Announcing Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 Release Candidate Availability!

Hi All,

A new release candidate for Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) is now available!!  Along with building new features, the team has been working hard to bring the product into compliance with Microsoft shipping standards.  TAP customers will be expanding their deployments to thousands of production users with this release to help validate the product’s full feature set, as well as performance and scalability.  Major highlights include:

· HTTP streaming. We now support streaming virtual applications from an IIS server (v6 or v7). This will provide dramatic performance and scalability improvements for customers with large App-V deployments.

· Re-designed Sequencer.   Simplifies the process and reduces the complexity of creating virtual application packages. There is now a single wizard for creating a new package and advanced settings have been put into an optional screen.

· Dynamic Suite Composition (DSC) for MSI packages allows the flexibility to control virtual application interaction. Administrators wanting to consolidate virtual environments, and enable faster, easier administration, can use the product’s Dynamic Suite Composition, which sequences and manages packages for middleware applications separately from the main application.

· Seamless integration with SCCM 2007 R2. Allows customers to easily deploy virtual applications through the SCCM 2007 R2 infrastructure and scale their deployments.

· Client cache improvements. The maximum size of the client cache has been increased to 1 TB.

· Improved Manageability. Integration and support for VSS writer, MOM Pack, ADM template

· Accessibility. The product is now Section 508 compliant, bringing App-V in line with other Microsoft products.

With this release we will also deliver:

· The Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 Planning and Deployment Guide

· Upgrading to Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 FAQ

The RC Candidate is available publicly via Microsoft Connect - https://connect.microsoft.com
For more information please visit - https://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/softgrid/default.mspx
App-V Blog (Full Announcement) - https://blogs.technet.com/softgrid/default.aspx

Nick.