I’d like to announce that VMware’s ThinApp Factory is now freely available on our VMware Lab’s website
The ThinApp Factory is a virtual appliance that brings centralized administration and automation to the process of creating virtualized Windows applications with VMware ThinApp technology. ThinApp Factory utilizes vSphere API’s to spawn workloads that automatically convert fileshares of application installers into ThinApp application containers. These workloads can be run in parallel to maximize throughput and increase ROI for virtualization projects. Packagers and administrators can now utilize ‘Recipes’ during this packaging process. Recipes are simply small JSON files, which contain a redistributable blueprint of the customizations and optimizations necessary for packaging complex applications. These recipes can be created and now exchanged freely with other customers via the ThinApp Packaging Community site. We also introduce the concept of ‘Feeds’ with the Factory that allow administrators to subscribe RSS-style to a legitimized source for application installers from a Corp IT location or via a cloud-based service.
We have received very enthusiastic feedback from the group of partners and customers that field-tested this technology. There is something magical about turning a directory full of MSI’s into ThinApp packages with just a few clicks in the ThinApp Factory web UI. The integration with Horizon Application Manager also provides an expedient path to Horizon enable your applications and populate the Horizon Application Catalog.
The release of this technology through our VMware Lab’s site allows us to expedite the process of distribution and focus more on gathering feedback and listening to how our customers define the technical and business value. So I invite you to consume the technology and provide your feedback directly or through the ThinApp Factory discussion forum. As this is a community supported technology we will be providing regular updates and video tutorials of the features below over the coming weeks.
Key Features:
- Automates packaging of application installers into virtualized Windows applications
- Leverages vSphere,vCenter for automation of workloads to efficiently package 1000’s of applications
- Provides and utilizes ‘Recipes’ as redistributable blueprints for application packaging
- Provides a lightweight web UI with a dashboard for administrators to use for the entire workflow of packaging to distribution.
- Enables administrators to import and edit existing ThinApp projects and modify package.ini, registry, and file settings through the web UI.
- Integration with Horizon Application Manager application catalog for automated population of application metadata and deployment with the Horizon Windows Agent.
To get started . . .
- Visit the VMware Flings site to download the appliance.
- Visit the ThinApp Blog and Community for more technical details of the features.
- Visit the ThinApp Packaging Community and Discussion Forum to exchange application recipes and provide feedback in the forum.
