On 28 January 2015, Browsium hosted a webinar titled: IE11 Migration Made Easy with Browsium Ion. The webinar was a huge success and generated a number of great questions from the audience. We have compiled the complete set with answers to share with all attendees, and anyone else who is interested in IE11 migration. If you missed the webinar, you can watch the video archive on YouTube today.
Read on to see the questions (and our responses) from the IE11 webinar.
As client-side software, does Ion allow for centralized profile configuration so all users obtain the same profile? What about support for 3rd party browsers like Chrome?
While the configuration is loaded on the client side, the configuration file itself is designed to be hosted centrally on a file share or web server. The Browsium Ion client only needs read permission access to the configuration file and then caches the configuration locally in the event the network resource isn’t available or the user system is not network connected. Ion supports Internet Explorer only at this time. As adoption of other browsers increases in the enterprise, and these browser begin to suffer from the legacy issues which have afflicted Internet Explorer, Browsium will evaluate offering Ion support for Chrome or Firefox.
Can Ion be used to redirect websites between IE, Chrome and Firefox? Based on same URL matching techniques?
Browsium Ion is designed to resolve web application compatibility and Java management issues for Internet Explorer. Browsium Catalyst is our multi-browser management tool that enables seamless redirection between Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Firefox. Both Ion and Catalyst rules are triggered using the same engine to match, based on simple (string match), regular expression, or zone-based values.
How are Browsium products licensed? What is the licensing policy/costs in multi-user environments? Can you give list price?
Browsium Ion and Catalyst are licensed via a perpetual license, with a base license fee plus a per-seat license fee, tiered for the number of Windows PCs (or instances of Windows in a VDI environment) that run the Ion software. For multi-user terminal servers, Ion is licensed for the total number of users on the system. Software updates are available to licensees who purchase a yearly support and maintenance contract. Contact Browsium Sales for a custom quote for your organization.
I understand Browsium Ion does not have a central command and control center. Does Browsium provide any sort of reporting for things like agent status, agent failure, sites accessed matching Ion rules, etc.? Also, for discovering Java you said you have a product in roadmap. Is it going to be a newer version of Ion or a separate product?
The current release of Browsium Ion does not include any reporting options regarding client status or performance/activity data. Customers have requested this type of functionality and we plan to include it in a future release.
Our product roadmap includes a new product focusing on web application discovery, Java/extension reporting, usage analysis, and browser configuration reporting. We plan to have more detailed announcements about features and release timing in the coming months.
How safe is Ion use in the enterprise?
Browsium Ion is built following many of the same engineering principles used within Microsoft, including the SDL process. In addition, the Ion design provides for ‘defense in depth’ security by enhancing the security offered by Internet Explorer (Protected Mode, etc), as well as Java Virtual Machine (Sandboxing, etc.)
Using this approach, Browsium Ion loads process-isolated instances of Internet Explorer and loads the JVM (or other external libraries as needed) in a separate memory space. This design helps ensure any potential malicious action would be limited to the separate process and unable to infect the core system as the modifications will be wiped away when the Ion managed process is shut down.
In addition, the Ion-managed processes are only loaded by pattern match and cannot be ‘forced’ to open unless the specific profiles are loaded by a site contained in the rules list. Arbitrary websites cannot issue commands to the Ion Controller to open a website using an Ion profile.
Does Ion run as a Windows service or as plugins within the browser?
Ion is comprised of two parts on the client side – a browser plugin and standalone controller process (.exe). The browser plugin is responsible for monitoring network requests and URL parameters, while the controller process handles the bulk of technical tasks to ensure browser performance is not impacted.
Is there a roadmap for Ion compatibility with Windows 10 and the new browser Spartan? If yes, can you provide any assurance in terms of when will it be available?
Browsium is committed to supporting new Internet Explorer and other browser releases as they reach general availability. With respect to Spartan and Windows 10, both products are currently in various levels of pre-release availability so we do not yet provide support for them. We are working closely with Microsoft to ensure a smooth and successful customer experience when Spartan and Windows 10 are released to the market later this year.
What browsers do you support apart from Internet Explorer?
Browsium Ion supports Internet Explorer only at this time. As adoption of other browsers increases in the enterprise, and these browser begin to suffer from the legacy issues that have afflicted Internet Explorer, Browsium will evaluate offering Ion support for Chrome or Firefox.
Browsium Catalyst is our multi-browser management tool that enables seamless redirection between Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Firefox.
