In an ideal world, businesses would incorporate new technologies at their own pace, rather than the pace dictated by vendors. Businesses want to migrate to new versions of technologies they depend on, by taking the time to allow the latest versions to settle down, stabilize, and resolve bugs and usability issues. When the time is right, businesses are happy to migrate to newer versions of technology in order to gain all the promised benefits such as improved functionality, security, performance, cost, and competitiveness.
Unfortunately, businesses that want and need to migrate away from the Microsoft Windows XP operating system and Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) browser to Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) are now faced with a Catch-22 of completely unacceptable alternatives.
Most businesses have good reasons to move to Windows 7 and IE8 now, not least of which is Microsoft’s announced coming termination of support for Windows XP and IE6. But they’re trapped because when they do migrate from IE6 to IE8, many of the IE6-dependent Line of Business (LOB) applications they’ve developed over the years, at considerable cost, will simply not work properly any longer, if at all. That’s not okay, because their daily business operations depend upon those web applications working correctly.
Since businesses must move to Windows 7 and IE8, they are faced with either bearing the extraordinary cost and time of rewriting those line of business applications, which may not even be practical or possible, or having to use complex and expensive Windows virtualization solutions, because Microsoft does not support the use of third-party application virtualization products to virtualize any components of Windows, including IE.
Thus businesses find themselves trapped in a Catch-22 situation. Either suffer breakage of their IE6-dependent LOB apps or employ unacceptably expensive and complex alternatives. These are painful choices.
Recognizing the browser compatibility issues that plague enterprise, Browsium was founded in 2010 and its core team are former Microsoft developers, business leaders, and consultants. Browsium was founded with the mission to enable enterprise IT to adopt new technology on their terms, not the terms dictated by platform vendors. Browsium saw the problems enterprises face in their migration from IE6, understood the huge investments and operational importance of Web applications to enterprises worldwide, and was inspired to invent a solution.
Browsium developed its first product called UniBrows, an innovative product that enabled millions of valuable IE6-dependent applications to run inside Microsoft’s IE8, paving the way for large-scale enterprise migration to Windows 7. UniBrows has now been replaced in Browsium’s product line with a new solution called Browsium Ion. Ion builds on and goes well beyond UniBrows. Ion has many new features and capabilities not found in UniBrows, including completely redesigned administration tools, putting more power, and more compatibility, directly in the hands of enterprise IT.
Ion is a lightweight browser add-on that is easy and inexpensive to deploy, requiring no new infrastructure and no servers. With Ion, there’s no longer a need to rewrite Web applications or install expensive and complex virtualization solutions before upgrading desktop browsers and operating systems. By simply installing Ion on PCs running Windows 7 or Windows XP with IE8, enterprises can continue to use all of their IE6- and IE7-dependent web applications without modifying a single line of server code.
Browsium calls this approach Web Application Continuity. It extends the ROI of already deployed and paid-for applications by freezing the platform for Web applications at a ‘known good state’. It also provides granular control over all IE settings, freeing customers from the painful tradeoff of security vs. compatibility. With Ion, enterprises can control IE settings at the web application or even the web page level, maximizing compatibility for all LOB applications while simultaneously maximizing security for Internet browsing – all within a single-browser solution that is completely transparent to end-users. No other solution provides this level of compatibility and control.
Founded in 2010, Browsium Inc. creates enterprise-ready software solutions, enabling organizations to extend the life and ROI of existing line of business web applications as they roll out new operating systems and browser platforms to their client PCs. Browsium’s newest product, Ion, promises to revolutionize browser compatibility by allowing legacy IE6-dependent web applications to run on Windows 7 and IE8 on Windows XP without modifying a single line of server code.
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