Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) is the new name for Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD). Microsoft briefed Liquidware internally ahead of the recent public announcement. As a premier Azure Migrate Program member, we’re proud to announce day-one support for AVD across our entire Digital Workspace Management suite known as Liquidware Essentials.

Microsoft announced other changes, such as the Quickstart initiative, that will be sure to fast-track proof-of-concept deployments of AVD. To complement this effort, Microsoft has worked with Liquidware to offer specially negotiated FREE subscription licenses of Liquidware’s desktop transformation solutions.

Liquidware offers solutions that greatly assist in the movement of Windows desktops and users to Microsoft AVD. Our solutions cover every phase of a desktop transformation to Microsoft AVD including:

• Assessments and planning with Stratusphere FIT assessments
• Migrations of user persona and user data with ProfileUnity user environment management
• Application delivery with FlexApp layering
• Ongoing User Experience metrics for monitoring and diagnostics with Stratusphere UX

Microsoft customers looking to adopt AVD can request their specially negotiated FREE licenses by visiting the newly updated Azure Virtual Desktop pages on our site to learn more.

Realizing a Return on Investment (ROI) is more important than ever in today’s ever changing business climate. Working closely with one customer last year we were able to show potential ROI savings of more than $6 million.

The business world changed last year. The Covid-19 pandemic saw immediate changes with office environments and users’ workspaces that continue to evolve even today. The uncertainty of business continuity and unpredictable revenue has seen many CFOs scrutinizing every dollar spent. Many organizations immediately mandated that ROI should be forecasted before investing in any new solution.

With agile virtual and cloud-based workspaces that enable working from home, it’s easy to show ROI, if workers can’t effectively work, time is lost and business comes to a complete halt. Since our founding, Liquidware has enabled our customers to quickly transform your users’ desktops to modern desktops such as those from Citrix, VMware, or Amazon. Our solutions have direct positive impacts on user and admin productivity, savings in unused software license costs, expanded hardware lifespans, and more.

Liquidware’s Adaptive Workspace Management suite, known as Liquidware Essentials, indeed helps organizations directly realize ROI in many areas. We work closely with you, using your organization’s unique data and situation, to develop an ROI estimate that will enlighten you and your staff to the money that you can be saving with the industry’s only Adaptive Workspace Management suite.  Here’s an example of the ROI that one organization agreed that they’d be able to realize:

Get started now. We’ve made it easy to get your own ROI estimate from Liquidware with a custom ROI calculator that starts with a quick survey, ROI consulting sessions with our staff, and a new ROI whitepaper.

Starting today (March 15, 2021) Liquidware is running a social media campaign around the number one – according to WhatMatrix – application layering solution, FlexApp. With ten huge innovations over the years, it’s little wonder why FlexApp was chosen as the first place pick.

Once a week, for five weeks, you stand the chance of winning an Amazon $100 gift card for the most viral social media post of the week. That can be your own post, or a re-post of one of our posts, just so long as you use the hashtag #WinWithFlexApp. The full contest rules can be read here.

Perhaps you’re already a FlexApp customer? If so, feel free to share your experience of how it’s delivering value to your organization. Just post on social media, not forgetting the #WinWithFlexApp hashtag!!

FlexApp layering dynamically delivers applications to any Windows desktop environment without affecting the underlying base image or operating system. The solution supports VDI, physical desktops, and cloud-based workspaces such as Microsoft WVD, Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, VMware Horizon, Nutanix Xi Frame, and Amazon WorkSpaces. Innovative and industry-first features such as Click-to-Layer (apps on-demand), FlexApp Cache, and seamless support of cloud object-based storage, make FlexApp the number one application layering choice for any organization.

And what do our customers say?

“FlexApp has been a godsend…a basic update would cause me to spend 20 minutes each on 60 machines. Now I spend 20 minutes once, so the time savings are a factor of 60.”
– University Center at Ponca City

So, share our posts on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook over the coming weeks or write your own. Include the #WinWithFlexApp hashtag and encourage post sharing for a chance to win a $100 Amazon gift card – good luck!

When Liquidware launched FlexApp layering in 2012, it was the most innovative layering solution seen in the market because it focused on applications instead of the whole system layering. We described the apps as “dynamic” because they’re not encumbered by the OS or OS changes. While others have become stale in their development, we’ve continued to innovate over the years. Below is a list of innovations and performance features that set FlexApp apart from the competition.

Here are 10 FlexApp layering innovations you won’t find anywhere else!

1. Application layering with full user environment management (ProfileUnity) – delivering advanced application delivery options including context awareness, select privilege elevation, application restrictions, registry fix up, and more!
2. Micro Isolation – no need to stack multiple applications in single layers. Instead, a single layer is created for each application, which allows for ultimate granularity in assigning apps to users, groups and machines. This approach also simplifies updating applications by allowing you to update a single package for a single app rather than dealing with cumbersome multi-app layers. Lastly, this approach provides greater success with packaging and deploying applications, as you no longer need to deal with conflicts manually.
3. Cloud Native FlexApps – Applications can be stored natively on any major cloud (such as Microsoft Blob storage) without the expense or complications of file shares.
4. FlexApp Cache Mode – FlexApps cache to the local session for rock-solid performance, regardless of the quality of network connections.
5. FlexApp Cloud Apps – FlexApp includes prepackaged cloud apps so you can hit the ground running with POCs without packaging.
6. Disaster Recovery and High Availability – FlexApp includes its own messaging fabric and replication without requiring expensive load balancers and complicated DR plans.
7. FastPackaging™ – While other app layering solutions can take more than 45 minutes to package even a simple app, FlexApp packaging is a fast process and occurs in about the same time it takes to install the app once!
8. PackageOnce™ – FlexApp applications work across Windows OS versions (app support required), with no need to repackage applications for OS upgrades!
9. Session Isolation – Multi-session Windows 10, RDS, and Citrix Virtual Apps are no problem for FlexApp, users only see and use the apps they have access to, even on the same host!
10. Three clouds! – FlexApp supports all three major cloud platforms natively, while others support only one or require file shares.

If you’ve not tried FlexApp, what are you waiting for? Download ProfileUnity with FlexApp today and you’ll be on your way to efficient app delivery – greatly decreasing your total cost of workspace ownership by streamlining your image management requirements.

Liquidware announced this week a Stratusphere UX Integration Kit for ServiceNow. The kit is not only now available to joint customers in the ServiceNow Store, it is also officially certified. ServiceNow Certification verifies that the Kit has successfully completed a set of defined tests focused on ServiceNow Platform security, compatibility, performance, and integration interoperability.

Earlier this month Liquidware was invited to present to the CUGC (Citrix User Group Community) on how to Simplify Citrix Base Image Management with Liquidware FlexApp.

Jack Smith of Liquidware also joined us while Citrix CTA, Jake Walsh, moderated the session. We discussed when it is of great benefit to use Liquidware FlexApp and how some joint customers of Citrix and Liquidware have even used it in conjunction with Citrix App Layering – managing OS updates and apps in the base with Citrix App Layering while using Liquidware FlexApp to deliver dynamic (elastic) applications at boot, login, or on a Click-to-Layer basis.

The webinar was well attended and is now available for on-demand viewing as a recording. In case you missed the live session you can watch now at this link.

We’re excited to share with you a new format for interactive webinars – built exclusively for the end-user computing (EUC) community. Liquidware UNPLUGGED began this past summer as a new way to engage and discuss end user computing ideas.

Liquidware UNPLUGGED is unlike anything you’ve ever seen in the industry before. It’s like a live talk show with dozens or hundreds of you closest peers in EUC. VIPs from the community form a rotating panel of monthly UNPLUGGED interactive webinars. Attendees get to participate live and get to ask their questions and/or help give answers as part of the panel! The webinar series has been well received. We keep it real and unscripted, all content is always fresh. Check out a select past UNPLUGGED sessions below and be sure to join us for our next UNPLUGGED event by registering here.

Liquidware Unplugged: Portability, Data Availability and Business Continuity

Liquidware Unplugged: Is Work From Home Here to Stay? – Pictured above: Theresa Miller of 24x7ITConnection, Jason E. Smith of Liquidware, Trond Eirik Haavarstein (Eric) of XenAppBlog, Ray Swanson of Liquidware, Doug Brown of IGEL, Dane Young of YoungTech

Liquidware Unplugged Cloud Virtual Desktop Market : State of the Market

Liquidware Unplugged: Work From Home

With more users than ever connecting with devices enabled with an edge OS like IGEL, it’s important to gather user experience metrics of this “First Mile” of connectivity.

Monitoring the user experience of your virtual desktop environment (Citrix, VMware, Amazon WorkSpaces, Nutanix XiFrame, etc) is nearly mandatory these days but knowing the complete end-to-end user experience should not be ignored. You don’t want any blind spot for your total connection path for end users. Your desktop UX is only as good as your weakest link so not having performance visibility of any edge OS and connections could be the downfall of your overall user experience. Many things may impact users’ session including their local network or WiFi access point performance, local hardware, resources, etc.

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