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ARPSTOCK --- Rolling out a new software release to dozens or hundreds of desktops is a major task.  You can tell all your users to download the release from your server and cross your fingers.  You can deploy your entire staff to the various corporate departments that need the installs, and leave the phone off-hook all day.

           Or you can put the package on one server, set up multiple profiles so each user has their own set of files, create a "general" profile for the 80% of files that never change such as .EXE, .DLL and .INF so you don't need disk space to store them multiple times, and have the new software installed on every client desktop around the world in a matter of minutes.

           This isn't WorkSpace On-Demand.  This is IBM's RIPL (Remote Initial Program Load) technology, and WiseManager is the front end you'll need to use it.

           WiseManager is from Serenity Systems International, and lead programmer Kim Cheung had a running demo of WiseManager at the SSI vendor booth.

           "Trust me," said Cheung, "you don't want to try to understand RIPL in its raw native form.  It's terminally complex.  You need something like WiseManager to make it usable."

           Let's go through how WiseManager and RIPL work.  Every client computer has an Ethernet card with a boot PROM, and is connected to the network.  These clients can even be diskless, since OS/2 itself can be kept on the master server.  WiseManager, running on the server, gets a request from the client for a program and checks its profiles.  If the file that the client requests is a file that never changes, such as a .EXE, WiseManager accesses that file and sends it back to the client.  If the file is a dynamic file that the client might update, WiseManager accesses that specific client's profile and sends that client's version of the file back down the network.

           There are a lot of benefits here.

           Look at security.  Since the files are never stored on a client disk drive, the machine can't be stolen and the files copied.  And if the machine is stolen, just replace it with any available computer.  Since all files are on the server, the desktop and applications will boot up exactly as they did on the old machine.

           Look at disk space, with DB2 as an example.  DB2 requires 80 MB on every client.  But since a good 80% of that space is consumed by files that never change, storing them on the server with WiseManager means you only store the 80 MB once, plus about 16 MB (not 80) for every client.

           Look at backup.  Clients never have to back up.  Everything is on the server.

           "WorkSpace On-Demand stops you from being creative," said Mr. Cheung.  "It restricts what a machine can do.  WiseManager and RIPL give you complete flexibility."

           "It's not any slower than what you're used to," he continued.  "I can do the first OS/2 boot in 2½ minutes on a 32 MB P166.  Once the desktop is built, a boot takes about 90 seconds."

           "And look at the hardware I've got here.  There's no hard drive in the client machine!"  Kim picks up his demonstration client and bangs it on the table.  "All files are on the server.  If the machine breaks or is stolen, plug in any other computer.  It will boot the operating system and have all the software exactly the way it was the day before."

           "Can you have a hard drive in the client if you want it?" I asked.  "Of course," said Kim, "but why would you want to?"

           For other Warpstock '98 articles see the Warpstock '98 Article Index.

WiseManager from Serenity Systems International, http://www.serenity-systems.com/