Application Virtualization

Application virtualization consists of software technologies that improve portability, manageability and compatibility of applications by encapsulating them from the underlying operating system on which they are executed. Have a legacy program that will no longer be supported on the new OS? That is no longer a problem. By virtualizing an application you can extend the life of the product and never again have to worry about compatibility issues with operating systems or hardware.

Benefits of application virtualization:

Allows applications to run in environments that do not suit the native application
May protect the operating system and other applications from poorly written or bug ridden code.
Uses fewer resources than a separate virtual machine.
Run applications that are not written correctly. For example, applications that try to store user data in a read-only system-owned location.
Run incompatible applications side-by-side, at the same time and with minimal regression testing against one another.
Maintain a standard configuration in the underlying operating system across multiple computers in an organization, regardless of the applications being used, thereby keeping costs down.
Implement the security principle of least privilege by removing the requirement for end-users to have Administrator privileges in order to run poorly written applications.
Simplified operating system migrations.
Accelerated application deployment, through on-demand application streaming.
Improved security, by isolating applications from the operating system.
Enterprises can easily track license usage. Application usage history can then be used to save on license costs.
Fast application provisioning to the desktop based upon user’s roaming profile.
Allows applications to be copied to portable media and then imported to client computers without need of installing them.