Softricity(R) Unveils New ZeroTouch(TM) Product Powered by Application Virtualization -- First 'Safe' Self-Service Application Provisioning, Reporting and Universal Access System

Market Wire, April, 2005

Microsoft Management Summit Booth # 530 -- Softricity®, the Application Virtualization Company, today announced Softricity ZeroTouch, the only 'safe' self-service application provisioning and universal access solution optimized with virtualization technology. ZeroTouch, which has received accolades from major Softricity customers around the world, including Americo Life Insurance, Russell Investment Group and Sanofi-Aventis, is being unveiled this week at Microsoft Management Summit in Las Vegas.

By combining Softricity's SoftGrid application virtualization platform with self-service provisioning and automated workflow, ZeroTouch empowers business users to get the Windows applications they need on-demand from any place -- without any intervention by IT and without any chance the applications will affect their computers.

Leading corporations and industry analysts attest to ZeroTouch's business impact:

"Once business units are aware of the costs of managing desktops, they can start making better decisions about how they use software. Softricity's ZeroTouch will allow Russell's users to have much more control over provisioning applications and real-time knowledge of how they are being used," said John Stingl, CTO, Russell Investment Group. "This level of information was not available before ZeroTouch, and I expect it will have a big impact on our business."

"Self-service provisioning sounds great but unless it is integrated with virtualization technology that ensures the integrity -- and uptime -- of client devices, more IT resources will be needed on the back-end to fix problems, canceling out the intended benefits," said Matthias Quernheim, Manager IS Infrastructure from Sanofi-Aventis in Germany "ZeroTouch's virtualization will let our company fully realize the promise of self-service without any of the troubleshooting headaches that typically burden IT."

"We've been a full server-based computing shop and started using SoftGrid a few years ago for a key application that couldn't run within that environment. Its efficiency and productivity benefits have been so great that we decided to replace our server-based infrastructure with SoftGrid and deploy all our applications directly to the desktop," said Kimberly Peine, Director of Emerging Technology/Architecture, Americo. "ZeroTouch is just what we needed to make this move even easier and more attractive. It allows all our users -- even those working from home -- to securely access all their applications from a browser without fear of breaking their desktop and overburdening the help desk. As an added benefit, management gets all the tools needed to track usage on their own without having to ask IT to run reports."

"Most organizations do not allow business users to load their own PC applications because of the technical problems it causes and the consequent impact on productivity. But productivity is lost anyway if users cannot quickly get the applications they need when they need them," said Robin Bloor, founder of Bloor Research and partner at Hurwitz Associates. "With ZeroTouch, Softricity is offering a solution that makes it safe for users to self-provision swiftly, within a workflow environment that can ensure compliance with corporate policies."

ZeroTouch enables:

--  Self-Service Empowerment:
    Allows business end users to self-provision and immediately run new and
    updated applications -- in real-time -- without the risk of the
    applications conflicting with other applications on their computer.

--  Universal Access:
    Enables policy-based universal access to applications from any source --
    desktop, web and terminal services/Citrix server -- from anywhere,
    aggregated on a single web page and/or within a Windows desktop.

--  Control:
    Specifies which applications users are authorized to access through an
    automated workflow process and tracks their usage through real-time
    reporting.

--  Savings:
    Slashes the time and money traditionally spent deploying new
    applications and updates, and optimizes software license agreements.
    

ZeroTouch: The Virtualization Difference

ZeroTouch enables simplified provisioning, access and reporting of applications virtualized by the SoftGrid application management platform. It has three major components:

Self-service application provisioning & automated workflow

ZeroTouch is powered by SoftGrid's patented application virtualization technology, which ensures that any provisioned software will not conflict with any other applications and will not affect the operating system. This unique capability gives IT the peace of mind needed to enable self-service provisioning without the concern of breaking production environments and burdening the help desk.

ZeroTouch provides delegated policy-based provisioning that can be managed by business unit mangers or end users themselves. It includes robust workflow that controls the authorization chain of command for allocating applications and only gives those with proper permissions the ability to manage the assignment of applications and report on their use.