One of the issues surrounding desktop virtualization is that you want to clone roughly similar images of your desktops (such as all Windows 7 users) but not exactly similar ones – you want to add a layer of user files or custom apps on top of a gold master image. The trouble comes in managing the deployment of these customizations, and not getting tied up in all sorts of time handing the differences. This is where AppSense comes into play.
The company today announced Version 8.1 of its User Virtualization Platform (UVP). It collects all the user-specific items, including your desktop settings, data files, and the like, and decouple these from the OS or the apps, centralize it in their management framework, and then deliver the personalization either to standard or virtualized desktops. This is similar to what Viewfinity and Dell’s Kace appliances do with user profile management policies. All of these vendors separate the user component of the desktop from the operating system and applications and manage this component independently, ensuring that the user can access all of their information from any desktop or device, and allow users to work with whichever devices and applications help them be most productive.
The new version features a bunch of feature enhancements and performance improvements, a completely new architecture and expanded management features. It can be used to migrate desktops from older versions to Windows 7, too. As you can see in the screenshot above, you can store each user’s custom Registry settings and they can be browsed with a graphical interface.
The price starts at $100 per user with quantity discounts available for the full suite of products, with lower price points for limited functionality. The product works with Windows desktops since XP.
