AppSense

AppSense User Virtualization Platform

The leading technology that truly frees human possibility is the AppSense User Virtualization Platform. In much the same way that moving desktop execution and application delivery to the virtual world requires a scalable, high-performance infrastructure, the same requirement exists for managing the user becomes a core element of an enterprise desktop strategy. For this reason, the AppSense User Virtualization Platform was designed with the flexibility, scalability, and reliability to meet the needs of even the most demanding global enterprises.

Through an integrated client/server architecture, the AppSense User Virtualization Platform is capable of decoupling the user layer from any native PC or virtual desktop, capturing this user-specific ‘digital personality’ into a centralized management framework, and delivering this personalization, along with related IT-defined policies, on-demand to any point on an organization’s desktop and application delivery infrastructure.

With AppSense User Virtualization Platform in place, traditional PCs, virtual desktops, locally installed applications, virtualized applications, and remote application sessions all become interchangeable building blocks that IT can draw from to build their own optimized “IT-as-a-service” fabric. Users and other stakeholders become less concerned with the underlying technology, as IT can deliver a consistent, personalized experience regardless of how desktop and applications are being consumed.

A Comprehensive Approach

The AppSense User Virtualization Platform controls every aspect of the desktop computing experience, providing flexibility to users and unparalleled control to the IT team. The capabilities of the AppSense User Virtualization Platform span diverse areas such as:

• Dynamic user-based policy
• User access rights
• Application control
• Network access control
• User personalization
• User rights management
• Resource entitlement
• User installed applications and
• User data

Infrastructure management tools optimize the user environment and streamline help desk support. Enterprise-class reporting and auditing tools provide IT with the visibility necessary to provide the best possible working experience to users.

Regardless of what the future holds, AppSense User Virtualization Platform enables IT teams to optimize existing technology investments and quickly adopt new technologies to improve user satisfaction and reduce costs.

Unmatched Scalability

The infrastructure supporting the AppSense User Virtualization Platform is built on leading technologies and is easily scalable to hundreds of thousands of users across multiple site locations and desktop deployment models.

The Three-Tier Architecture

The AppSense User Virtualization Platform is comprised of a highly scalable, three-tier architecture:

Tier 1: Client Computer / Desktop

The client computer hosts the user session, which contains the AppSense User Virtualization Agents. These modules monitor any changes that the user makes to their operating system and managed applications and communicates these back to the Personalization Server.

The client computers can be any combination of hardware and software that is capable of running a Windows session.

Tier 2: Personalization Server

The Personalization Server acts as a broker between the client and database, providing a secure channel to read and write the personalization data. It is designed to support tens of thousands of users simultaneously. Further scalability can be achieved through the use of network load balancing technologies, allowing multiple Personalization Servers to be configured in parallel to use a single database, or in enterprise environments, multiple (potentially synchronized) databases.

Tier 3: SQL Server Personalization Database

The SQL Server Personalization Database stores all user personalization settings on a per application basis related to personalization sites and servers, users and groups, applications and endpoint configuration data. Settings are pushed down when the Personalization Server requests the latest settings on behalf of a client computer. Any changes made on the client computer are then synchronized back to the SQL Database via the Personalization Server.

Fully Compatible with Your Existing Investments

The most powerful aspect of the AppSense User Virtualization Platform is that it complements both your existing and future desktop and application investments. In addition to spanning both physical PC and virtual desktop environment, AppSense User Virtualization Platform also enables cross-platform roaming across a wide array of operating systems, including Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2003, and Windows Server 2008. User can also roam with ease between 32- and 64-bit operating systems.

In addition, as you move towards a heterogeneous environment that combines native desktops and applications with virtualization techniques, AppSense User Virtualization Platform integrates seamlessly with desktop and application virtualization technologies from leading vendors such as Microsoft, Citrix, and VMware.