Microsoft SoftGrid has been renamed to Application Virtualization 4.5. This is more than just a name change, there are actually a lot of new features in the upcoming release. Ruben Spruijt has written a nice article detailing the new features in Application Virtualization 4.5. Some of the features he details are:

Dynamic Virtualization

Extended scalability with flexible deployment models

• Traditional ‘SoftGrid’ design
• Lightweight Streaming Server (LWS)
• Branch office deployment without using ESD
• Stand alone or remote locations

Extended scalability

• Auto loading capacity using BITS; (pre) load applications as a background process.
• Device targeting with ESD solution only.
• SDK, Management object for SGserver with .NET language support and a WMI provider. The provider can be used to get Client status information such as which applications are cached, are they fully cached etc, cache size information, etc.

Globalization

• Globalization and localization, support for non-English client platforms.
• Support apps and OS; Make sure that all the Microsoft and other large software vendors support their applications within a virtual application environment.
• There are dedicated people within the Application Virtualization team who are primarily focused on this subject.

Microsoft Security Standards

• Secured by default, example Kerberos authentication, PKI infrastructure for using RTSPS (RTSPS over TLS).
• Secure communication, no OpenSSL as in previous versions, but secure communication is possible and setup as default, with a regular Microsoft PKI infrastructure.
• Secure computing lifecycle and trustworthy computing; the development of 4.5 is secure by design. Testing of the solution is also focused on security.

Ruben does a great job of explaining these new features. Be sure t full article at the source…

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