New Moon Software Inc has rolled out version 2.0 of its LiftOff Windows client software with new dial-up support, additional compression technology and ActiveX and Netscape plug-ins. LiftOff processes pieces of unmodified Windows applications across both the server and the Windows client according to resources and constraints, partitioning and distributing the application. The new compression mechanism is claimed to be able to monitor the current system load and apply compression where traffic is high, saving up to 60% of bandwidth in some cases and improving scalability by 40%. The plug-ins enable Windows applications to be opened from browsers. Some of the compression work was originally going to be released as a separate product called Booster for improving the scalability of Microsoft’s Hydra Windows Terminal Server software. Liftoff requires Win32 clients and, unlike rival Citrix Systems Inc’s ICA Metaframe technology, it is not cross-platform. Citrix’s software works by hosting multiple simultaneous client sessions and transmitting bitmapped displays of the session’s interface to a desktop that acts like a display terminal. Like the Citrix work it enables copies of software to be managed centrally. It claims its drag and drop OLE work sets it apart from the competition such as Citrix which characterizes as a screen scraper. New Moon competes against both Microsoft’s Hydra and Citrix. Prices go from $5,000 for ten users. Upgrades are from $2,500.
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