AppSense founder wins Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year 2011”

Please join me in congratulating Charles Sharland, executive chairman of AppSense on winning an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2011 award.  As well as the overall prize, Charlie also picked up the Technology and Communications category accolade at the awards event too! 

This award further validates AppSense record success and is currently on track for achieving a $100m year (and no, that doesn’t include recognizing the $70m investment from Goldman Sachs as revenue haha ;)  ) and aims to float on the NASDAQ,  Charlie commented after winning the awards,

“I am honoured to have received this award. It is an endorsement of the hard work we have all put into growing a world-leading business. Our continuing success will be though a combination of intense innovation, driven customer engagement and an energy to maintain and evolve our  cool involving culture. I am ambitious for AppSense, our people and our fresh business style. We will take full advantage of the opportunity to be a global and mighty software player.”

And the judges said that his achievement stood out for taking AppSense to global leadership in a major market ( “Last year the company outsold the market altogether, with an impressive 1.5 million user licences sold in a 12 month period.”)

Further Information:
A copy of the AppSense Press Release can be read here

Manchester Business: AppSense wins ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’

Below are a couple of photos of Charlie and his most recent awards:

As always, thank you to all of our partners and customers for helping drive our continued growth and leadership.. Cheers!

AppSense and HP Team to Help Customers Accelerate their Desktop Projects….

This week we’re tremendously excited to announce that AppSense is now part of the HP’s Client Virtualization Architecture, and we’ve recently published a joint reference architecture with HP specifically focused on user virtualization:

Brochure: HP Client Virtualization Enterprise Reference Architecture for Virtual System

Technical White Paper: HP Client Virtualization Reference Architecture – User Virtualization with AppSense and HP

 Think of user virtualization as being able to place a user’s identity, consisting of all their settings, profiles, policies, and data, onto any desktop you choose – a virtual desktop, a physical desktop, a published desktop, or any combination. As long as the user can log into a desktop on your network, they’ll have full access to their environment, using the full native power of the desktop they’re using.

It’s really rewarding to see the look on customers’ faces when they see obstacles previously thought to be “permanent pain points” eliminated. How about adding a new virtual desktop that is seamlessly integrated with their existing physical desktops? How about moving users on demand from one desktop to another? Or supporting users that need to use desktops at different facilities? Or managing multiple desktops for each user?  All are easily completed with user virtualization.

Now HP has two offerings with AppSense: a fully managed option from Enterprise Services, and a highly configurable architecture from the Enterprise Servers, Storage and Networking Group (ESSN).  These plus the budding relationships with HP Technical Services, Personal Systems Group and Client Software will help drive our mutual success in enabling customers to migrate to Windows 7, implement Desktop Virtualization and take full advantage of the Optimized Desktop.  And it doesn’t matter which version of Windows you’re using, or how many combinations and permutations of OS, applications, and devices you have.

HP offers its customers the broadest range of “one-stop” desktop solutions.  They’re even better with AppSense –
users can have a smooth desktop transformation from XP to Windows 7, or transition to a virtual desktop without loss of settings or downtime.  Customers are intrigued – response is fantastic with tremendous interest from large banks, healthcare, government and other enterprise organizations. HP’s tag line is “The Computer is personal again” – AppSense is adding the icing on the cake by making it “… personal again everywhere!”

“User virtualization is a key component of HP’s Client Virtualization Reference Architecture – not only to ensure a satisfactory, personalized user experience, but also to reduce IT operation costs,” said Dan Nordhues, marketing manager, HP Client Virtualization Solutions. “HP has partnered with AppSense to leverage the clear benefits of user virtualization.”

David Roussain, VP Strategic Alliances

Further Information:

A Full Copy of the Press Release can be read here – AppSense User Virtualization Selected For HP’s New Client Virtualization Reference Architecture

Optimizing Dell Desktop Virtualization Solutions with AppSense User Virtualization

While the operational and security benefits of desktop virtualization are appealing to many organizations, bringing together the proper collection of architectural design, hardware, and software to realize these benefits is often a significant challenge. Earlier this year, Dell responded to this need by creating Dell Desktop Virtualization Solutions (DDVS).

DDVS combines pre-packaged services with configured and tested hardware and software to help organizations reduce complexity and accelerate desktop virtualization plans. Recognizing that user virtualization can play a strategic role in achieving these goals, Dell and AppSense have collaborated to ensure that the AppSense User Virtualization Platform (UVP) is fully interoperable with the DDVS architecture.

Our key goal in applying AppSense user virtualization to DDVS is to enable IT teams to deploy a cost-efficient pool of standardized virtual desktop images on the DDVS architecture while offering users the type of responsive and highly personalized desktop experience they are accustomed to. The first result of the Dell/AppSense collaboration is a new architecture guide that gives administrators and architects the technical background and deployment best practices to optimize their DDVS environment in this way.

The information and recommendations included in the architecture guide are backed by extensive testing by Dell and AppSense. In a simulated DDVS deployment designed to support up to 5,000 concurrent users, the addition of AppSense UVP resulted in an 83 percent reduction of storage for profiles and related information with no degradation to login times or ongoing desktop responsiveness. A summary of the benchmarking is included in the architecture guide.

The DDVS framework is a great option for organizations seeking to get their desktop virtualization off the ground with as little risk and complexity as possible, and the addition AppSense user virtualization will only magnify these benefits. As early believers in the promise of DDVS, we are pleased to see our longstanding collaboration with Dell result in positive benefits to our joint customers.

As Rafael Colorado, Domain Lead for End-User Computing at Dell noted, “Working with AppSense enables Dell to manage the user component of their Desktop Virtualization Solutions, including user personalization, corporate policy, user installed applications and user data.”

Related Resources:

Architecture Guide: Dell Desktop Virtualization Solutions and AppSense User Virtualization

Dell and AppSense on the Dell Technology Center

Dell and AppSense at AppSense.com

Congratulations to Kaweah Delta Medical Center on Winning Computerworld Laureate Award

We would like to extend a hearty “Congratulations!” to AppSense and Citrix customer Kaweah Delta Medical Center, who won this year’s Computerworld Laureate award for Emerging Technology for its MyKD initiative.

The Computerworld Honors program honors those who use Information Technology to benefit society, in this case using virtualization technology for “getting the right information to the right person, at the right place, at the right time, in the right format, to ensure the right value.”

Kaweah is a terrific example of an organization taking advantage of the flexibility, functionality, efficiency and savings that virtualization has to offer, and doing so in an innovative way that benefits its patients, doctors and staff while keeping sensitive materials secure. In addition to providing secure remote access to its clinical systems, Kaweah is using virtualization technology to create an infrastructure for the use of mobile devices like iPads, tablets and smartphones.

If you’d like to learn more about how Kaweah is using AppSense’s User Virtualization Platform and Citrix FlexCast technologies in its MyKD initiative, please read the full case study and watch our video interview with Stephen Carnes, Kaweah Delta’s IT administrator/virtualization over on the Citrix.com webpage – Managing Healthcare Roaming Users with AppSense

Congratulations again Kaweah, we’re proud to be working with you!

“Cheers!”
Gaz

(P:S – If you would like to learn more on how move to the dynamic desktop model Kaweah is taking advantage of and has been honored and awarded for, please read the Citrix White Paper:  AppSense User Virtualization – Extending the value of Citrix and forming a strategic component of the Citrix Desktop Transformation Model (DTM), which can be downloaded from Citrix.com here.  )

Google Frame: Bypassing Security, Lockdown & Admin controls – A mockery, or an awakening to managing the Unknown?

 Google has just launched a new version of Google Frame - a plug-in designed for Internet Explorer based on the open-source Chromium project.  Unfortunately, it presents a significant problem for IT departments, in that users can install the plug-in even if they don’t have Administrator Rights on their desktop.  Now, I am not picking on Google in this blog, but using Google Frame as an excellent example of how unauthorized and unknown software can easily enter corporate desktops that are only protected by managing and blocking ‘known’ code and software.

 Back to Google Frame, A comment on the Hacker News site sums this up nicely saying:

“Yay for clever technical hacks that help users circumvent ossified IT bureaucracy. But I’m a little astonished that this is possible. They’re running a second process that detects new instances of IE starting up and injects Chrome Frame into them. Doesn’t that make a mockery of “admin rights”?

Fair comment indeed… but those Admin rights are often there for a reason – to protect the desktop, the data and the user from unknown software. Google isn’t doing end-users any favours by circumventing established security protocols – it will just encourage IT departments to try and lock down desktops even further.

According an insightful article from Cade Metz, at The Register: “Google is well aware of this. But the company says that if admins don’t like it, they can use separate Google admin tools to stop it from happening.” But that assumes IT admins are aware of the issue, and the separate Google admin tools in the first place, in order to control it .. ouch?!

My thought here is – you only know what you know, you don’t know what you don’t know – Making some aspects of managing the desktop for some IT departments, especially in this case, a reactive, firefighting process. 

My question therefore is – How can you control, manage and protect against the unknown?!

The answer to my question and for AppSense customers concerned about this issue, I’m happy to confirm that this is something automatically handled out of the box by Application Manager – One of the requirements of a User Virtualization solution is to dynamically and automatically control application entitlement and the ability to control what a user can introduce and execute into their desktop environment.  For over 10 years Application Manager has been protecting millions and millions of corporate desktops around the world, AppSense will recognise any attempt by the user to install or run any unknown or unauthorized piece of software, even a plug-in and block it unless permission has been given.

AppSense User virtualization achieves this with a kernel level filter driver within the Windows operating system. This filter intercepts all execution requests, whether known or unknown software, scripts, DLL’s etc,  prior to an application or code actually launching or executing, to determine if the request is to be authorized or prohibited. Any unauthorized requests are blocked and the user receives a message, configurable by the administrator, stating that execution has been denied.  Authorization or denial can be manged in a number of ways:

AppSense Trusted Ownership: Managing the Unknown

Protect the system without complex lists and constant management. Only code installed and owned by ‘trusted owners’ is allowed to execute. By using this method, current application access policy is immediately enforced ‘out of the box’ without the need for scripting or list management.  In this case, Google Frame would be prevented from running the installation and the application is blocked automatically, even though the code itself is unknown to the IT department! – Problem Solved.   (note – The trusted owners list can be extended to suit any environment or content directory infrastructure.)

White & Black List Configurations: Granular Management of the Known

White & black List configurations can be used in conjunction with Trusted Ownership to control known applications which pass the NTFS owner check. Applications that users should not have access to such as administrator owned tools like cmd.exe or ftp.exe  are automatically denied. Or, create white lists to guarantee only known and trusted applications can
execute on a system.

So… there we have it, while vendors are developing software that can bypass desktop controls and enter the corporate desktop environment, and unknown (malware) threats challenge our IT departments, there is a solution available in the form of AppSense User Virtualization.

If anyone has any further specific thoughts or questions about Google Frame, any other ( potentially unknown) applications  or User Admin Rights, then please do share them here on the AppSense blog – as ever we love to hear what the community has to say.

Hope this helps, and keen to hear your thoughts…

Gaz

CitrixTV, CitrixSynergy – Fujitsu’s Partners with Microsoft, Citrix & AppSense for Fujitsu Virtual Client Services

As the world continues to move to a user-centric computing model, provisioning configured and personalized IT Services to users across a wide-range of accessing devices, locations and across multiple delivery mechanisms, User Virtualization technology is continuing to gain momentum in many reference architects and standard offerings from Managed Desktop providers.  As the world leading User Virtualization solution provider, AppSense are proud to be part of yet another standard offering from one of the world leading managed desktop providers – in this case, Fujitsu Virtual Client Services.

Fujitsu Virtual Client Services (VCS) is “Fujitsu’s Managed Services approach to delivering hosted virtual desktops”, it is a hosted environment that delivers centrally managed desktops and application to users in any location from any device.  To create a “tried and tested, repeatable standard approach that can be re-used in implementations around the world”, Fujitsu has partnered with world leading vendors at each level of the desktop and across the backend infrastructure to provide a complete Citrix Ready solution.

At Citrix Synergy, CitrixTV recorded a number of video interviews where Fujitsu were ‘extremely proud’ to announce a complete end-to-end solution, utilizing Fujitsu technologies along with Citrix, Microsoft, AppSense, ThinPrint, ChangeBASE to put together a ‘best in class offering’.

Videos are:

Interview with Tony Cox, Global Offerings Architect, Fujitsu - In this interview, Tony explains how Fujitsu VCS is a key component of Fujitsu Global Desktop Managed Service, meeting all end-user needs and giving users the best possible service.  Tony also details key drivers as to why customers are moving Fujitsu VCS and how the solution is a combination of leading solutions that Fujitsu are proud to be working with.

You can watch the video over on CitrixTV by clicking on the image below:

 

Interview with Jay Clark, Senior Product Manager, Fujitsu - In this interview Jay explains the importance of the Fujitsu partnerships with Citrix, Microsoft and AppSense, and also gives a live demonstration of the Fujitsu VCS solution, where he shows how easy it is to move from one device and location to another and have the exact same desktop experience and personalization from anywhere, on any device.

You can watch the video over on CitrixTV by clicking on the image below:

 

Thank you to CitrixTV for filming a whole host of great videos at Citrix Synergy – I hope you enjoy them too.

Cheers

Gaz

The 451 Group – Grooming itself for an IPO, AppSense flirts with many partners

As User Virtualization continues to play an increasingly important role in desktop strategy and AppSense are experiencing record growth, the 451 Group – a leading technology-industry and data company focused on the business of enterprise IT innovation – has published a Market Development report detailing AppSense continued success, growth and future plans; Grooming itself for an IPO, AppSense flirts with many partners.

The report covers, amongst other things:

• $70 million investment from Goldman Sachs for a minority share in AppSense
• Expanding the management team with the recruitment of world leading executives
• Cisco validation for new Virtual Experience Infrastructure
• User Virtualization is bigger than VDI; spanning physical desktops, remote desktop services and cloud and desktop virtualization
• User Virtualization is bigger than Profile Management; working across OS platforms, Application delivery mechanisms, 32 & 64-bit architectures, user rights management, dynamic policy, self-healing etc..

Other key points include:

• AppSense positioned as a platform player in its own right;
  • “User virtualization, in other words, is the extra layer of abstraction that allows OS and application virtualization to realize their true potential.”
• Leading Platform and Technology Vendors (such as Microsoft – Advocates User Virtualization for Windows 7 migration, and Citrix - AppSense for Desktop Transformation)  acknowledge AppSense User Virtualization as a key strategic component of desktop management, enabling  new virtual platforms to adopted in enterprise organization;
  • “So potent is AppSense’s value proposition that Citrix routinely calls it in to help with large deals, and Microsoft has promoted the company to Managed ISV Partner status, a category that fewer than 5% of Microsoft partners achieve.”

A fully copy of the report can be viewed here.

Further to The 451 Group Report, another leading analyst firm, Ovum, also published a report; User Virtualization Could Be Bigger Than VDI!

This further validates the requirement for User Virtualization solutions in enterprise environments and part of any Desktop Transformation project, and confirms AppSense world leadership position in the space.

 Happy reading, hope you enjoy.

Gaz

Webinar – Why the Co-operative Group & Microsoft advocate AppSense User Virtualization to make Windows 7 migration cheaper

In a recent blog – Microsoft & AppSense Video Interview – Why Microsoft see AppSense as key to Windows 7 & App-V adoption - I provided an overview of a recent video interview with Microsoft regarding their views on the importance of AppSense User Virtualization as part of your Windows 7 migration strategy, today I would like to invite you to a webinar with Microsoft and The Co-operative Group (the world’s largest consumer owned business) on why they advocate the use of AppSense User Virtualization to reduce Windows 7 migration costs.

Time & Date:
Thursday July 7th, 3pm – 4pm (BST)

Agenda

AppSense - Find out how AppSense UV enables organisations to migrate to Windows 7 quicker, with less effort and more cost effectively. Understand how virtualizing the user first ensures a consistent and predictable user experience no matter what the device, delivery method or application and how you’ll never need to migrate users again.

Microsoft -  Understand how Microsoft is working with AppSense and sees User Virtualization as part of the Microsoft optimized desktop vision.

The Co-operative Group - The UK’s largest mutual business, describe their experiences implementing UV before migrating to Win 7 and why they recommend it.

AppSense - The UV platform and expected ROI followed by a demo on moving a user from Windows XP to Windows 7.

Register

You can register your place on the webinar here

Look forward to seeing you there!

Cheers
Gaz

Microsoft & AppSense Video Interview – Why Microsoft see AppSense as key to Windows 7 & App-V adoption

Together Microsoft and AppSense have help many enterprise organization transform their existing, static Windows XP and Vista desktops in to dynamic, optimized desktops through a joint solution of Windows 7, App-V and Microsoft virtualization technologies, all underpinned with a User Virtualization solution from AppSense.   User Virtualization is enabling organizations to take advantages of the benefits of Windows 7 in terms of security, performance and user experience and App-V for centralizing application management and reducing operational cost.

To help educate enterprise organizations on the importance of including AppSense User Virtualization as part of your desktop transformation project, Microsoft have teamed up with AppSense to create and publish a short video interview and demo to cover the benefits of the joint solution and also the close Microsoft & AppSense relationship.  In the video, Microsoft explain how:

• “AppSense User Virtualization technology enables organizations to deploy Windows 7 quicker, and with less effort.”
• “User Virtualization helps organizations deliver a more predictable and consistent user experience, no matter what hardware or delivery mechanisms they chose to use.”
• “Moving to App-V is easier when using AppSense User Virtualization Technology.”

You can view the video by clicking on the screenshot below:

Thank you to both David Overton (Microsoft) and David Shepherd (AppSense) for taking the time to film the video.

Another supporting quote from Microsoft on the importance of User Virtualization as part of your Windows 7 or App-V strategy:

“AppSense is a leading provider of user virtualization technology to enterprise organizations.  The combination of AppSense with our Desktop Virtualization technologies, such as App-V or VDI Suites, can enable customers to move to Windows 7 and App-V even more quickly without user disruption.”
Karri Alexion-Tiernan, Director of product management for desktop virtualization at Microsoft.

A number of supporting documents including; User Virtualization for Microsoft desktops, User Virtualization and Windows 7, and a piece by Harry Labana, AppSense CTO – The Migration Equation: making sense of the move to Windows 7, can all be accessed here.

In addition to Microsoft acknowledging the importance of AppSense User Virtualization as s strategic part of the Microsoft Optimized Desktop Vision, this can be seen in the following AppSense and Microsoft Case Studies:

The Co-Operative Group - World’s largest consumer-owned business selects AppSense

“By taking the AppSense User Virtualization approach, we expect to migrate up to three times as many desktops per day using the same level of IT resource. And more importantly, we anticipate no disruption to our staff. Our investment in AppSense User Virtualization will continue to pay dividends, so when we migrate to Windows 8 having already virtualized our users, we will continue to receive the same or improved benefits in terms of speed, reduced cost and complexity and a better user experience”
Ian Cawson, Technical Architect at The Co-operative Group.

Nationwide Children’s Hospital – Leading hospital selects AppSense to personalize Windows 7 Virtual Desktops

“AppSense User Virtualization delivered the exact solution we needed to confidently migrate to Windows 7 without affecting the user experience. What AppSense has provided us with is a pain-free end-user migration, additionally it future-proofs our design.”
Jake Muszynski, Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
 

Hope this helps with your thoughts and strategy planning for your desktop transformation projects to move to the Microsoft Optimized desktop with Windows 7 and App-V technologies.

Thanks!

Gaz

AppSense Joining Healthcare IT Community at HIMSS Virtual Conference & Expo

As AppSense continues to make strides in the healthcare industry (you may have seen a recent blog post from me a few days ago about Another leading hospital selects AppSense for their Citrix XenDesktop + Windows 7 environment ), rolling out major deployments and providing healthcare IT professionals with white papers and other useful resources, we are happy to announce that we are bringing our solutions to thousands of healthcare professionals at the HIMSS Virtual Conference & Expo on June 8 and 9.

HIMSS Virtual Conference & Expo is a combination of the high-quality content you’ve come to expect from HIMSS on a high-tech online platform. Created in partnership with Healthcare IT News, this virtual event brings together influential healthcare IT executives, invigorating speakers and leading industry vendors for two days…online and in real-time.

Register Today and Visit the (virtual) AppSense Booth on June 8-9

At the AppSense booth, attendees can view customer success stories & case studies and literature about the benefits of User Virtualization for healthcare, as well as connect with official AppSense company representatives & employees in real-time via the discussion forum or private chat. The AppSense team is showcasing our award-winning user virtualization platform and demonstrating how we dynamically personalize any Windows desktop environment, reduce desktop management costs and accelerate the launch of mission-critical applications across multiple desktop delivery mechanisms.

More Reasons to Attend: 

• Education sessions on 5010/ICD-10 and Meaningful Use
• On Demand access to show materials and education sessions for three months
• Network with peers, speakers and industry experts
• Find product solutions in the exhibit hall
• No cost and no travel hassle

Gain Insights from Your Healthcare IT Professional Peers

 As part of our increased alignment with the healthcare industry, we will be presenting a live case study session from a leading healthcare organization who is strategically using AppSense user virtualization in their desktop computing strategy.  Join us to hear how Kaweah Delta Health Care District’s IT department has enabled delivery of leading-edge treatment with the best in class patient care. This progressive healthcare provider will share best practices that allowed them to standardize their IT environment to:

• Improve clinician experience and productivity
• Provide high-quality patient care
• Meet regulatory compliance demands
• Drive operational excellence while lowering costs

Meeting Today’s Healthcare IT Challenges with a Dynamic IT Environment

Date & Time: Wednesday, June 8 at 11:45am CDT, 17:45 BST, 03:45 AEST
(Content available on demand after the presentation)
Presenters: Nick Volosin and Stephen Carnes, Kaweah Delta Health Care District

Don’t miss this great opportunity to network with your peers and learn about the benefits of User Virtualization for healthcare. Register for free* at HIMSS Virtual Conference & Expo. We expect a great event and hope to see you there. If you are at the HIMSS Virtual Conference & Expo on June 8-9, come by and say hello!

*Qualified individuals receive complimentary registration.
Non-qualified individuals can register for $119.00 HIMSS members / $139.00 non-members.