Wouldn't it be great if the spreadsheet of the "Standard" applications you have identified for your Enterprise was automatically enforceable? With Swimage Encore's "Application Matching" feature, you can do exactly that by marrying a couple of powerful concepts.  When Swimage Encore is about to redeploy a workstation, it executes a "Discovery" process that profiles the constituent hardware and software components.  It then applies customizable "rules" you establish to control what SHOULD be deployed.   In this video demonstration, we'll show you how workstations with any version of Adobe Acrobat Reader will receive your Enterprise standard upon redeployment.

Click here to view the video demonstration:

Our last entry focused on the core, light touch scenario that Swimage Encore provides. This entry will take you through a scenario that some folks claim cannot be accomplished without being on the latest versions of all infrastructure components. As one of our customers said while being told that at a presentation, Swimage Encore provides full zero touch deployment RIGHT NOW, without expensive prerequisite infrastructure upgrades and without linking yourself to a treadmill of imposed upgrades. Now don't get us wrong, we love infrastructure upgrades. Our consulting services team is always on the ready to assist you with those needs but we want to engage in that partnership with you when the upgrade makes sense for your business. That concept of deploying solutions when those investments make your company more competitive seems obvious but, more often then not, the implication of hte technology on your business is an afterthought.

So, with no further preamble or intro, here is a brief introduction on the zero touch scenario with Swimage Encore. For a deeper dive, please feel free to sign up for a free and amazingly entertaining demonstration of the entire framework. (Take our word for it, it is very entertaining!)

Hello folks! Long time no speak! We have got a quick video demonstration of one of the core scenarios that Swimage Encore supports ready for your viewing pleasure. We promise it will be the best 6:17 of your Monday, September 28th!

The scenario is straight forward. You have machines out in your infrastructure with no operating system loaded. This quick intro video covers core themes, terms and activity in this scenario.

Click Here to see the Presentation

OK folks, we all read the news last week and have been using Windows 7 for quite some time. I took it upon myself to write up some notes on the new release for our sales team to use at an upcoming event. I tried to cover the important bits while not repeating the same stuff everyone else has already said. If you want to take a look, the White Paper is now live online. Click Here to read away!

The trick to any new operating system is to determine the relative worth to the organication and then figure out how to get it into play with as little risk as possible and with a velocity that allows you to take advantage of the new technology faster than your competitors. Windows 7 brings a feature payload that is significant as well as a technology set that should help you overcome adoption hurdles like AppCompat in new ways. That simply leaves the "How," around getting it out in a rapid, safe and repeatable fashion.

Queue the Reverand folks! 

The team got back from Vegas and everyone is safe. We are now getting a chance to reach out and speak too many of you who we met at the show and man has that been exciting! We are looking forward to sharing a demonstration with you over the coming weeks. If you are interested in a demo, click here and you can sign up online!

For those of you who have not seen Swimage Encore yet, I wanted to talk about a couple of the coolest features in our product. During deployment, the beginning and the end are key inflection points. Knowing that a given target machine is ready for deployment is critical to projection of success. More often than not, deployment failures are caused by conditions that should be corrected before deployment is performed. A key component to Swimage Encore is our Validation phase. This is a process, by which the system can check a multitude of key environmental factors like disk space, availability of components (per the configuration) as well as disk health to insure the deployment that is scheduled will be successful. This phase can be run as a distinct workflow but is also run immediately before any deployment. This allows administrators to check groups of resources targeted for deployment in advance of the effort to get a sense for how successful that deployment job may be pre- execution. This process will run again as part of the “Pre-Deployment Checklist” via the workflow and make sure machines that are not ready for deployment will not be targeted. Every failure we avoid before starting is another bad review avoided and more importantly, one less dissatisfied internal customer!

Validation addresses the beginning of the deployment, but the end and execution is also very critical. In order to address that, Swimage Encore provides unparalleled status throughout the deployment process. Leveraging our live dashboards, deployment engineers can watch all activities related to a particular migration or upgrade and immediately see how things are progressing. As a drill through in the dashboard, every single step of the workflow can be investigated (and from any authenticated workspace as we are entirely web-based! Or even from your iPhone if you happen to have one. No need for a footprint or client.) The system will even echo any potential error state back to the console via a “Live Tether.” This “Live Tether” allows the engineer to see exactly the error faced on the client side, take any actions available (That would be available on the client side) as well as the ability to remotely troubleshoot from the web console. This is available at all phases of deployment (yep…even in the Preinstall Environment!). What this means is that anytime there is a problem, which we know is a rare event, your engineers will know exactly what it is and be able to remediate it from anywhere.

We are obviously very excited with the product, process and solution we have in Swimage Encore. We hope you give us the opportunity to demonstrate this via the web very soon! To tune into a webinar on Swimage Encore, click here and sign up for one of our standing demonstrations. It is time “Drink the Kool Aid” and start making new technology a true company asset rather than an encumbrance. To read more about that concept, stay tuned for an upcoming Blog about Infrastructure Optimization.

Brothas and sistahs, I’d like to thank ya’ll for comin’ out to visit me at the Swimage Revival at MMS 2009.  It was so nice seein’ ya’ll, and I know my deacons enjoyed meeting with you to talk about the data salvation possibilities of integrating with Swimage Encore.  We had a lot of fun, gave away a bunch of shirts, and drank a whole lotta Kool-Aid! 

If we missed seein’ you at the Revival, you can still enjoy some photos and videos at http://www.SwimageRevival.com I realize that’s not the same as enjoying my glory in person, but it’ll have to do until next year.  I’m gonna need at LEAST that much time to recover from all the fun I had in Vegas. 

I wanna thank all of the wonderful folks, from the Keynote speakers, the attendees and the fellow exhibitors for the kind words during the conference. My deacons and I had a wonderful time sharin’ the 11 CMD-Ments of Deployment and discussin’ the ways that Swimage Encore can get you off that horrible treadmill of writin’ custom scripts to deploy and onto a sustainable framework that leverages the strength of your infrastructure.  Not to mention freein’ you up to do things that add significant value to your IT Department.  

All of us at Intrinsic are looking forward to demoing Swimage Encore to you fine folks in the comin’ weeks.  If you didn’t get a chance to sign up for a demo, you can do so now by vistin’ http://www.intrinsic.net/Home/Products/Events-and-Demonstrations.aspx 

Once again, thank ya’ll for a wonderful time, and we look forward to seein’ ya’ll again next year.  Peace be with you brothas and sistahs, and may all your deployments be smooth.  Goodnight.

So folks, we took a pile of pictures and videos but due to the amount of work we were doing, some of the media is a bit out of date. Here you will see a few more testimonials and interviews with our fellow exhibitors. Going and visiting them now is a struggle (since the conference is over from an Expo Hall perspective).

Here we have Mr. McLovin who was a HUGE fan of our presence in the Expo Hall. He claims that is really his name and he seems VERY honest!

Then we met Bob and he told us about some of his pains as they relate to deployment:

No keggers. No frisbie on Quad. Class begins @ 9:00.  We teach things that have value in the real world. How dare we call ourselves a "University"! 

Intrinsic has developed a 5 day training curriculum to teach folks how to leverage Swimage Encore in the real world.   Using a combination of lectures and Hyper-V based labs (40+ exercises!), students will learn how to configure Swimage Encore and then explore all the major features of the framework.

Like most Universities, we have a "final exam".  Ours integrates everything you need to know when you get back to your job, from obtaining drivers drivers you need to support the hardware platforms you have, to creating roles and templates that exactly meet the needs of your Enterprise. Oh yeah, we have a written exam too. Here's are some quotes from recent "graduates":

"I thoroughly enjoyed the training class and thought it was very helpful. I especially liked the "hands-on" experience the last day."

"Technical support for the training was superb. Almost every question was answered on the spot by Intrinsic staff. Training materials were well written."

Classes are typically held at our Gallactic HQ in Lisle, IL on a monthly basis.  Tuition is $2,500 per student.  See our website for upcoming class dates!

Ok, this information is everywhere but it is worth mentioning again.  Microsoft has released the Windows 7 RC to Technet and MSDN subscribers today. 

 Have fun trying to download it though, Microsoft's site is pegged and times out a lot.  However if you can get the download to start, the download speeds are actually very nice.

 Now excuse me, I have a new OS to install.

As mentioned yesterday, we were fortunate enough to meet Rodney, the resident interviewer extraordinaire for MMS. A portion of that interview made it to the big stage today (link forthcoming) which triggered a number of new visitors. Word on the street is that our friend Mr. Urban was cat calling during the interview.

Today on the Expo Hall floor was slower that early in the week but the conversations were excellent. Plenty of folks were coming around to get more information about our services and products. Unlike the "Swag Grab" that happens early (and we are not against this!), the discussions today were focused on specific problems our customers face and how we can provide solutions. The ability to spend that time with potential customers is another thing that makes MMS a "Must Attend" event.

As our Expo Hall thinned out for actual potential customers, our fellow exhibitors got into the action. The Reverend was able to get out and meet some possible future members for his flock. We also offered an olive branch to the folks who felt we might have been a little sacrilegious. Pictures forthcoming.

I apologize for the lack of media this evening but we had a late night with a wonderful client dinner at Dos Caminos and a private film shoot in the VIP suite.

More news to come.

No animals were harmed in the filming of the spot that we will be releasing and nobody who was arrested was held.