Liquidware has just released new versions of its popular ProfileUnity and FlexApp solutions, now at version 6.8. The new releases obviously come with a number of new feature enhancements, but Liquidware is also claiming industry first innovations. To find out more, we went straight to the source, Jason E. Smith, Liquidware's VP of Product Marketing.
VMblog: Liquidware
seems to be leading the charge on innovation in managing users and their
workspaces. What's new in this latest version?
Jason E. Smith: Yes, we're very proud that this latest 6.8
version of ProfileUnity and FlexApp provides more industry-first features, with
an emphasis on helping our customers move to the cloud. FlexApp now has support
for object-based cloud storage, such as Amazon S3, Google Cloud, and Microsoft
Azure. We've also developed FlexApp
Cloud Apps, turnkey pre-packaged cloud-hosted application layers that are ready
for use and we are the first in our industry to natively support object-based
cloud storage APIs.
Our multi-cloud support provides our customers
the flexibility to choose which object-based storage is best fit for them and
with our new FlexApp caching feature applications can now start immediately as
blocks of data continue to load from the cloud (or server message blocks),
resulting in faster execution of applications and stability on unreliable
networks.
We've also announced support for Amazon
AppStream. FlexApp enables one AppStream server to publish multiple
applications thus minimizing the number of base images and servers user to
deliver AppStream applications.
VMblog: This sounds like a lot of emphasis on new cloud focused features. What else is new
in this version?
Smith: We see the ability to enable and support our
customers' multi-cloud or, indeed, hybrid cloud strategy as very key. But, yes,
there is more! The management console is now a licensing server that enables
true concurrent licensing models and provides accurate in-use ProfileUnity and
FlexApp license counts, which is especially useful in education, government and
healthcare. We've also developed faster client execution with the startup of
the agent being streamlined that can further reduce login times by several
seconds. ProfileUnity is well known for its significant reduction in login
times but, by reducing that even further, we continue to give back precious
time to our customers and their users.
If you want to watch a quick video to learn more, you can view it here.
VMblog: We
note that you now refer to Liquidware as the "leader in adaptive workspace
management." What exactly is that?
Smith: Well spotted! We believe that Liquidware is
unique in its focus on managing the user experience from a platform-agnostic
standpoint. With our three core pillars of functionality; User Environment
Management, Application Layering, and Monitoring and Diagnostics we provide a
comprehensive set of solutions in managing users' workspaces whether they be
physical, virtual or cloud-based. Our raison d'être is all about enabling organizations to deploy a
user desktop strategy that is adaptive and supports their business
requirements. It's no longer just about ‘desktops', users operate in many
diverse ways nowadays and want their workspace to be available to them wherever
they are, hence Adaptive Workspace Management.
VMblog: Microsoft
recently announced their acquisition of FSLogix. What's Liquidware's view on
that?
Smith: Well, firstly, congratulations to our
colleagues over at FSlogix! As you know, when Microsoft recently announced
Microsoft Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD), there were a number of
partners mentioned that would be providing support for the platform to extend
and enrich it, Liquidware is one of those ecosystem partners. Profile
disks and profile containers can be great - but there are many pitfalls you may
experience if you rely solely on profile disks for your users. We
recognized this back in 2014 and developed our profile portability technology that
leverages a profile disk from any vendor or own ProfileUnity ProfileDisk. We
see the acquisition as expanding on the capabilities of WVD to help their
competitiveness in the market and our solutions are very complementary in helping
to ‘extend and embrace' WVD.
VMblog: We
know that some readers have dismissed application layering from other vendors, but why should they consider FlexApp from Liquidware?
Smith: I think some dismissed it because they had a
bad experience with other less mature solutions in the market. FlexApp is a
mature product, proven in its ability to provide greater user productivity and
reduce costs. And now, with our focus on enabling to add cloud into an
organization's desktop strategy, customers that have previously discounted this
technology, really should revisit it and try FlexApp. One customer for example,
Mohela,
has deployed FlexApp to its team of developers and has allowed them to reduce
the number of licenses it needs to purchase because they could remove them from
base images and only deliver to users as needed.
VMblog: Finally,
what's coming next from Liquidware?
Smith: With our emphasis on adaptive workspace
management, we will continue to innovate and provide solutions for our
customers that reduce costs, increase user productivity, further assist in
security and compliance, and provide a seamless transition for them in their
overall desktop transformation strategy - whether that be physical, virtual, or
cloud - or most likely a combination of them all.
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