Microsoft buys FSLogix to boost Office 365 virtualisation performance


Clare Hopping

21 Nov, 2018

Microsoft has acquired app provisioning firm FSLogix to improve the speed of user profile loading in applications including Outlook and OneDrive.

The solution has been engineered for multi-cloud environments and it will significantly improve the user experience, Microsoft’s Brad Anderson, CVP, Microsoft 365 and Julia White, CVP, Microsoft Azure said.

“Through customer engagement, we know that Microsoft Office applications are some of the most highly used and most commonly virtualized applications in any business,” they said in a joint statement.

“Office 365 ProPlus is currently the best Office experience, and, with FSLogix enabling faster load times for user profiles in Outlook and OneDrive, Office 365 ProPlus will become even more performant in multi-user virtual environments (including Windows Virtual Desktop).”

The Atlanta, Georgia-based company is a significant investment for Microsoft. Although the terms of the deal haven’t been revealed, FSLogix has received huge investment before the deal was announced – to the tune of $10.3 million.

“When we launched FSLogix in 2012, our goal was to build software that helped customers reduce the amount of resources, time, and labor required to support virtual desktops,” FSLogix cofounder and CTO Randy Cook said.

“Our first two products, FSLogix Apps and FSLogix Profile Container, focused on addressing critical needs that have existed from the dawn of desktop virtualisation… our most recent product, Office 365 Container, is designed to enhance the Microsoft Office 365 experience in those virtual desktop environments.“

FSLogix will join Microsoft “soon” and the two teams will continue to work together to integrate its platform into Microsoft’s productivity apps and services.