Application Virtualization :Trigence COO interviewed

I had an interesting chat with John Hamilton, the EVP & COO at Trigence. They also happen to have alliance with my new employer, AtosOrigin, so I guess I'll hear a lot about them from my insiders.

Here's John's profile from Trigence's site:

John Hamilton, EVP and Chief Operating Officer

John is a seasoned senior executive with extensive management expertise including leadership of global sales and technical services organizations in enterprise software industries. Prior to joining Trigence, John was at Softricity, Inc. (recently acquired by Microsoft) where he was Vice President, Worldwide Sales, responsible for national and international sales, channels and customer technical services. Prior to joining Softricity, he served as Vice President of North American Sales for Phase Forward, Inc., where he was responsible for sales and revenue for North America. Previously, he was Executive Vice President, Worldwide Sales and Services, at Concord Communications, where he led global sales and technical services including professional and educational services, customer support, licensing and maintenance renewals. John also held the positions of Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Vice President of North American Sales at Concord. Earlier in his career, John worked in various executive sales management positions at FTP Software, EMC, Stratus Computer and IBM

Anyways this is the summarized version of our chat:

· Please tell us a bit about Trigence?

Trigence specializes in application virtualization solutions for the data center. By turning UNIX, LINUX, and Windows server applications into manageable application objects (called capsules), Trigence AE empowers companies to control their applications in a way that dramatically simplifies operations and lowers costs.

Trigence AE is being used by companies around the world to…

– consolidate physical and virtual server environments

– modernize and migrate Windows, Solaris and Linux applications

– do a better job of managing applications throughout their lifecycle

· Is Trigence partnering with all virtualization vendors? Is it necessary or are you Hypervisor-agnostic?

We are hypervisor agnostic. Unlike hypervisor and O/S-based virtualization solutions, Trigence AE software encapsulates applications at a level above the O/S. Additionally our solution requires no additional data center infrastructure or net new application installations.

· Why is Application Virtualization not picking up as fast?

I think that application virtualization for the desktop is definitely picking up speed. It seems as though every day there is a new competitor entering the field. You’ve got three major players with MS, Citrix and VmWare already with a host of other much smaller players on the desktop application virtualization side. When I was with Softricity several years ago app virtualization for the desktop was cutting edge. That’s one of the reasons why MS bought Softricity. Citrix came out with Project Tarpon and subsequently the acquisition of Xensource. VmWare is touting VDI and acquired Thinstall. I think app virtualization for the desktop is moving much more into a commodity space. However, by only looking at the desktop for AV people are only addressing part of the problem. Although we can do the desktop as well Trigence’s primary focus is on application virtualization solutions for the data center. This will be the next wave of application virtualization. Just look at the comments that Muglia recently made about virtualization being important on the server side of the house. We provide technology solutions with functionality that no one else has today. Trigence is clearly at the forefront of this next wave.

· What is your differentiated strategy?

We focus primarily on Application Virtualization for the data center on all three platforms: Linux, Unix and Windows. No one else does this.

· Do things change with VMware's acquisition of Thinstall?

Tarry please see my answer above. Citrix, VmWare and Microsoft are all focused on the desktop. The battle of the desktop is being fought by the 800 pound gorillas. We are focused on the data center. Having said that there is obviously an arms race taking place with each of them trying to out do the other.

· What are your EMEA plans? How do you plan to push ahead in this heated race and disruptive times?

Our initial approach was one of focusing on North America and letting demand eventually dictate our entry into EMEA. This is clearly starting to happen. Through our global partnerships, such as SUN who resell our solution, and local partners we are entering EMEA. We recently signed on to partner with Dekkers International in the Benelux and with Prosper Intelligence out of Austria and will be participating in their Virtualization Consolidation Academy. We’ll continue to identify and sign up the best partners out there who understand the application virtualization space.

· Is there a buyer for Trigence?

I recently read an article that stated Trigence would be purchased within the first quarter of this year. I can’t really comment but I will say that our acceptance in the marketplace is increasing. With increased acceptance comes increased interest.

· Are we expecting anything else, meaning new products, solutions etc, from Trigence in the coming months?

Our Windows product for both Server based apps and the desktop will be out shortly. Additionally we have some very compelling solutions in the works which based on our initial code base have been extended for other use case scenarios. They have very good applicability to the likes of Google, Yahoo, etc.