The End User Computing market is evolving rapidly. Organisations are being forced to make strategic decisions about how they want to manage their digital workplace in the future, while at the same time dealing with several end-of-life solutions such as Ivanti Workspace Control and Microsoft App-V. What are the implications and available alternatives? Why is Intune on its own not a complete solution? And how can organisations make workplace management as efficient and future-proof as possible?
Liquidware has a clear vision on this: workspace management solutions should always be deployable, regardless of the delivery platform (physical, virtual or cloud), the Windows version in use, or future changes to the workplace environment. Based on this multi-platform philosophy, Liquidware has developed its solutions, including the User Environment Management solution ProfileUnity and the Application Management solution FlexApp. In light of the many changes in the workplace management landscape, a brief introduction of these solutions:
User Environment Management with ProfileUnity
The “modern” workplace requires a modern architecture. In practice, this often means a hybrid and cloud-based environment with multiple device types. To enable end users to work securely and efficiently, a User Environment Management solution is needed that can flexibly handle these components—particularly the cloud element. ProfileUnity provides a viable alternative to Ivanti Workspace Control and enhances the use of solutions such as Intune.
Why ProfileUnity?
- Decoupling user profiles - ProfileUnity separates user profiles from the Windows operating system, making them universally portable and compatible with any Windows OS. This delivers major benefits in shared device scenarios, during migrations, or in disaster recovery situations.
- Adding context - Creating contextual user settings traditionally requires a high level of specialised scripting knowledge. By complementing standard tooling (such as Intune) with ProfileUnity, contextual workplace management becomes significantly simpler and more efficient.
- Reducing management overhead - Because scripting is no longer required, complexity is reduced and administrators save substantial time: adding contextual settings takes minutes rather than hours. Changes are processed almost in real time and are not dependent on synchronisation policies. In addition, ProfileUnity does not require a SQL environment, and endpoints can retrieve their settings directly from the network or the internet.
- Improved security control - Security risks are reduced by removing access to unwanted applications or enforcing new security policies for users.
- Direct conversion - To ensure existing investments are preserved and transitions remain smooth, Liquidware offers the ability to directly convert settings and configurations (building blocks) from Ivanti into ProfileUnity modules.
Application Management with FlexApp
App-V has been a trusted solution for application virtualization since 2012. Many organisations still use it, but Microsoft stopped active development in 2015 already. While client components of App-V remain supported for now (Microsoft recently revisited the end-of-support deadline of April 2026), its server components will be out of support halfway 2026. Meanwhile, Microsoft’s successor, MSIX, still faces challenges such as lower packaging success rates and limited compatibility with Windows 11. As a result, more and more organisations are looking for alternative application management solutions. With FlexApp, Liquidware offers a future-proof alternative.
Why FlexApp?
- Decoupling applications - FlexApp separates applications from the operating system and places them in their own dedicated layer. This allows applications to be delivered flexibly across any platform—physical, virtual or cloud. Multiple Windows versions, hybrid environments, or parallel application versions can coexist without issue.
- Future-proof by design - When an organisation migrates its workplace environment in the future, FlexApp and its associated packages remain fully usable. FlexApp integrates seamlessly with all leading workplace platforms (Citrix, VMware, AVD, Windows 365, etc.) as well as management solutions such as Intune.
- Stronger security control - Meeting security requirements often means applications must be updated more frequently—an activity that traditionally consumes significant time and resources. With FlexApp, applications can be updated independently, without impacting the OS, other applications or the base image. This accelerates updates, reduces testing requirements and limits risk.
- Simplified migrations - Because applications exist in their own layer, the operating system can be migrated or updated while the application layer remains intact. This reduces complexity, accelerates update processes and minimises disruption for end users.
- Direct conversion - Liquidware provides the ability to directly convert App-V packages into the FlexApp format and deploy them on the desired platform.
Are you seeking alternatives as well? Or want to learn more about these solutions? Feel free to get in touch with us for an informal discussion!