AppStream, Inc., a leader in on-demand application deployment and management, announced today version 5.2.2 SP1 of its award-winning and patented streaming technology.  This service pack adds two new highly-requested customer features (Flexible Distribution and Sparse File Streaming) to the base 5.2.2 product.

Flexible Distribution
This feature allows applications to be initially deployed by any method other than streaming, then subsequently updated and managed through the traditional streaming mechanisms.  The first time the application is executed, prescribed authentication takes place ensuring that the user has rights to use the application, and the license is properly accounted for.  This will benefit organizations that rely heavily on conventional ESD for broad initial deployment, but still wish to benefit from the license compliance and automated updates available through streaming.  Other organizations may wish to build core applications into a standard image, for convenience, without losing the advantages inherent to streaming.  Other distribution methods supported by this feature include USB keys, CDs and network shares.

Sparse File Streaming
Streaming has always improved the efficiency of application delivery.  Now streaming improves storage efficiency as well.  While streamed applications may launch with as little as 5% of the application streamed to the user’s desktop, traditionally disk space was reserved for the entire application, should the space be required.  In most online environments, like LAN implementations and data center deployments, this additional space is never claimed.  This feature eliminates the reservation of disk space, optimizing and minimizing storage requirements for streamed applications.  Although this provides tangible benefits on PCs, the major beneficiaries of this feature are those implementing virtual desktops, VDI and other data center implementations where incremental storage requirements can be very costly.  Now applications will always take up only the absolute minimum amount of storage required for end-users to be productive – 10% - 20% of conventional installations on average.

Customers can now download AppStream 5.2.2 SP1 immediately from http://www.appstream.com/downloads/index.html