Decision Matrix Integration with current infrastructure (SMS): SMS can deliver the virtual application as effectively as a traditionally packaged application with no customizations or modifications to our current SMS delivery process. Microsoft App-V - App-V in Standalone Model consists of the sequencer and the Microsoft Application Virtualization Client. No additional App-V infrastructure is required. Applications are sequenced and the sequenced application contains the publication information, shortcuts, and the install routines in its Windows Installer file (MSI) and the virtualized application into a SFT file. The application can then be distributed using existing installation methods, such as SMS. VMware ThinApp - does not require any distribution, streaming, or activation servers or agents. It works with AD, ESD enforcement tools, and open protocols so no additional hardware, software licenses and ongoing maintenance costs for backend infrastructure is required. A ThinApp virtual application can be distributed in SMS if it is packaged as an MSI. Citrix XenApp XenApp requires a Citrix server to host and deliver the virtual applications. The Citrix environment would have to be managed separately from the SMS environment that houses our traditional applications. Integration with future infrastructure (SCCM): SCCM is capable of delivering the virtual applications effectively with no differentiation between a traditional application delivery and a virtual application delivery. Ideally, SCCM can differentiate between a virtual application and a traditional application. Microsoft App-V The App-V Standalone Model fully integrates with SCCM. SCCM is designed to install App-V sequenced applications as virtualized applications. This integration allows administrators the ability to monitor both their traditional applications and their virtualized applications within the same management tool (SCCM). VMware ThinApp As with SMS, ThinApp will allow you to distribute. ThinApp applications can be delivered by MSI in the same way that traditional applications are installed. Citrix XenApp The need for a Citrix server will still be required so no integration with our future SCCM environment will be available. Integration with Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI): The solution has the ability to save both application data and customizations to a server location rather than to the user s local workstation. The virtual application can be delivered to a user via their user ID instead of to a machine name. This functionality enables applications to follow the user. Microsoft App-V The App-V solution allows applications to be delivered to a user via their user ID. It also allows for application data and customizations to be directed to a server location. Modifications might have to be made during the sequencing process to accommodate this process. The entitlement process will have to be modified to account for user based application delivery instead of machine based application delivery. VMware ThinApp The ThinApp solution allows for all applications to be delivered to a user ID. It will also user settings and customizations to be saved to a server location. To account for the user based delivery, modifications would have to be made to our entitlement process. Citrix XenApp XenApp delivers applications to users based on their user ID and saves data and configurations on the server. No modifications would have to be made to account for VDI. However, entitlement processes would have to be modified to account for the use of XenApp in our environment.
Integration with Citrix Presentation Server / Terminal Server: The solution has the ability to deliver virtual applications on a Citrix Presentation Server. Microsoft App-V The App-V solution allows applications to be sequenced and then saved for use on various operating systems. If terminal server is chosen the application is available on a terminal server machine. VMware ThinApp If an application is sequenced using ThinApp the resulting MSI can be utilized in a terminal server environment. Citrix XenApp XenApp is designed to run in a Citrix Presentation Server / terminal server environment. Applications that are packaged using XenApp will be available in the terminal server environment. Conforms to current software inventory methods: The solution requires no modifications to our current software inventory methods. Microsoft App-V App-V virtual applications integrate with SMS and SCCM and they conform to our current software inventory methods. Any App-V applications that are installed on a machine will be able to be inventoried using our current inventory methods. VMWare ThinApp - Inventorying of software can be conducted by looking for specific files that the MSI adds to the local workstation. These files could be searched for and added to the software inventory catalog. Citrix XenApp XenApp does not conform to our current software inventory standards. Inventorying would be performed on the Citrix servers. Ease of Inventory Process: The inventory process is similar to our current methods. No more effort is required to inventory the virtualized application. Microsoft App-V The inventory process will be performed in the same manner as our current inventory process. An App-V sequenced application will allow our current inventory tool to scan the workstation and determine if a sequenced application is installed. VMware ThinApp - Current inventory methods should apply to MSI delivered ThinApp applications. Citrix XenApp Inventorying would occur using the Citrix server tools. Since the inventory task would be completed utilizing an entirely separate tool the inventory process would be difficult to manage and would require additional training and configuration to allow for integration within our current inventory processes. Low need for additional servers/hardware: The solution requires no additional hardware or servers. The need for equipment might arise because of inventory or streaming server requirments. Microsoft App-V Utilizing the Standalone model, no additional infrastructure is required. The Standalone Model is recommended when there are disconnected remote users who cannot connect to the App-V infrastructure and when software management systems, such as SMS or SCCM, are already being utilized. VMware ThinApp - Server infrastructure is but one option available. Citrix XenApp Additional Citrix servers would be required to accommodate the XenApp environment. The amount of servers required and the costs associated with the additional hardware has not been determined. Low need for additional management software: No additional management software is required. Management software could be required for inventory or implementation management.
Microsoft App-V There is no need for additional management software since the App-V solution integrates with SMS and SCCM. Our current management software will allow us to manage applications sequenced using App-V. VMware ThinApp - There are no management tools available at this time. Citrix XenApp Additional management software is required since it resides within a separate Citrix environment. The native Citrix management software would be used in addition to our current management software. Integration with our current management software may also be required. Ease of sequencing: Sequencing is straight forward and easy to complete. If an individual has application packaging experience it will translate seamlessly to sequencing of virtual applications. Microsoft App-V The sequencing of an application is well documented. Support for sequencing is readily available via Microsoft s websites. Required customization such as Dynamic Suite Composition, registry customizations, launching local applications, etc... are able to be inputted via the OSD file. VMware ThinApp - Thorough documentation can be found on VMware.com (http://pubs.vmware.com/thinapp4/help/wwhelp/wwhimpl/js/html/wwhelp.htm). Citrix XenApp The sequencing effort is similar to what is required for other virtual application offerings. A new package will have to be developed and deployed for each Operating System. Cost per endpoint: The lower the overall cost per endpoint the better. This cost contains any vender specified cost and any infrastructure related costs. Microsoft App-V The software and licensing is included in our current Microsoft license agreement. There is no additional cost to implementing the App-V solution. VMware ThinApp There is an additional cost per endpoint. The cost has not been determined, however, the list price for an additional endpoint is $30. Citrix XenApp There will be a cost associated with each endpoint connecting to a XenApp application. This cost has yet to be determined. Ease of endpoint configuration: This includes any configuration that must be completed on the client. Microsoft App-V A small, local client is required on the endpoint. The client will be delivered via SMS / SCCM to all applicable workstations. VMware ThinApp - No client install required on host. Client is included with virtual application. Citrix XenApp Two client components must be installed on all workstations that utilize the XenApp technology. The client pieces can be delivered via SMS / SCCM to all applicable workstations. Shim solution for next generation OS: The virtual application solution can be used as a shim (temporary packaging solution) for applications that will not function properly on the next generation OS. Microsoft App-V - If an application does not run natively on Vista, it will very likely not run on Vista when sequenced. Compatibility shims can't be installed while monitoring the application installation using sequencer, hence shims can t be used while sequencing an application. The typical incompatibility issue is found when a package doesn t include XP components that didn't change when sequenced. In theory, you can run a tool like the dependency walker to locate all dependencies and include them in the package. In practice this probably doesn't work as you end up needing to include something like kernel32.dll.
VMware ThinApp - VMware pitches ThinApp as a shimming tool for porting incompatible applications to new operating systems. Citrix XenApp The XenApp solution is not considered to be a shim for our next generation OS. Ease of support (Tier 2 and 3): Support structure will not have to change dramatically to accommodate for the virtual application solution. Microsoft App-V The only Support issues that should arise on the client end are delivery issues. If the sequenced application is delivered successfully it should function properly. Minimal support from Tier 2 and 3 should be required. VMware ThinApp - Training on how to support ThinApp applications will be required. Citrix XenApp Support costs would rise because a new Citrix Environment would have to be learned and managed by the support team. Actual support calls should be reduced since the applications would be virtualized. Delivery of the applications and the management of the applications on the desktop would become more cumbersome because of the additional infrastructure and complexity of managing two application management systems. Third party tool support (Acresso or Wise): Support is available for the solution. If a tool is available, it might help with the sequencing needs or the delivery needs of the virtual application. Microsoft App-V Accresso offers a software product that will sequence traditional MSI packages in a batch fashion. This allows for a very fast and efficient way to convert existing applications to virtualized App- V packages. VMware ThinApp - No 3rd party support. Citrix XenApp There are no third party tools available to manage or support the XenApp offering. Ability to manage multiple versions of an application: Applications and their upgrades can be accommodated using the virtual application solution. Microsoft App-V Multiple versions of an application can be installed and managed via the App-V solution. If users require the ability to run two versions of an application they are able to accomplish this via the App-V sequencing tool. VMware ThinApp - ThinApp supports running multiple versions of applications simultaneously. Citrix XenApp Multiple versions of an application can be installed and managed via the XenApp solution. Ability to stream and update applications efficiently: The solution provides the ability to stream and update an application. This ability should be available and should be easy to incorporate in our environment. Microsoft App-V App-V allows for updates of existing sequences. A package can be updated via the sequencing tool. When a package is updated, the original package will contain the original contents plus any additions or modifications from the updated software version. VMware ThinApp Streaming capabilities are available using the ThinApp solution. Citrix XenApp XenApp has the ability to deliver multiple versions of an application to a user s desktop. Updates to applications can be conducted cleanly by delivering new versions directly to the user s profile.
Ability to manage and control the virtual application components (sandboxes): The virtual applications have the ability to interact with one another and function similarly to their traditional application counterparts. Microsoft App-V App-V allows two virtual applications to talk to one another by making one dependent upon another. This allows each application to be packaged separately. With Dynamic Suite Composition, you sequence plug-ins or other dependencies separately and only need to update them once. This alleviates the need to re-sequence all instances of an application if a plug-in or other dependency requires a change. VMware ThinApp ThinApp allows for applications to be sequenced individually and then linked together so that they can interact with one another. Citrix XenApp The XenApp solution does not allow control of the virtual application controls. A virtualized application can communicate with applications on the local workstation but they cannot communicate between other virtualized applications. Ease of associating multiple virtual applications (linking co-requisite applications): The virtual applications have the ability to interact with one another by sequencing the primary application along with any dependant applications or applications that interact with the primary application. Microsoft App-V Applications sequenced in App-V can be linked to other sequenced applications by making changes to the manifest.xml file to include the additional App-V application. The act of modifying the XML file enables the applications to work together and interact in a similar fashion to their traditional application counterparts. VMware ThinApp ThinApp allows for applications to be sequenced individually and then linked together so that they can interact with one another. A modification must be made to the package.ini file to allow for the linking of two or more ThinApp applications. A subdirectory has to be created and the linked ThinApp application must reside in the subdirectory for the linking to behave properly. Citrix XenApp The XenApp solution does not allow control of the virtual application controls. A virtualized application can communicate with applications on the local workstation but they cannot communicate between other virtualized applications.