Flexera Software, the leading provider of strategic Application Usage Management solutions for application producers and their customers, today announced the launch of AdminStudio Suite 10. The new release, optimally priced for enterprises of all sizes, is the industry’s first comprehensive Application Readiness solution enabling organisations to strategically manage application packaging and remediation across their entire software estate, mitigating Windows 7 and application virtualisation migration risks.
“The evolution – from application packaging as a means to better manage costs in a static technology world, to application management as a means to better manage quality and compatibility in a dynamic technology world – is a game changer” said Chris Jackson, a principal consultant at Microsoft .“It allows organisations to see beyond their current state and regain their technology agility.”
AdminStudio 10
With as many as 35% of an enterprise’s applications requiring updates in any given year, coupled with the explosive growth in Windows 7 migrations and virtualisation initiatives, compatibility assessment, remediation and packaging processes are now of strategic importance to IT organisations. AdminStudio delivers application packaging efficiencies as much as nine times greater compared to manual efforts.
AdminStudio 10 now lets users centrally manage and report on the virtual and traditional application portfolio for an overall view of the application estate’s readiness for each format.
A new, unified “application-centric” application catalog manages all deployment types for an application, enabling all packages, including virtual packages, to be handled with the same process and tools as those used for MSIs, eliminating the cost and complexity of having multiple solutions and repositories.
Moreover, AdminStudio 10 is now powered by the latest version of the world’s leading MSI authoring and editing tool, InstallShield® 2011, giving users complete flexibility in editing packages using the same installation preparation tool relied on by more than 71,000 ISVs worldwide.
“Most organisations do not have adequate visibility into their application portfolio to reliably understand the time, cost and resources required to successfully migrate their applications,” said Maureen Polte, senior director of product management at Flexera Software. “AdminStudio 10 delivers continual readiness via a repeatable, reliable process to prepare and package MSI and virtual applications for Windows 7 migrations or day-to-day upgrades, drastically reducing the cost, labor and risk associated with application migrations.”
AdminStudio Application Compatibility Pack
Now available as part of AdminStudio Suite is the new AdminStudio Application Compatibility Pack.
AdminStudio Application Compatibility Pack automatically assesses all applications to accurately calculate the effort and cost of the migration project.
It also pinpoints and fixes application compatibility issues for desktop, server and web-based applications. As a result, packagers can test applications in minutes instead of weeks and obtain an overall view of the compatibility of all applications, including which ones require fixing for deployment on Windows 7 or Internet Explorer 8.
Moreover, for applications that do require remediation, AdminStudio Application Compatibility Pack generates a standard MSI transform, automatically fixing in a matter of minutes 98% of installation package-related Windows 7 compatibility issues. This drastically reduces overall costs by removing the need for skilled packaging and support resources and manual efforts.
Significantly, like all products in AdminStudio Suite, AdminStudio Application Compatibility Pack utilises a perpetual, per administrator license, making it optimally priced and packaged for all enterprises, including small and midsized businesses.
“The biggest challenge with Windows 7 migrations is the applications. Organisations have had trouble cost-justifying commercial application compatibility products priced on a per-application basis, and most large organisations have hundreds or thousands of applications (the rule of thumb is one application for every 10 users)”, said Terry Cosgrove, Principal Research Analyst at Gartner.
“Seamlessly integrated application compatibility testing and remediation should be part of the DNA of any robust Application Readiness process,” says Polte. “Unlike point solutions priced on the number of applications, which are often prohibitively expensive and discourage use as part of a continual Application Readiness strategy, AdminStudio Application Compatibility Pack is unique in its integration into a comprehensive, affordable suite and in its predictable cost, encouraging unlimited use and adoption of industry best practices.”
AdminStudio Virtualisation Pack
Today’s launch also includes enhancements to AdminStudio Virtualisation Pack, which prepares reliable virtual applications for deployment with a complete set of suitability testing, automated conversion, validation, editing and management reporting capabilities.
Enhanced validation and conflict testing of Microsoft® App-V packages supports packagers in managing both MSI and App-V with the same tool and processes to ensure a consistent, unified approach.
Packagers can also directly edit App-V packages, saving significant time and effort by eliminating the need to re-convert from an MSI when a change to an App-V package is required.
AdminStudio Virtualisation Pack’s enhancements also include robust suitability testing – removing the trial and error approach to determining if applications can be virtualised. This along with customisable reports and dashboards provides essential decision support for choosing the appropriate delivery/deployment technology via continuous reporting on the application estate’s readiness for each format.
“AdminStudio is a life saver for us. It gets the job done,” said Brandon Farmer, systems engineer at United States Marine Corps Intelligence Activity. “We’re constantly juggling multiple packaging projects on very limited resources, such as our recent migration from Windows XP to Windows 7 – and we don’t have time to waste doing things manually, or trying to cobble together a patchwork of freeware and tactical tools that don’t hit the mark. We just virtualised Microsoft Word 2003 using AdminStudio, and it took me a half hour – compared to the days it would have otherwise taken.”
“Flexera Software continues to deliver solutions that help automate our customers’ adoption of Windows 7 and App-V,” said Karri Alexion-Tiernan, director of product management at Microsoft Corp. “AdminStudio 10 provides benefits beyond one-time conversion, allowing customers the flexibility to create and manage both App-V and MSI packages.”
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