IAG SP2 – It is all about the application

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When Microsoft acquired Whale Communications about 2 years ago, there was a big question of how will Microsoft change the future of the access industry. As remote access was mainly a networking solution delivered by the networking vendors, the entrance of Microsoft into this game was sure to change the perception and the rules of this industry.

 

Today, I would like to call out your attention to a new Service Pack 2, which will be announced this week at Tech-Ed EMEA (Barcelona, Nov 3-7). In releasing IAG Service Pack 2, Microsoft is making the first step in a multi-year roadmap to deliver on the promise of seamless anywhere access, transforming it into a trivial task for any user, anytime and anywhere.

 

IAG SP2 centers around three core themes: virtualization, interoperability and application intelligence.

 

Virtualization:

Adding to the existing physical appliance offerings by our OEM partners, IAG SP2 will introduce the option of running as a virtual machine on Hyper-V Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V. This option enables customers to deploy the IAG solution in a flexible, secure, and low-TCO manner - important benefits as organizations seek more and more ways to cut costs. It opens new horizons for IAG in the modern corporate environment.

 

Interoperability:

With productivity as a main goal, and the ability to access from anywhere one of its core staples, IAG needs to extend beyond the managed- and Microsoft-oriented environments of Windows and Internet Explorer. Therefore, IAG SP2 introduces enhanced support for non-Microsoft environments such as Linux, Mac and Firefox.

 

Application Intelligence:

IAG SP2 continues to deliver on the promise of granular application control. It incorporates the previously released SharePoint alternate access mapping (AAM) publishing, and adds support for several applications, most notably Dynamics CRM Web access and Office Communicator Web Access.

 

I am very excited about the coming release. This is a major step for IAG in re-defining the remote access market. Watch this space… In the next few weeks, as we near the release of IAG SP2, we will add posts that highlight some of the individual solutions and improvements.

 

Several members of the senior staff will also be present in Tech-Ed Barcelona this week to give a few sessions, demos, and of course to meet many of you in the community. We hope to see you there.

 

Assaf Ronen

IAG/UAG Product Unit Manager