Flexera Goes Agile with InstallAnywhere 2011

June 14, 2011 Alex Woodie

Flexera Software recently launched InstallAnywhere 2011, the software installation and management utility that helps software developers streamline deployments to multiple operating systems, including IBM i. The new release includes features designed to help developers who have adopted the agile method of development.

InstallAnywhere is a popular multi-platform installation utility that’s used by many ISVs around the world. Flexera, which also owns the Windows-oriented InstallShield tool, says more than 70,000 ISVs have used the two products to load software on 550 million PCs around the world. Thanks to support for business-oriented platforms, such as IBM i, Unix, and z/OS, the InstallAnywhere utility can also simplify and reduce the risk involved with installing and updating software on critical business servers.

With InstallAnywhere 2011, Flexera has added several new features that should enhance the software’s capability to cope with the fast-paced world of agile development. New features in the Enterprise Edition of InstallAnywhere 2011 that support agile development include a single uninstaller for all installation components, and a single installer progress bar that reflects installation of multiple components.

The 2011 release also widens its support for external resource bundles, thus reducing the time and effort to localize installation dialogs, the company says. A unified log file makes it easier to track what’s gone on with installation activity, and all logging related activities are now contained in a single task, it says.

“As software teams implement agile development practices, they need more flexible ways to author, build and package installations,” Maureen Polte, senior director of product management at Flexera, states in a press release. “This release supports the evolving needs of agile teams to develop, package, install, and iterate in the fast-paced, dynamic environments that mark today’s development shops.”

Agile development has grown popular over the last few years as lightweight alternative to traditional development. Whereas traditional development is characterized by delivering many new features contained in a small number of releases over a given amount of time, agile development holds that it’s better to deliver new features across a greater number of releases that are spaced much closer together. By compressing the development cycle, proponents say, developers get closer to their customers and are better positioned to meet their needs.

Flexera Software was known as Acresso until 2009, when it changed its name. Acresso was formed in 2008 following the acquisition of the business software unit of Macrovision by Thoma Cressey Bravo, which is now Thoma Bravo, the private equity firm that’s been very active in the IBM i and business software markets. Macrovision had acquired the original InstallShield company back in 2004. In 2005, Macrovision acquired InstallShield’s former competitor, Zero G Software, which made InstallAnywhere.