Microsoft SoftGrid Application Virtualization

Microsoft SoftGrid virtualization is a virtualization solution designed for making applications available just like electricity. This concept changes applications into network services that no longer need to be installed. User can access their application by simply clicking application icon on their desktop and they will get their application from soft grid virtual application servers. I am comparing this solution with Citrix Access suite. Citrix solution provides web experience for all applications. This solution is providing windows application experience to the end-user and as well as web experience by using terminal services. The beauty of this solution is that application will run locally but in a protected mode thanks to the system guard which restricts OS from altering application dlls and other system files. Any existing application can convert in to SoftGrid enabled application by passing it through sequencer, a program records application interaction with OS and make it compatible for system guard. Application running through softgrid will use application code and DLL on demand. DLLs will be provided by virtual application server as soon as they needed.

For further details, check out this site
http://www.softricity.com/products/index.asp

Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Scalability Project – Server Consolidation

Following link contains the description of the test which Microsoft has conducted for finding out the optimized SQL server 2000 configuration for more then 500 databases hosted in ASP (application service provider) environment. Interested part is the architecture of PACE a financial software from Microsoft bCentral™ for medium business which create a new database for every customer. Which according to Microsoft is not a traditional application architecture and advocating that this architecture is suitable for maximize data security check it out

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnsql2k/html/sql_asphosting.asp