By Cassandra Balentine
Established in 1987, Flexera is a private software company headquartered in Itasca, IL. A global company, it operates a total of 11 offices throughout North America, Asia Pacific, and Europe. According to the 2014 Software 500, it ranked 211 and employed a staff of 620. Look to this year’s Software 500, releasing this November, to track its growth.
Both application producers and enterprises look to Flexera to solve complex business challenges. The company offers developers solutions that monetize and protect software and the Internet of Things, manage software entitlements, electronically deliver and update software, and provide software installers with a suite of brands including InstallShield, FlexNet Licensing, and FlexNet Operations.
For enterprises, the company offers solutions that better the purchase and use of software through its AdminStuido, FlexNet Manager, and App Portal brands. These offerings enable businesses to optimize software spend, ensure software license compliance, setup an enterprise application (app) store, access application compatibility, and package apps for development.
Installation Compatibility
The company recently announced the latest version of its InstallShield solution, InstallShield 2015. The update includes more than 30 customer-requested enhancements and provides developers the confidence that their installations will be compatible with the latest technologies including Windows 10, Visual Studio 2015, and SHA-256 digital signatures.
“There is one InstallShield release per year; release features and capabilities are developed to provide productivity enhancements that address customer needs and proactively support emerging technologies, industry trends, and partner updates,” explains Maureen Polte, VP of product management, Flexera Software.
Specifically, the new InstallShield enables producers to build installations that support Windows 10 as well as existing versions of the operating system, including Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2. It also integrates with the latest Visual Studio releases, including the soon-to-be released Visual Studio 15. InstallShield 2015 also prepares developers for changes in Microsoft’s certificate requirements. Installations sign with the SHA-1 certificates after January 1, 2016 will be treated as untrusted by Windows. Installations need to be signed with SHA-256 after this date.
The InstallShield Software installation development solution targets traditional and agile development teams creating Windows, Azure, and virtualization software installers. Designed to support the needs of today’s sophisticated application producers for packaging standalone offerings and complex suites, InstallShield provides automated solutions to productize, package, and install software with minimal scripting, coding, and rework.
To help ensure a positive first impression, InstallShield delivers a fresh, contemporary, and user-friendly experience to meet the exacting standards of today’s new generation of sophisticated, application store-savvy users. Through support of SCCM and ISO software tagging, InstallShield enables software vendors to inventory software assets to optimize and ensure compliance, making it easier for enterprises to manage their applications.
“Our active and engaged InstallShield customer base is very important to us, and forms of the core of our strong repeat business. To ensure that InstallShield provides the productivity enhancements that directly support real issues encountered by our customers, InstallShield 2015 features more than 30 enhancements driven by specific requests for existing customers,” says Polte.
InstallShield 2015
According to Polte, InstallShield maintains its industry leadership position by ensuring it remains current with the latest technologies. With the 2015 release, application producers can confidently build installations that support Windows 10 Insider Preview and Visual Studio 2015 preview.
All installations signed with SHA-1 certificates will be treated as untrusted by Microsoft Windows after January 1, 2016, which will then only recognize SHA-256 Digital Signatures. InstallShield 2015 provides support for SHA-256 Digital Signatures.
The company says InstallShield is used on more than 500 million PCs and servers worldwide. SW
Aug2015, Software Magazine
