Announcing the 'Windows Installer Utility for MSFT Application Virtualization' (and why you should care)

Today we made a fairly subtle announcement around a little utility due to release later this calendar year which I think many customers looking at application virtualization options (i.e. SoftGrid) are really going to find awesome.  We have gone public with our plans to offer a utility which will allow you to convert existing or new sequenced applications into MSI packages which require no SoftGrid server infrastructure to deploy or run.  In short, you will be able to create and deploy SoftGrid virtualized applications without having to be tehered to ANY SoftGrid infrastructure whatsoever.  This announcement is somewhat buried in the PressPass found here.

Particularly, this section: 

The Windows Installer Utility for Microsoft Application Virtualization, which will be available later this year, will extend the benefits of SoftGrid technology by transforming existing and future SoftGrid virtual application assets into a standardized format for Microsoft Windows Installer (MSI). We expect this MSI Utility to be available for download before the end of the year. Customers will be able to use our MSI utility with any electronic software distribution application — including Microsoft Systems Management Server, System Center Configuration Manager and third-party systems — to deliver their virtual applications just like they deliver installed applications. This means organizations can begin accruing the benefits of virtualized applications right away on their current infrastructure while future-proofing their investment in SoftGrid technology. This continues our approach of managing physical and virtual — in this case, applications — from the same management platform.

So if you ever wanted to be able to deploy virtualized application without having to go through the fuss of building out SoftGrid servers, your day will arrive very soon!