Additions to the software will mean applications can be virtualized at much faster speeds, more efficiently managed, patched and updated. "There is at least a 50% improvement in sequencing speed," said David Greschler, co-founder and now VP of marketing for Softricity, "Microsoft Office takes just 10 minutes to virtualize."

Unlike in server virtualization, where it is a guest operating system that is loaded inside the virtualization layer, with desktop streaming it is an application that is wrapped into a virtualized package. The technique promises to reduce the desktop maintenance burden with the actual process of deploying new applications made much simpler through application virtualization as well.

There is a decent amount of momentum around application streaming technology, and although Softricity sees it as about to leave a niche and enter the mainstream, it is now competing in sector with some sizable market newcomers.

Systems management software supplier Altiris Inc has just moved into the space with its Software Virtualisation Solution, a product derivative of the technology it acquired with FS Logic in 2004. The system first appeared in the level 2 release of the Altiris Client Management suite.

Citrix Systems Inc has also announced it will be developing an application streaming proposition with its Tarpon development. Citrix plans to use the same Application Isolation Environment, AIE, technology as it currently does in its Presentation Server Version 4 system. Tarpon requires a client-side agent that adds the AIE capability to the client device. Once that is loaded, a user would click an on-screen icon to create a local sandbox, the application then gets cached onto the client device within the isolation environment and runs as normal.

The Softricity SoftGrid platform is designed to turn applications into centrally managed virtual services that can be accessed by Windows desktops, laptops, and servers to make it easier for IT managers manage diverse software assets by standardizing application deployment, upgrades, patching, and deprovisioning. SoftGrid allows application processes to run on a local machine using local resources, with only part of the application being cached.

The software creates an abstraction layer that lies between the operating system and the applications that run within it. Without affecting the operating system or impacting other applications, SoftGrid virtualizes all the aspects of an application and creates a virtual registry for each application. It also virtualizes the file system and handles requests made by applications to files in specific directories by redirecting the requests.