The Wall Street Journal-20080212-Business Technology- Technology Quells Desktop Conflicts- Virtualization Helps Incompatible Software Programs Get Along

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Business Technology: Technology Quells Desktop Conflicts; Virtualization Helps Incompatible Software Programs Get Along

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Managing desktop software isn't easy. Just ask Robert Boenne.

As a network engineer for Teachers Credit Union, Mr. Boenne was responsible for upgrading the crucial programs that process transactions at the South Bend, Ind., financial cooperative. He hoped to install the current version of the software, a training version and an older version on many of the organization's 700 desktop computers. But conflicts between the programs made that impossible, he says.

In the spring of 2006, Mr. Boenne learned of a technology that uses a special layer of software to head off such problems. He was able to use the approach to effectively wrap up isolated copies of the updated software and the training version, while leaving the old version installed on each machine.

The technology from Altiris -- now a unit of Symantec Corp. -- reduced the number of people needed for the software updating process to just two from more than 70. "We can schedule it for the middle of the night and for the most part forget about it," Mr. Boenne says. "That is money and time we are saving."

Such feats spring from a variant on virtualization, one of the hottest technologies to emerge in corporate computing in years. The term refers to techniques that emulate the characteristics of a computing resource, like a system's hardware, to bring a range of benefits.

In server systems, which often run at a fraction of capacity, companies such as VMware Inc. use a layer of software called a hypervisor that make it possible to run multiple operating systems and application programs to exploit more of a system's capability. Some people are beginning to use virtualization on personal computers, too, to run multiple operating systems.

The technology used by Mr. Boenne is called application virtualization, and it was largely inspired by different problems. One is the way programs written for Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating systems work. Key data files -- known as dynamic link libraries, or DLLs -- are stored when a program is installed and shared by multiple programs.

Installing another program may replace that DLL with a slightly different version. Consequently, the first program may no longer work properly; the conflict can cause PCs to crash. Such issues significantly complicate the job of installing and removing programs, particularly for many computers.

Application virtualization prevents most conflicts by encapsulating programs in a protective software layer. They work as if they were installed in the conventional way, but DLL changes are captured by the virtualization software. The underlying operating system or other application programs are not affected. Encapsulated copies of application programs can be stored centrally on server systems and quickly delivered to PCs. The technology also makes it easier to remove a program.

The benefits of the technology haven't been lost on software companies. In May 2006, Microsoft announced a deal to buy Softricity Inc., a company in the field, for undisclosed terms. In January 2007, computer-security specialist Symantec bought Altiris for $830 million. Last month, VMware announced a deal to buy another application- virtualization provider, Thinstall, also without disclosing terms. Citrix Systems Inc. also has offerings in the field. VMware charges $39 a PC for its application virtualization technology. Altiris charges between $29 and $55 a PC.

Such vendors see application virtualization as an important tool in a broader effort to centralize the management of computing resources, allowing programs to be sent around a company as needed without the expense of sending technicians to each worker's desk.

"Ultimately what customers want to do with virtualization is be able to make the process of getting applications to people back and forth just super flexible," says Wes Wasson, Citrix's chief marketing officer. "To do that you have to turn all the components of computing into building blocks that can be moved around dynamically."

Flexibility is a goal of Matthew Harmon, a specialist in the information-technology department of Burns & McDonnell, a Kansas City, Mo., company that specializes in construction and engineering. Since October, Mr. Harmon has been using Altiris technology to manage software on roughly 3,500 PCs nationwide, centrally storing and delivering frequently used design and drafting programs that are encapsulated using the application virtualization technology.

The technology cuts down on conflicts that can occur when delivering software to those machines, since it's hard to keep track of what has been installed previously on them. With fewer conflicts, deploying programs across the entire company takes about three days versus two weeks, he says. "Our goal is to have applications available for request," says Mr. Harmon.

There are other approaches to centralization that also are spreading. For example, Citrix, Microsoft and others have long sold software that runs application programs on server systems, allowing users to tap into them remotely from desktop PCs or terminals over corporate networks or the Internet. In some cases, virtualization technologies can make it easier to keep using old programs that may not work well with new operating systems, such as Windows Vista.

A survey by Forrester Research found that the No. 1 factor driving interest in virtualization on PCs is the goal of lower overall costs. But Natalie Lambert, an analyst for the research firm, says cost savings aren't immediate. In her experience, after factoring in the costs of adding virtualization technology, it takes companies three years before breaking even. "To switch entire architecture takes a lot of effort -- not only man hours but operational effort to put in place," she says. "This is no cheap solution."

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Don Clark contributed to this article.