General FAQs

Browsium Ion is an innovative new product that removes a key impediment to enterprise upgrades by enabling millions of IE6- or IE7-dependent line-of-business web applications to run unmodified on IE8 or IE9 on Windows 7 or on IE8 on Windows XP. Ion is Browsium second generation product that replaces our first generation product, called UniBrows. Ion is an IE add-on that runs legacy IE rendering engines and web-application platform inside an IE8 or IE9 tab. Ion is not virtualization, does not run a separate instance of IE, and does not change the default browser or normal browsing behavior. It is simply a granular management tool for Internet Explorer that provides the control to enable legacy applications to run properly in modern browser with no security or compatibility tradeoffs. Best of all, with Ion, you can achieve compatibility with old IE6-compatible applications, but without the need for the IE6 engine! With Ion, there is no longer a need for organizations to spend millions of dollars to rewrite web applications or to install expensive and complex virtualization solutions before upgrading OS and browser platforms. Instead, they can spend their valuable IT resources upgrading desktops, deploying new solutions, and running their core business. By installing Ion on client PCs running Windows 7 or Windows XP with IE8, organizations can upgrade their OS and browser platforms organization-wide immediately and then rewrite or replace legacy applications on an independent schedule.

Quirks Mode can solve issues for many websites.  Unfortunately, there are two issues with Internet Explorer which prevent quirks mode from being effective:

1.  The inability to properly determine the correct time to invoke quirks mode (based on the where and how a page invokes a DOCTYPE), and
2.  The lack of granular control beyond the domain level without a code change

The Adaptive Quirks Profile solves both of these problems by providing an intelligent, adaptive Quirks Mode that analyzes the code on a webpage and makes a decision at runtime when and how Quirks Mode should be invoked for a specific page or pages.

IE10 is currently under development by Microsoft and at this time Ion does not support their Platform/Developer previews. We expect to support IE10 once it’s released. Historically, we released support for IE9 less than one month after IE9 was officially released to the public.

Ionis an Internet Explorer add-on that enables legacy web applications (like those that require IE6) to run inside an IE8 or IE9 tab, empowering organizations to streamline the migration process and avoid the complexity and costs of a virtualized environment. IT administrators deploy the Ion add-on to all PCs that need some legacy compatibility and create a set of opt-in rules that control which sites (usually intranet sites) need to be rendered using legacy rendering engines for backward compatibility. The rules are deployed via Group Policy or an XML file. Sites that are not explicitly designated in the Ion ruleset use the more secure and feature-rich IE8 or IE9 rendering engine. End users have no control over, or knowledge of, these rules. They simply access Internet and intranet sites as they normally would (links, favorites, searches, typed addresses) and Ion ensures that the page loads with the appropriate rendering engine.

Ion also provides a Profiles feature that enables IT administrators to designate specific versions of ActiveX controls, custom registry values, and file system settings for specific sites. So, for example, a legacy intranet site can always use an old version of Flash for compatibility, while sites opened in adjacent tabs use the most current and secure version. Profiles work with both the IE8 and IE9 rendering engines, improving the security and compatibility of all platforms.

Yes, Ion works on Windows XP, Window Vista, and Windows 7. It enables end users to use IE8 as their default browser but render specific websites (determined by IT administrators) using legacy rendering engines for backward compatibility.

Ion is a 3^rd party product created and sold by Browsium and Microsoft is not responsible for supporting any 3^rd party products. However Microsoft is responsible for supporting Windows and IE (per Microsoft’s support lifecycle policy) and will continue to do so after any 3^rd party product is installed, including Ion. Ion does not modify the core Windows system or configurations and like other 3^rd party add-ons for IE, Ion can be easily disabled if directed by Microsoft support in order to investigate issues with the natively installed IE version. Browsium is responsible for supporting the Ion product. If Ion is not working at parity with a standalone installation of IE6 running on Windows XP, Browsium will make commercially reasonable efforts to modify the Ion software or provide guidance for the customer to resolve the issue.

No, Ion complies fully with this Microsoft policy. Ion does not install or run a separate instance or version of Internet Explorer, and doesn’t repackage executable components of Internet Explorer. Instead it provides granular management of the rendering engines and settings built into IE8 and IE9, thus enabling configurations that allow legacy applications to run unmodified in modern versions of Internet Explorer. Running Ion inside of IE8 or IE9 is very similar to Internet Explorer’s own Compatibility View which invokes a legacy rendering engine inside of the Internet Explorer application. Ion does this with even more granular control so that each browser tab can use the built-in rendering engine and settings required for a specific web application. Tabs not managed by Ion use the modern and secure default engines and settings provided by Internet Explorer.

Ion achieves high degrees of compatibility with legacy web applications via a combination of granular control over the engines and modes built into IE8 and IE9, along with the ability to modify browser and security settings application by application. Browsium’s patented technology makes this all possible.

Absolutely. That’s why Ion is such a smart solution to the problem. Ion allows IT administrators to upgrade all of their desktops to modern versions of Internet Explorer (IE8 on Windows XP and IE8 or IE9 on Windows 7) and define which intranet websites will render using one of Internet Explorer’s built in legacy rendering engine and custom settings required to properly run the application. All other sites use default IE8 or IE9 engine and the default settings. With Ion, enterprises can say goodbye to IE6 immediately, while still continuing to use their business-critical applications that were built for, and only work with, IE6.

One of the main advantages of the Ion design is that it uses the underlying version of Internet Explorer already installed on your system. Ion doesn’t install any IE binaries or components on the PC; it simply uses what’s already there, providing granular management of the engines and modes included with IE8 and IE9. When Microsoft releases patches for IE, simply update your client PCs with the security updates on your normal schedule. Security updates to IE do not negatively impact Ion behavior because Ion strictly adheres to published APIs to communicate with IE processes.

Yes, Ion can be installed on PCs running IE9 and enable granular control of the IE9 engine via Ion Profiles (along with IE8, IE8 in IE7 mode, and legacy ‘quirks’ modes).

At this time Ion is only available for Windows systems running IE8 or IE9. Ion can help today if your web applications render properly using the IE8 Compatibility View feature but require specific browser settings, ActiveX controls or filesystem configurations. Ion includes two IE7 Profiles (called “Emulate IE7″ and “IE7 Standards). Using those Profiles you can get the required rendering behavior combined with the ActiveX controls and browser settings you want – without compromising your default IE configuration.

Google’s Chrome Frame plug-in is an add-on for Internet Explorer that can be used to run web sites with the Chrome browser engine. It was designed so that customers running older versions of Internet Explorer (like IE6) can get the latest features from Google services like Gmail and Search. It does not improve or change IE’s compatibility with older web applications, nor does it offer any enterprise-level management features. In addition, in order to enable the Chrome engine to render a web site, the web site itself must be updated to instruct the Chrome Frame plug-in to run. Browsium’s Ion solution allows users of newer versions of Internet Explorer (IE8 or IE9) to get IE6 & IE7 compatibility when required in an easy-to-manage way and without requiring any change to the underlying web site.

Browsium Ion has been designed to be lightweight. In general, if your system can run Windows, it can run Ion. The specific requirements are:

System Requirements