Enhanced App Portal supports Microsoft Corp’s application model and user-centric computing to deliver a dynamic, self-service enterprise app store for users

Maidenhead, UK - April 12, 2012 - Flexera Software, the leading provider of Application Usage Management solutions for application producers and enterprises, announced today the official unveiling of App Portal, the market-leading self-service enterprise app store recently acquired as part of Flexera Software’s acquisition of SCCM Expert in February, 2012. App Portal has been enhanced to integrate with System Center 2012 Configuration Manager, specifically its application management and user centric deployment capabilities.

“System Center 2012 Configuration Manager takes a user-centric approach to ensure applications are delivered to users when, where and how they need them, regardless of the platform or device they are using,” said Sergio Klarreich, Director of Business Development, System Center Partner Ecosystem, Microsoft. “We are delighted that App Portal now supports Configuration Manager 2012 and is making the most of its capabilities to empower users to quickly access and download the approved enterprise applications they need to do their jobs. At the same time, this solution allows IT to maintain control.”

“We are excited about the latest version of App Portal and its integration with System Center 2012 Configuration Manager,” said Jonathan Hughes, Sr. Information Systems Analyst at Varian Medical Systems. “With this release Flexera Software is demonstrating its leadership position enabling user-centric computing by investing in App Portal and its tight alignment with critical enabling technologies. App Portal’s ability to allow our help desk staff to deploy software on behalf of our users without granting access to Configuration Manager, itself, is a feature indispensable to our company's operations.”

With the latest enhancements, App Portal now supports Microsoft System Center 2012 Configuration Manager’s new application model, which defines policies and relationship rules to evaluate user identity, application dependencies, device type, and network connection in order to deliver the application in the most appropriate way. As a result, users will now only see a single catalog item for an application within the App Portal for download, rather than seeing multiple format versions (i.e. MSI, App-V, mobile apps) and having to figure out which version they need - greatly improving the user experience. Moreover, App Portal will now automatically install dependent or related applications, further streamlining the download experience. Finally, through support of the new application model, App Portal reduces IT overhead and administration by automatically populating titles, descriptions, keywords and application categories - previously a manual administrative task.

“Microsoft’s new application model significantly advances user-centric computing by placing the user, and not the device, at the center of the universe,” said John Juris, Director of Product Management at Flexera Software. ”App Portal leverages the powerful new capabilities by extending those benefits to the enterprise app store, delivering a better self-service experience while still ensuring IT control.”

The latest version of App Portal further supports user-centric deployment and reduces IT administration by allowing organisations to intelligently deploy applications to the proper device based on type and configuration. Previously, administrators would have needed to explicitly match the proper deployment type to the proper device. Moreover, now within App Portal users can associate and manage their devices, thereby reducing administrative overhead in enterprise environments and further empowering the end user. So, administrators no longer have to associate users with devices, or rely on frequency and duration of logins to determine users, which is not always accurate. Finally, if an application package was previously delivered to a user by App Portal and the user has been reimaged or migrated to a new device, System Center 2012 Configuration Manager will now automatically reinstall the latest version of the application, eliminating the need for the user or technician to re-request the application.

“A user-centric model places the user at the center of the equation and presumes that change is a constant,” said Juris. “App Portal’s support of the user-centric model accommodates this philosophy and has new built-in intelligence to automatically accommodate users’ ever-changing requirements.”

Integration with System Center 2012 Configuration Manager also enhances existing App Portal functionality, including its robust business approval workflow, software license management and enforcement, and license compliance and reclamation processes.

App Portal is part of Flexera Software’s Application Readiness solution line that includes AdminStudio Suite, which powers an enterprise's Application Readiness process for desktop transformations, migrations to Windows 7, virtualisation and day-to-day application packaging operations. In January, 2012 Flexera Software announced AdminStudio Suite support for System Center 2012 Configuration Manager.