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Microsoft has acquired app-provisioning vendor FSLogix to help bolster its recent plans to offer Windows Virtual Desktop services to business customers.
FSLogix, which helps IT administrators manage their virtual desktop deployments, will be used by Microsoft to improve the performance of Microsoft Office 365 and other applications when run in virtualized desktop environments.
The acquisition was announced in a recent post by Brad Anderson, corporate vice president of Microsoft 365, and Julia White, corporate vice president of Microsoft Azure, on the Microsoft Blog.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“A modern desktop with Windows 10 and Office 365 not only offers the most productive and most secure computing experience, it also saves IT time and money, and allows for a focus on driving business results,” wrote Anderson and White in the post. “For many companies, their specific needs require a modern desktop be virtualized.”
To help Microsoft make that transition and to provide a richer desktop virtualization experience for Microsoft 365 customers, the acquisition of FSLogix is seen by Microsoft as a tool that will bring added value and capabilities for desktop virtualization customers.
Microsoft had unveiled its plans in September 2018 for its Microsoft Windows Virtual Desktop services on Microsoft Azure, giving customers the ability to run virtualized Windows and Office 365 on the cloud for multiple users. The services are optimized for Office 365 ProPlus and include free Windows 7 Extended Security Updates.
Using the Windows Virtual Desktop, business administrators can quickly deploy and scale Windows and Office on Azure, while including built-in security and compliance, according to Microsoft. And to help with those tasks, the FSLogix acquisition will make it even easier.
FSLogix is an app-provisioning platform that reduces the resources, time and labor required to support virtualization for businesses of all sizes.
“With this acquisition, customers will benefit in a number of ways,” wrote Anderson and White, including faster load times for user profiles in Outlook and OneDrive and improved performance for Office 365 ProPlus. “We are excited to welcome FSLogix to Microsoft, and we look forward to the impact its technology and its people will have on our customers’ virtualization experience.”
FSLogix Apps is a software agent that enables virtual desktop administrators to reduce the number of virtualized machine templates that are installed and managed, which can reduce software licensing costs, boost compliance, and eliminate other complications and problems when running virtual desktops, according to FSLogix. The product enables enterprises to create a single Unified Base Image without having to repackage applications.
FSLogix can help manage virtual desktops for more than 50,000 users, while reducing support requirements for IT departments.
Headquartered in Atlanta, FSLogix was a Microsoft partner before the acquisition.