Microsoft Corp. today announced that it has acquired FSLogix Inc., a venture-backed virtualization startup with big-name customers such as Verizon Communications Inc. and Britain’s National Health Service.

Suwanee, Georgia-based FSLogix provides software for virtual desktop infrastructure. VDI enables companies to set up workspaces based on Windows 10 or another operating system in a centralized location and stream them to employees’ physical devices.

This arrangement means that administrators can manage an entire workforce’s worth of desktops in one place, but it comes with certain challenges. FXLogic’s flagship FSLogix Apps offering focuses on one of the biggest sticking points: cost. Just as with physical desktops, setting up a VDI environment requires companies to buy a number of Windows 10 licenses proportional to how many users they have.

FSLogix Apps makes it possible to support multiple users with a single Windows installation. The software configures the applications and folders in a virtual desktop so that each user only sees the specific assets they need, which effectively creates several different workspaces on the same machine. FSLogix claims that the technology reduces licensing costs while easing management operations for administrations.

The startup recently bolstered its product portfolio with Office 365 Container, an offering specifically focused on Microsoft’s productivity suite. According to FSLogix, it enables virtual desktops to run the OneDrive, Outlook and OneNote clients as fast as if the apps were installed on the user’s local machine.

Microsoft said the startup’s technology will be used to bolster its recently introduced Windows Virtual Desktop service. It’s a managed VDI offering that enables companies to spin up Windows workspaces on the technology giant’s Azure cloud platform.

“Through customer engagement, we know that Microsoft Office applications are some of the most highly used and most commonly virtualized applications in any business,” Microsoft executives Brad Anderson and Julia White wrote in the announcement. “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).”

Windows Virtual Desktop directly challenges VDI market leaders VMware Inc. and Citrix Systems Inc., whose respective solutions are supported by FSLogix. Microsoft didn’t specify whether the startup’s software will continue to be available in its current form after the acquisition.

The deal comes just days after the company picked up Xoxco Inc., another startup that focused on chatbot development. Xoxco is best known as the maker of the open-source Botkit framework for building conversational assistants.

FSLogix had raised $10 million in funding prior to the acquisition, while Xoxco picked up $1.5 million.

Photo: Microsoft