What is Application Packaging?

Application Packaging is one of the most important software management tasks IT departments have. This is to maintain stable, productive and secure Digital Workplaces for their users. Applications must work as expected, be configured correctly and patched securely on all platforms, so they are available in a consistent and dependable manner for users.

Ateas custom-made application packaging service not only guarantees you fully personalized application packages compliant with all your packaging standards, but also an easy and effective delivery process using our cloud-based Application Manager Online portal for application portfolio management. 

During the last 11 years we have perfected the art of application packaging and thus allowing for significant cost and time savings for you. We do the cumbersome work and you focus on your business.

By using our Application Manager Online portal all processes related to application packaging, testing, and deployment are streamlined and simplified. Application Manager Online combined with our AppDisco tool is the perfect solution for collecting, testing and creating application packaging requests and thus result in efficient, cost-effective application deployments. The built-in workflow is based on the Application Management and Release Management within the ITIL framework.

We support all common packaging technologies including MSI, Microsoft App-V, Microsoft AppX, Intune MSI, MAC packages, VMware ThinApp and Symantec virtualization.

Atea Application Manager is the perfect solution with built-in tools for documentation, dependency checking, user acceptance testing, and automatic deployment through SCCM. All your media files, packages and documentation in one place. Search no more…

KEY FEATURES

Support for all common
packaging technologies

Modern Management
ready packages

Out of the box cloud
based delivery platform

Capacity of 1500+
packages per month

Fixed price per package no
matter the complexity

Day-To-Day Delivery – clear and
precise SLAs and KPIs

Benefits

 

Reduced IT
staff time

Reduced and
predictable costs

Effortless
Onboarding

Increased end
user productivity

The Customers Voice

"We have implemented the new Atea solution to drive one of our customer application packaging projects. The project is managed by our team and the consultancy part is outsourced to Atea. The customer on-boarding process was just instant. The end-customer Application Manager Online instance was set up during a phone call where we discussed the project details with the responsible Atea manager. All parties have access and there is no need in allocating dedicated resources in the customer environment. Our client is perfectly satisfied with the delivered services. We are in full control of all events happening in the project, while Atea is simply delivering the application packaging service. Application Manager Online is a gigantic step forward in packaging service outsourcing and we are very much excited to continue using Application Manager Online in our future projects."

– Marco Morgenstern, Head of Business Services, Trans4mation

"NCC has used AM Online to order packages from Atea and when using Application Manager the software is injected into the NCC infrastructure according to standards controlled by NCC. NCC has also used prepackaged software available in Application Manager, but since we have a fully manage client platform these actions are normally done by Atea. Application Manager supplies NCC with a complete overview of the current state of any package delivered by Atea. The Application Manager Online has further diminished the need for a big installation in the NCC infrastructure and thereby reducing the need for maintenance and administration. We are happy with AM Online."

– Per Lyngbæk, IT Chiefconsultant, NCC

"We had some technical problem receiving our AppUpdate service subscription via on-premises Application Manager. This was running on an old windows server 2003 r2. Because of the problems and the old server, we decided to move the installation to a new server. We contacted AppUpdate team support to get some help moving the solution, where they suggested to try Application Manager Online. Because we already had Azure Active directory we though that we could try. To implement the new solution only took some hours, and there wasn’t much we had to do. We only provided some information, and connected the solution to Azure Active Directory before we closed down the old solution. Our experience the implementation has been painless and much faster than we would have been if we should have installed it on-premises. In addition, we have shut down the old server."

– Andreas Liaker, Senior Advisor, Department of Economics and Management, Statsbygg

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Which application packaging service is right for me?

It all depends on what you are in need of and what situation you are in…

As a starter, please refer to the overview table shown in the Factsheet
This will give you a brief overview of the different application packaging solutions Atea has and as mentioned above, it all depends on what are your needs and requirements. In Atea view the customer is making use of all packaging services in combination.
What kind of documentation do you need for being able to create custom-made application packages for me?

We need installation, configuration and testing instructions plus the installation media.

The different instructions can be made available to us by screen-dumps in Word or PDF-files – the time consuming way – or even better for both you and us by using our premier documentation tool called AppDisco. With AppDisco you automatically record small film clips on how you would like a certain application to be installed and configured. Instead of spending up to 60 minutes by creating screen-dumps for an application, you can automatically record the installation and configuration routine. AppDisco is an integrated part of Atea premier application portfolio management solution called Application Manager Online.

How are custom-made application packages priced?

First of all it is important to note, that Atea is working with a flat fee when talking about custom-made application packages. We do not differ pricing when talking about complexity. The flat fee gives transparency and predictability for our customers – they know how much an application packages will cost…no hidden or changed fees.

The flat fee per application package is influenced by:

  • Volume – meaning how many application packages you as a customer expect to order
  • Time – meaning in which time period you expect to order a certain amount of application packages

Custom-made application packages can be purchased by paying with:

  • Click-price – no upfront commitment on number of custom-made application packages. You get invoiced per ordered custom-made application package.
  • Voucher – you pay upfront for a certain amount of application packages and are thus eligible for a discount based on the volume
How do I get started with custom-made application packaging?

Very simple – just sign up!

After you sign up we will verify your information and send you information necessary for login to Application Manager Online portal – our premier application portfolio management solution.

How do I order custom-made application packages?

Using our premier application portfolio management solution called Application Manager Online

How are you ensuring the quality of the application packages you develop?

Atea Global Services is ISO9001 certified and as such has an extensive quality management systems in place. On top of that, Atea Global Services has built its own Quality Assurance process for developed application packages. It is an integrated part of our complete application packaging process, which consist of 7 steps:

  • Package Request
  • Package Assignment
  • Package Evaluation
  • Package Creation
  • Quality Assurance
    • Check if package is properly documented
    • Check if package is created according to best practices and packaging standards
    • Validate package
      • Resolve any identified errors during validation
    • Check if packaging and testing steps are accomplished
    • Check if package is created according to process
  • Package Testing

    • Determine extent of testing
    • Perform deployment test
    • Perform limited user test
    • Perform cleanup test
    • Documentation of test result
  • Package Delivery

All of the above mentioned steps are documented in our application packaging service description, that can be requested at any time.

Do you give any guarantees on the produced application packages?

Yes, we do.

But, please be aware of that application packages are developed only for a targeted client platform and based on information described in your base image configuration. Custom-made application packages will be valid as long as the target client platform or configuration is not changed in any way that could impact the previously and delivered custom-made application package functionality.

Which application packaging formats do you support?

We support and deliver all of the following packaging formats.

  • Windows Installer (MSI)
  • Intune MSI
  • Microsoft AppX
  • Microsoft App-V
  • Mac OS
  • Citrix XenApp Streaming
  • VMware ThinApp Virtualization
Can I try out one of the application packages you have developed?

Sure…just contact us and we will send you a sample.

Security - how do you ensure, that my packages are not infected by malware?

Like all services delivered from Atea Global Services the security of our application packaging services is ensured by compliance with ISO/IEC 27001. Feel free to request our latest auditing protocol.

Furthermore all of Ateas PCs have installed an up-to-date anti-malware solution – it is updated on a daily basis. Before application packages are made available to our customers we scan them once more for malware with a different anti-malware solution and our secure ftp-servers are likewise monitored and protected by anti-malware solutions.

We have company packaging standards - will you follow those?

Yes, of course we will.

Make them available to us before the application packaging and we will follow them. On top of that we will also give you feedback on your company packaging standards based on our extensive application packaging knowledge – we call this CSI (Continous Service Improvement) and it is just one of the many benefits you get by letting Atea package your applications.

What are your SLAs?

We work with 3 different priorities when delivering custom-made application packages.

  • Priority VIP – finished and ready to deploy application package delivered within 24 hours
  • Priority 1 – finished and ready to deploy application package delivered within 3 working days
  • Priority 2 – finished and ready to deploy application package delivered within 10 working days

Our usual SLA is priority 2 and we expect 60% of all packaging request from a customer to be priority 2. Up to 40% of all packaging requests from a customer can be priority 1, while the VIP priority is limited to two (2) requests per month and a direct and reachable contact person is required. Additional charges for priority VIP application packages may apply.

If you are in need of different SLAs, please contact us for a proposal.

Can I share application packages with other companies?

No, application packages delivered through Custom-made or AppUpdate are solely for your legal entity and are not to be shared with other legal entities. Unless, you have a special agreement with Atea to do so.

How do I get started with the different application packaging services?

We have self-service sign up for all our application packaging services. Please refer to different application packaging services sections on our website or use the sign up links below.