iPass

SUMMARY

Not supporting MSI-based installations can be a deal-breaker. So choosing the wrong installation development solution can be really bad for business.

That’s what remote access market leader iPass recently discovered. iPass delivers customized client software that makes it easier for companies to provide their mobile users with reliable, secure remote access. The software makes life easier for endusers by insulating them from the complexities of using different wireless networks in different places and navigating multiple screens. And it makes remote access more cost-efficient for IT by reducing support costs and giving them a straightforward way of enforcing remoteaccess policies.

Customers configure their client software themselves by clicking their way through a series of screens on the iPass self-service portal. Based on that input, iPass creates a client-side executable that it delivers in the form of an .msi file.

iPass had been working with another vendor to create the .msi installation files for its customers. But it encountered two problems. The first and most significant problem was that the installation files created weren’t true .msi files. They were actually .exe-based installation files with a .msi “wrapper.”

This created serious issues for IT organizations using popular software distribution tools for getting the iPass client out to its geographically dispersed end-users. For example, those tools would report successful installation of the iPass client—even though all that had happened was that the installation .exe had been successfully distributed. Once this vendor’s installation .exe started running, however, all kinds of snafus could occur. But the distribution tool couldn’t detect those problems, because the actual installation of the iPass client software was not being performed by the .msi file itself.

“The bigger the customer, the more likely it was that they were using an automated distribution tool,” explains iPass Director of Product Management Gary Fowler. “So the problem we were having with our installation files was cutting us off from the most lucrative segment of our market.”

The second problem with this previous vendor was that they were not very responsive about trying to solve the first problem. “We were hoping that they would give us some advice or even some hands-on assistance so that our enterprise-class customers could distribute our client software in the same way as they distributed all of their other software,” recalls Fowler. “But they were unresponsive to say the least.”

REVENERA TO THE RESCUE

Having worked with Revenera before, iPass made a second call as well. Revenera responded quickly—and immediately grasped both the nature and the gravity of the situation.

Revenera InstallShield inherently solved the major problem facing iPass because it generates true .msi that behaves exactly as an .msi is supposed to behave. In fact, because so many software vendors use InstallShield to create their .msi files, the look, feel and behavior of the .msi files it generates for iPass conform precisely to the expectations of enterprise customers and software distribution solution developers alike.

InstallShield’s command line interface (CLI) was also very helpful for iPass, since it allowed for optimized integration with the system that iPass uses to build custom-compiled remote access clients for its customers.

In addition, InstallShield fulfilled the business requirement that iPass be able to offer its reseller partners the ability to privatelabel its offering.

Just as important, Revenera was able to respond to the urgent situation iPass was facing with expert professional services that had a solution in place just four short weeks after Fowler placed his call.

“Revenera sent us someone who was highly knowledgeable, highly professional, and able to work on-site when we needed him,” says Fowler. “There is no way we could have ever turned our situation around as quickly as we did without him.”