Microsoft Completes Acquisition of Softricity

Published: July 19, 2006

by Alex Woodie

Microsoft ticked off another item on its virtualization and software as a service (SaaS) to-do lists this week when it announced the completion of the Softricity acquisition. Softricity is a developer of Windows desktop virtualization and application streaming technology. The acquisition was first announced in May at the WinHEC 2006 conference.

Softricity pioneered development of a unique product category with its flagship SoftGrid environment, which hosts application code on a Windows server and then streams the application down to the desktop, where it is executed in a virtualized environment. SoftGrid helps simplify client-server deployments by creating a sandbox between the virtualized Windows environment and the desktop's underlying operating system and other applications. Applications that may have otherwise modified the desktop operating system in traditional client-server deployments have no effect on that OS in the SoftGrid approach, which the vendor's spokespeople refer to as avoiding "DLL Hell." The software also allows a Windows user to run multiple Java Virtual Machines, a trick that Windows XP can't normally pull off.

Microsoft will operate Softricity as a subsidiary and will continue to support existing customers. It also will begin selling the company's two main offerings--SoftGrid and ZeroTouch, which was launched last September--via two new products that will be called SoftGrid for Desktops and SoftGrid for Terminal Services. Microsoft also plans to ship a Softricity connector for System Management Server (SMS) 2003 as a free download.

This is only half the story, however, and it's not exactly clear how Microsoft plans to incorporate Softricity's technology into its other products. Microsoft says it will release details on how this stuff will work with Windows Vista and Windows Server "Longhorn" at a later date. It seems very likely that Softricity will play an important role in the next-generation of Microsoft's System Center suite, including Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager, codenamed "Carmine."

In any event, Softricity's acquisition bolsters Microsoft's virtualization strategy, says Bob Muglia, senior vice president of the Server and Tools business at Microsoft. "With application virtualization and software streaming, Microsoft can now deliver virtualization at the application layer. This is an important part of Microsoft's virtualization strategy across the platform, operating system, applications and management layers to help customers achieve self-managing dynamic systems," he says.