Run Virtual Applications Fast and Without Conflicts

By Michael Astle

Novell Connection Magazine - January 2011

Here's an excerpt:

Virtual applications are the answer to many IT needs, including quick deployment of new or upgraded applications without tying up IT personnel, disrupting users, and causing the DLL conflicts that can give IT managers headaches. However, selecting the right approach to application virtualization is essential, or you could end up with applications that are easy to install but that employees find slow to use.

Streaming is one of the most efficient methods of delivering virtual applications, but the way you stream affects how efficiently users access the applications. If you do “complete” application streaming, users must wait while entire applications are downloaded each time users open applications. “Partial” streaming or “page-call” streaming downloads are only components of applications rather than entire applications. It is generally quicker than complete application streaming, but with partial streaming, users must still wait for components to download and the system can bog down if a user’s behavior deviates from a predefined baseline.

With ZENworks Application Virtualization 8, Novell is introducing a new approach called “on-demand” or “predictive” application streaming for Windows applications. On-demand virtual applications are encapsulated and separated from the underlying operating system, thus preventing conflicts with other applications, and run without being installed. They require no set up or privileges, so they save the IT department time and headaches. This isn’t new.

What is new is that ZENworks Application Virtualization streaming uses a sophisticated profiling algorithm that models and divides applications based on user behavior. It then predicts what components of code a user will need based on how the user uses the application. When a user requests an application, just enough code and settings are streamed to start the application. The ZENworks Application Virtualization system then predicts—based on typical user profiles that you easily create when you set up the system together with actions by the user—what code the user needs next and streams it. The result is smooth application use with near-zero latency.

ZENworks Application Virtualization streaming uses a sophisticated profiling algorithm that models and divides applications based on user behavior.

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