The big announcement at ManageFusion was that Symantec is fully acquiring its long-time development partner AppStream. It's almost a non-announcement, though, as AppStream already provides its application streaming technology to Symantec, which you'll find embedded in Altiris Software Virtualization Solution Professional, or SVS Pro. Bringing AppStream in-house will allow Symantec to better position endpoint management and endpoint virtualization together and provide a strong alternative to Microsoft/Citrix and VMware/Thinstall for virtualized desktop applications.

Symantec also announced significant updates to Altiris Deployment Solution and Ghost Solution Suite. Available now, Deployment Solution 6.9 adds the following capabilities:

• A single management console for both virtual and physical OS deployment that includes enhanced VMware ESX Server scripted installations
• Role and scope-based security, based on admin login credentials, which provides granular IT access, more security, ease of use, and less chance for human error
• New platform support: Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008; VMware ESX Server 3.5; SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.6 and 5.1; Macintosh OS X 10.5 (Leopard); Windows CE 6.0 Thin Client
• Interoperability with Symantec Ghost imaging
• Automated, rip and replace blade server provisioning

The update to Ghost Solution Suite 2.5 will be coming out in this first half of 2008 and is expected to include:

• DeployAnywhere hardware-independent imaging automation
• Full-disk encryption support
• Effortless physical to virtual, and virtual to physical image creation
• Secure disk decommission for data wipe and protection (US Department of Defense compliant).

Greg Bryant, general manager of Intel's digital office platform division, shared the keynote stage as he discussed the tighter integration between the Intel vPro processor technology and a number of Altiris products. With the vPro processor in a desktop or portable device, a systems manager can reach out and manage that box, even if it is turned off or totally dead. vPro provides hardware level manageability, so network management and security aren't dependent upon a software agent on a device.

To get more information about what happened at ManageFusion 2008 Las Vegas, visit the conference blog. To join the online community of Altiris users, visit Altiris Juice.