Virtualizing Your Enterprise Applications

Today's enterprise IT departments see application virtualization as a way to lower computing and energy costs and become more nimble. Many are proceeding with these strategies even though the cost of retooling applications has not been fully assessed. How can you efficiently and quickly make hundreds—or thousands—of corporate applications ready for application virtualization platforms like Microsoft App-V, VMware ThinApp, Citrix XenApp, and others?

While application virtualization was initially a way to deal with application conflicts, its popularity grew because corporate IT saw it as an alternative software deployment model. IT managers like it because application delivery now takes on a strategic role as well as offers a low-cost, highly efficient way to deploy software that users need without installing and maintaining every application on each client device. Both security and control win. IT developers like it because they no longer need to struggle with the challenges of writing code that doesn't conflict with previous installed applications.

Application virtualization: start with a plan

Application virtualization begins with assessing current and future requirements. The underlying technologies are so different that each implementation can be very different. Understandably you may be hesitant to launch yet another new project that will require more time and effort for uncertain results. Advances in automated packaging technology, however, have made it possible to prepare applications for application virtualization with minimal expense and substantial time savings. That can accelerate an application virtualization project to the top of the strategic business initiative list.

As you evaluate an application virtualization strategy and create your plan, consider the following key issues:

• Don't start from scratch
  Most enterprises have a large number of legacy applications already converted to MSI, these will need to be converted for application virtualization. You don't want to spend a lot of time redoing this.
• Ensure reliable virtualized applications
  You don't want to risk that moving to application virtualization will break what already works. So while you need to minimize the time required to prepare, edit, and test virtual applications, you also need to maximize the success of deployments.
• Know which applications to virtualize
  Knowing which applications make the best conversion candidates saves a lot of time. A pre-conversion assessment can help you make the right decision quickly. This insight can also be valuable in planning a 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) Windows 7 migration, since combining Windows 7 migrations with application virtualization projects can deliver an optimized desktop infrastructure.
• Minimize learning curves
  Native or third party tools for creating virtual applications may be hard to use or limited in functionality.  They may not be readily adopted or require additional unbudgeted training.  Using a familiar application packaging or readiness toolset speeds migration times.

Best practices: vendor neutral solutions

If you are still undecided about your virtual platform or you have recently undergone a merger, acquisition, or consolidation, you can eliminate some of the above challenges with an application repackaging solution that supports a range of application virtualization vendors. This leaves you free to select the application virtualization technology that makes sense for your requirements today without becoming locked into that vendor's product tomorrow.

A vendor neutral application readiness solution or application packaging solution delivers flexibility on several levels. For example, if your organization has undergone, or will undergo, a merger, acquisition, or consolidation, you may have several application virtualization platforms to choose from or consolidate. With a vendor neutral application readiness solution, you won't need to make a difficult choice between supporting one company's application virtualization technology and the other popular application virtualization technologies.