Browsium Ion, which provides legacy Internet Explorer (IE) emulation, now supports multiple Java releases and IE8.

The product is used in desktop migrations from the Windows XP operating system (OS), which Microsoft will no longer support after April 2014.

The Ion software emulates older Microsoft browsers, such as like IE6 and IE7, which are used to run line-of-business browser-based applications on Windows XP.

But with end of support for XP looming, large organisations such as banks, governments and healthcare providers are facing the prospect of paying Microsoft for a hefty customer support agreement, or running the OS unsupported and putting the organisation at risk from a cyber attack.

“Enterprises continue to make slow, steady progress towards their Windows 7 migrations, but web application compatibility issues remain the number one blocker,” said Matt Heller, Browsium’s founder and CEO.

Browsium Ion 3.0 enables IT departments to run multiple versions of Java side by side on a single system. It also adds IE8 support to the list of legacy browsers.

According to Browsium, many software as a service (SaaS) providers, including Microsoft, Google and Salesforce.com, have dropped support for IE8, necessitating yet another browser migration for enterprises. Ion enables IT departments to deploy IE8-dependent web applications in IE10 on Windows 7, it said.

Gary Schare, president of Browsium, said: “Many larger organisations have procrastinated their way into a crisis. Now they’re scrambling to migrate before Microsoft ends support for XP in April.”

According to Schare, many businesses still running Windows XP have resigned themselves to paying for the first year of custom support, at a cost of $200 per PC. “They are scrambling to migrate before they have to pay for year two in April 2015,” he said.

In his experience, the XP and browser migration project can easily take 18 months.

Via: computerweekly