Citrix Systems has announced new enhancements to XenApp 5 that add the ability to deliver on-demand applications from virtual machines (VMs) running desktop operating systems such as Windows 7, Vista and Windows XP.
The new VM-based model complements delivery methods already included in XenApp, including the ability to host shared applications centrally via Windows Terminal Services or stream them to a PC or laptop to run locally. With the addition of VM hosted applications, XenApp 5 now offers 100 percent application compatibility with minimal testing and validation requirements – making XenApp the fastest, simplest and most cost-effective way to deliver Windows applications to any user in any location. In addition to VM hosted applications, XenApp 5 also features new capabilities for power and capacity management as well as Citrix® HDX Technology enhancements, such as HDX MediaStream for Flash, that deliver a high-definition experience for even the most intensive multimedia applications.
XenApp 5 now also provides policy-based power management capabilities to optimize server farm performance and reduce power consumption without disrupting user access to applications. By consolidating user sessions on fewer servers, capacity is managed to lessen uneven or low server utilization and prevent session sprawl. In addition, new enhancements to load testing capabilities enable customers to create intelligent testing scenarios to analyze server performance, determine the best ratio of physical and virtual servers for any environment and eliminate the need to over-provision server capacity.
Citrix continues to build upon the breadth of HDX technologies that deliver a powerful user experience in its desktop and application virtualization products. HDX MediaStream for Flash is now built in to XenApp 5, ensuring a high-definition experience for users accessing Flash applications and video content. HDX MediaStream accelerates performance and utilizes client-side resources to process Flash content to reduce bandwidth consumption. XenApp 5 also now includes HDX Plug-n-Play to provide instantaneous user access to USB devices. Devices can be mapped in real-time before or during a session. In addition, enhancements in HDX IntelliCache for MAPI protocol accelerate performance of Microsoft Exchange email for branch and mobile users by up to 50X while reducing bandwidth consumption. By eliminating protocol “chattiness” and automatically compressing and de-duplicating email attachments, Outlook and Exchange response times are faster over high latency connections.
While some vendors focus exclusively on their own proprietary virtualization platforms, Citrix continues to drive a more open approach to its desktop and application virtualization infrastructure. A broad range of Citrix Ready products have been tested and integrated with Citrix solutions – and more are being added all the time. Earlier this year Citrix and Microsoft also announced a broad-reaching agreement to integrate Citrix’s desktop and app virtualization solutions with Microsoft’s desktop management infrastructure. As a result, enterprise IT organizations will be able to manage both distributed and centrally hosted applications using Citrix XenApp and Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager. Citrix XenApp will also embrace Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) and extend its capabilities by enabling self-service delivery of applications on any device using Citrix Receiver and CitrixDazzle. This open infrastructure approach ensures that customers can integrate technology into their Citrix environment that best meets their needs regardless of the vendor.
The new features in XenApp 5 will be available for download on September 29, 2009.
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