Kurt Shintaku's Blog

As of the beginning of this month, all customers that either purchase licenses of Windows Server 2008 RDS CALs or own Windows Server 2008 R2 RDS CALs by having their Terminal Services CALs be on Software Assurance, will immediately get the rights to use App-V for Terminal Services for all their CALs at no additional charge.

That’s right:  If you have Terminal Services CALs on maintenance, you’ve been granted the right to use App-V for Terminal Services.

So for all you folks worried about application compatibilities between installed apps on a Terminal Server… worry no more!  App-V will virtualize the OS to each application making it’s installation & execution completely invisible between applications… and between running terminal sessions!

If you haven’t already figured it out:  This is a really big deal for customers looking for a more manageable alternative to Virtual Desktop Infrastructure. 

Customers can now:

• Deliver presentation layer Windows experiences to thin clients over a remote desktop protocol without worrying about installation collisions between applications
• Be confident that applications that are executed in different sessions won’t interfere with each other
• Provision the “desktop experience” with applications dynamically (and de-provision them if required)

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Microsoft Application Virtualization for Terminal Services now included as part of Windows Server 2008 RDS CAL
As of September 1, 2009, all users or devices connecting to Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Session Host Server or Windows Server 2008 Terminal Server managed with Microsoft Application Virtualization for Terminal Services no longer need to acquire a separate Microsoft Application Virtualization CAL for Terminal Services. See more details.

Server growth is a costly issue for organizations that rely on Terminal Services. To avoid application conflicts, applications must undergo significant testing to determine which applications will collide and, therefore, must be separated and run on different Terminal Server silos-a time-consuming and costly process.

Running multiple separate terminal servers for each application routinely results in servers being underutilized because each one is locked into a specific configuration, capable of serving only a limited set of non-conflicting applications, typically using just 25 percent of capacity. Often, 20 servers are required to support 1,000 users. Microsoft App-V for Terminal Services completely changes this situation. Microsoft Application Virtualization for Terminal Services offers the following features and benefits:

• Consolidate servers and end server siloing, increasing server farm ROI: App-V’s application virtualization allows any application to run alongside any other—even applications that normally conflict, multiple versions of the same application, and many applications that previously could not run under Terminal Services. This eliminates the need for server silos and significantly improves server utilization. As a result, the number of servers needed is much lower, operational costs for managing the remaining servers are reduced, and the server farm ROI is increased. For instance, it has enabled Russell Investment Group and Fidelity National Financial to shrink their application server farms by 33 to 40 percent.
• End application conflicts and regression testing: By eliminating the need to permanently install applications on servers, and shielding the operating system and applications from changes created when installed applications run, Microsoft App-V for Terminal Services prevents problems that hinder deployments. The need to perform lengthy regression testing is also significantly reduced.
• Accelerate application deployment: Applications that use App-V only need to be packaged once for desktop or terminal services platforms. This reduces the need for "double packaging" or creating two different processes and packages when providing the choice for running an application on a desktop or via a terminal server.
• Reduce Deployment Risk: Installing a new application on a terminal server was traditionally a risky process; first you had to ensure all users were logged off, then you had to change the mode of terminal server, followed often by reboots. Software updates and uninstalls provide even great complexity and risk. With Microsoft App-V applications can be deployed and updated on demand to users without having to reboot or log users off.
• Simplify Profile Management: Microsoft App-V allows application settings and data to be stored in a single network location. This ensures a user’s application settings are available no matter what terminal server is used—without the need for roaming profiles. Additionally this feature makes mandatory profiles a viable option for TS scenarios—OS settings remain locked within the mandatory profile while per application settings can still be modified by the user. This dramatically simplifies the complexities of managing profile data.

LINK:  http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/appv/terminalsvcs.mspx