratusphere UX, you get a complete inventory of every application currently running in your environment by user, machine and operating system, This information allows you to separate necessary applications from older or unused versions that need to be retired or upgraded. If an upgrade is required, then Stratusphere UX metrics data can help determine application/Windows OS compatibility to select the appropriate OS and to determine whether to deliver applications via a virtual platform (VMware Horizon, Citrix Virtual Desktops and Apps, RDS) or via cloud (Azure, Amazon) or on a physical platform.
As part of the output from the Application Strategy Assessment, Stratusphere UX can identify whether or not applications are suited to base image deployment or whether they can be delivered through an alternative application delivery technology. This information supports the development of an Application Solution Roadmap. This roadmap outlines the understanding of what tools are required to achieve the necessary results within an enterprise environment. For example, some applications may require application isolation, which points towards an application virtualization use case. Others may not require isolation and may lend themselves to application layering, which allows you to "package" apps at installation, centrally store them on a VHD or VMDK and deliver them on demand to users as needed anywhere, anytime or via any device.
Application Packaging best practices are often the gold standard that most enterprises build out from at a project level. FlexApp can become a critical tool to enable the deployment of Application Packaging Best Practices within the enterprise.
Today, FlexApp is the premier application layering solution -- outperforming basic offerings from VMware and Citrix. Many enterprises use this solution today to execute on their application solution roadmap, with high packaging success rates (near 90%) which include many commercial and propriety applications typically used by enterprise customers. Application maintenance is greatly enhanced when applications can be centrally stored, patched and upgraded. Taking this step also boosts desktop security as it ensures that there are no gaps left in maintenance that can be exploited by hackers.
