Microsoft shows off App-V virtualization for servers

Last year, there was talk of how and when Microsoft might take its App-V client virtualization technology to the server. While there's still no publicly available timeline, Microsoft recently showed off a demo of what app streaming on a server might look like.

At the Microsoft Management Summit in April, Microsoft demonstrated App-V running on the server, showing how even complex server-based business applications and operating-system images can be deployed and managed virtually and independently.

Currently, App-V, which is based on the Softricity technology Microsoft bought in 2006, is a client product that is available only to customers who license the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) under Software Assurance.

Microsoft virtualization blogger Matt McSpirit wrote about the App-V Server demo in a May 7 post. (He also linked a video of the technology demo from the Management Summit.)

App-V for server "won’t be here for a good while, but it’ll cause big ripples in the traditional way you deploy server applications in your infrastructure of the future," McSpirit said.

McSpirit also noted that the 64-bit App-V streaming release, App-V 4.6, is currently in alpha testing. Microsoft officials said last year to expect 64-bit streaming to come to App-V in the first half of 2010.