Investigating a methodology to provide applications to university & users’ personally owned devices is a challenge the Marriott Library IT Team has heavily invested in to come up with a sustainable answer. The team has been using a solution called AppsAnywhere, which is an advanced application delivery and deployment system that includes a customizable universal web portal. This allows the Library to provide a single place to deliver and update all of their applications at one location for users to access software, regardless of the device, location or technology they use.

Currently, the Marriott Library is using this service to deliver PC software to the student labs and a pilot project that allows any university student deliver and run software on their own personal system. The Marriott Library is working with campus on possibly making the service available campus-wide to all students. Looking forward, plans have been made to provide any platform access to Windows & macOS software using technologies such as Parallels RAS (Remote Application Server), Jamf Pro and Aqua Connect all from the AppsAnywhere web portal.

The developers of AppsAnywhere, Software2, provide special events called “S2 User Days” free of charge to all customers, which offer a great chance to catch up with the lead developers of AppsAnywhere, ask questions, share best practices with peers from other universities, and learn more about the software’s roadmap.

Two system administrators from the Marriott Library, Seth Walsh & James Lancaster, presented at a “S2 User Day” event at Ontario’s Seneca College on our AppsAnywhere environment and integrating support for Central Authentication Service (CAS) which allows single sign on from our campus web applications such as our Learning Management System (LMS) & AppsAnywhere portal. View their presentation video below.

For more information about AppsAnywhere see the following web page.  

To read more about their presentation, visit the Software2 web site or download their presentation.