Having seen the roadmap for Dynamics NAV, the next stop was the release of NAV 7 in 2011 – the follower to NAV 2009. But the breaking news from last weeks EMEA Directions conference in Prague, was the R2 release of NAV 2009 scheduled for Q42010 (see Waldo’s post http://dynamicsuser.net/blogs/waldo/archive/2010/05/20/directions-emea-2010.aspx).

Having worked with the “classic” client for over a decade, the adoption of the new RTC client has been a challenge for most NAV developers. First of facing the resistance to change, and the learning curve of the new product – combined with the lack of visual tools for designing pages – and customizations taking longer in RTC, it has been difficult gaining the momentum of the RTC. Yes, I acknowledge the new superiour architecture, and the RTC client is beautiful, but definitely not as fast and data oriented as the classic client. (yes, i know i need to spend more time on it – and im still sentimental about the classic client :))

I did not until today grasp the reality of the App-V virtualization support, where I saw this information from SaaS Plaza on the new technology. This is definitely putting Dynamics NAV on top of the ERP game! See this video from the EMEA Directions conference in Prague:

Presentation by

Some of the pros of RTC over the internet:

• Seamless integration with the locally installed Microsoft Office suite
  
• Full use of all RTC functionality with excellent performance and smooth GUI
• Flexibility to customize and extend the user client with external sources, such as email or news portlets
• Use of the locally installed printers making batch jobs and administrative use easy
• Access local disks from the Dynamics NAV environment for storing reports or uploading files
• Always the latest version of the client pushed to your PC including updates and security packages

How does it work?

Users don’t longer need to connect via Terminal Services to the environment and are ensured of running the latest version at all times by using App-V for streaming of the client to the local system. The client is installed locally and streamed over the internet via a secured connection from the SaaSplaza platform.

The user can install the RTC on the local PC by using Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V). This tool streams the client to the local system and every time the user connects it will check for any updates. In this way partners can ensure that the users are using the latest version and have an easy methodology of managing a large numbers of users in an easy way.

(source: http://saasplaza.com visit them for more information)

Currently SaaS plaza has partner test-drive, to get your verticals and add-ons tested on the new platform.

Very exciting news, that shows why RTC is the way to go.