The Windows Vista Application Compatibility Factory (ACF) helps enterprises assess and remediate their existing applications to ensure Windows Vista compatibility and accelerate rollout.

REDMOND, Wash., Nov. 1, 2006 - With Microsoft Windows Vista scheduled to soon become available to business customers, many IT managers have a key question: Will the new operating system work with my existing applications?

As most enterprises have hundreds - even thousands - of applications, application compatibility is one concern of organizations ready to roll out Windows Vista when it is available later this month. Microsoft is taking its commitment to addressing this challenge a step further with the Windows Vista Application Compatibility Factory. The ACF, for short, is an initiative that teams Microsoft with services partners - such as Wipro Technologies, Satyam Computer Services and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) - to help customers overcome the application compatibility challenge.

To learn more about the Windows Vista ACF, how it works and what benefits it offers to customers and partners, Microsoft PressPass spoke with Dave Wascha, director of the Windows Client business group at Microsoft, and with executives from three participating systems integrators: Michael Bailey, senior business development manager of Wipro Technologies; Sean Bowen, assistant vice president of Satyam Computer Services; and Pavan Sabharwal, global alliance manager of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

PressPass: What is the ACF and how does it work?

Wascha: Microsoft recognizes that application compatibility is one of the biggest barriers of deployment across the enterprise. The ACF simply helps customers determine how to make their existing applications work with Windows Vista. Our ACF partners help customers identify the application compatibility blockers, assess application inventory, determine the best course of action and conduct remediation services. Customers simply hire an ACF partner and they do all the work. All the ACF partners have participated in the latest Windows Vista training and are also able to assist with deployment.

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PressPass: Please describe the steps/process that a customer goes through in using ACF.

Bailey/Wipro: Typically it will be a four-phased approach: 1) Any engagement will start with a brief assessment to determine the current status and inventory of applications and a high-level compatibility matrix drawn out. 2) This will be followed by a typical pilot phase in which the first few applications will be put through the grind of compatibility testing. 3) Actual compatibility testing and remediation of the non-compatible business applications for the entire enterprise will be done and made ready for Windows Vista applications. 4) Windows Vista rollout to all desktops along with applications.

Sabharwal/TCS: TCS has put considerable thought and investment into designing an ACF process that is applicable to customers with both centralized and de-centralized IT departments. The typical ACF steps that a customer would go through are:

• Application Inventory — Building a view of the application inventory, dependencies, criticality, lifespan and business impact.
• Assessment — Application compatibility analysis, defining failure modes, describing severity of problems.
• Planning Application Rollout — Determining the rollout plan for the applications (or groups of applications) based on the results of the assessment and coupled with the business criticality. Decisions on application replacement and retirement.
• Remediation — Corrective actions taken to fix identified issues with the applications.
• Certification — A validation step to ensure that the application works on the new platform. 

The ACF steps are followed by a natural progression of application packaging and distribution to the desktop infrastructure.

PressPass: How do you see ACF helping customers deploy Windows Vista in the next 6-18 months?

Bailey/Wipro: In the next six months, the priority will be to ensure applications are ready for the Windows Vista platform.

Sabharwal/TCS: For customers looking to deploy Vista within the next 6-12 months, ACF can help in reducing the time taken to complete the project. TCS has already developed programs such as TCS Vista QuickStart and QuickPlan, which include ACF as a key component to assist customers in their Vista deployment exercise. Even customers who plan to deploy Windows Vista in 2008 should begin the planning cycle immediately. ACF provides them with a good mechanism to forecast IT budgets.

Wascha: We know that customers are excited about Windows Vista but may be reluctant to deploy in the first months after availability because historically application compatibility has been a major concern that they were left to deal with on their own. We’re doing everything we can to help customers through this process with ACF and other tools such as the Application Compatibility Toolkit 5.0.

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In addition, Alex Heaton from Windows Vista Team Blog expands:

This is just one of the many things that we are doing as part of the release of Window Vista to provide a high level of application compatibility so that organizations will be ready to deploy it sooner. Other initiatives include:

• The Microsoft Application Compatibly Toolkit 5.0, which has been available in beta form since beta 2 and will be available in final form soon after RTM. (We will also post more information about this toolkit next week.)
• Regular internal testing of ~1,900 enterprise and consumer applications to ensure high compatibility for leading applications.
• A more rigorous “Certified for Windows Vista” logo program that requires 3rd party verification and testing before an application can earn that mark.

Our goal with all of these programs, including the Application Compatibility Factory, is to make it easier for you to deploy and get the benefits of Windows Vista faster.

Source: Microsoft