Citrix Synergy

Citrix Commercializes OpenStack With ‘Project Olympus’

June 14, 2011 by Robin Wauters 1 Comment

Citrix will soon be rolling out a new OpenStack product that would let customers build private or public clouds. The company has added Project Olympus, a new cloud product, to its open cloud computing portfolio to complement its Citrix NetScaler Cloud Gateway and NetScaler Cloud Bridge.

Citrix Systems announced Project Olympus, a new cloud infrastructure product based on the open-source cloud operating system OpenStack, at Citrix Synergy a few weeks ago. It will be the first commercialized version of OpenStack and will begin shipping later this year, Citrix said.

Based on OpenStack, Project Olympus will help customers build real infrastructure-as-a-service clouds that are scalable, efficient and open by design because they use the same architecture, approach and technology behind “some of today’s largest and most successful clouds in the world,” Citrix added.

Project Olympus will be composed of two components, a Citrix-certified version of OpenStack and a cloud-optimized version of Citrix XenServer. It will support a wide range of infrastructure, management and development technologies to make it easy for customers to expand and build on the platform, Citrix said.

Project Olympus will also support Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware vSphere in addition to Citrix XenDesktop.

OpenStack began as a joint effort between Rackspace and NASA back in July 2010. The effort has since expanded to include more than 70 industry partners, including Citrix. OpenStack supports multiple virtualization hypervisor platforms, including Hyper-V, KVM and Xen.

Citrix Synergy 2009: The Highlights

May 8, 2009 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Citrix Synergy 2009 is over, and while we couldn’t attend ourselves, we’ve been closely watching the announcements that came out of the event. Here are some of the highlights, from across the web:

– “Citrix Project Independence is now XenClient and will be free” (Virtualization.info):

During his opening keynote at the Citrix Synergy 2009, Mark Templeton announced that the much discussed Project Independence (developed in collaboration with Intel) is now called XenClient, and that Citrix will offer it for free.

And from VMBlog:

– Citrix Education Announces Advanced Certifications for Virtualization and Offers Customers New Online, Hands-On Training and Practice Labs

– Citrix Upgrades Server Virtualization Product Lines for Both XenServer and Hyper-V

Citrix announced a significant new upgrade to Citrix Essentials for XenServer and Hyper-V, the recently announced product line that adds advanced virtualization management capabilities to two of the industry’s fastest growing virtualization platforms. The new 5.5 version of Citrix Essentials helps customers of both of these high-growth platforms achieve more manageable, scalable and agile datacenters by providing open technologies that leverage their existing investments in the most efficient way possible. Citrix also announced a new 5.5 version of Citrix XenServer that raises the bar once again for free, enterprise-class virtualization, adding a wide range of new features that enable easier management and broader integration with enterprise systems.

– Citrix Expands Citrix C3 Cloud Computing Platform and Program

Citrix Systems announced a variety of new offerings for its Citrix Cloud Center (Citrix C3) product family to further equip service providers with the infrastructure and product licensing needed to deliver successful clouds services to their customers.

– Citrix Receiver Makes Accessing Virtual Desktops and Apps as Easy as Turning on Your TV and the Receiver iPhone application is now also available in the App Store.

Citrix announced the general availability of Citrix® Receiver – a new lightweight software client that makes accessing virtual desktops and applications on any device as easy as turning on your TV. Much like a satellite or cable TV receiver in a broadcast media service, Citrix Receiver allows IT organizations to deliver desktops and applications as an on-demand service to any device in any location with a rich “high-definition” experience.

– Citrix Dazzle Puts the Personal Back in Computing

Citrix Systems took a major step toward transforming IT into an on-demand service with the introduction of Citrix Dazzle – the first self-service “storefront” for enterprise applications. Dazzle gives corporate employees 24×7 self-service access to a broad array of applications, desktops and content, allowing them to choose exactly what they need, when they need it.

Citrix XenApp 5.0 Delayed For Months?

May 22, 2008 by Robin Wauters 1 Comment

Independent technology analyst & author Brian Madden is speculating a multiple-month delay for Citrix XenApp 5.0, not hearing anything about it at Citrix’ annual Synergy event. He writes:

“The current Presentation Server 4.5 product does NOT work on Windows Server 2008, so if you want to use Citrix + Server 2008, you need XenApp 5. Citrix told us again and again in 2007 that the “Delaware” edition of Presentation Server would be released 90 days after Microsoft releases Windows Server 2008.

Windows Server 2008 came out on February 28. That means we should see XenApp 5 in the end of May. Today is May 21, which means that technically Citrix has another week to release XenApp 5, but it’s unlikely this will happen since they haven’t mentioned it at Synergy. In fact the rumor floating around is that XenApp 5 won’t actually make it out for another few months.”

When asking Citrix employees, Brian received two different responses: one claiming Windows Server 2008 is not yet widely adopted for Terminal Server applications, making a release of a new XenApp version unnecessary, and one claiming that the mentioned period was more a ‘target’ than a real ‘commitment’.

Be that as it may, Brian is right to add that neither of these excuses explain why excactly XenApp 5 is taking so long. He goes on trying to provide an explanation for the likely delay, which we suggest you go read on his blog.

Citrix Unveils XenDesktop 2.0

May 20, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

“It’s like getting a fresh new PC every day.” That’s how Citrix is touting its long awaited VDI solution, dubbed XenDesktop version 2.0, probably just because it’s what all the cool kids name their solutions nowadays.

XenDesktop 2.0 was unveiled at Citrix Synergy 2008, with the company also revealing some previously unannounced details about the complete XenDesktop product line, including the release of a new Express Edition offering free desktop virtualization for up to 10 users, and new Enterprise and Platinum Editions which integrate application virtualization via the new XenApp for Virtual Desktops feature.

These are the five editions in detail for the XenDesktop product line:

Express Edition – free desktop virtualization for up to 10 users.
Standard Edition – offers a cost-effective, but high performance, entry-level desktop virtualization solution suitable for departmental implementations.
Advanced Edition – an enterprise desktop virtualization solution for organizations that have an existing application delivery already it place. Advanced Edition adds powerful virtual desktop provisioning capabilities that reduce storage costs and simplify desktop lifecycle management by enabling a single desktop image to dynamically create and update hundreds of virtual desktops on demand.
Enterprise Edition – comprehensive desktop delivery solution including integrated application delivery. Enterprise Edition adds fully integrated application delivery with XenApp for Virtual Desktops, based on the most proven application virtualization technology in the industry with over 100 million users and 99 percent of the Fortune 500 as customers.
Platinum Edition – ideal for customers looking to implement desktops as a service from the datacenter. Platinum Edition adds extensive optimization, security, monitoring and end user support benefits to create the ultimate desktop experience and best overall product value. This edition also includes the award-winning Citrix EasyCall™ technology, giving users instant click-to-call capability from any application, as well as a built in on-demand remote assistance feature that allows support staff to see exactly what end users see if a problem occurs, chat with them in real time, and even take permission-based control of the end-user’s mouse and keyboard to walk them through a problem resolution live.

XenDesktop is available now and can be downloaded today. Suggested retail pricing is per concurrent user as follows:

XenDesktop Express – free download
XenDesktop Standard – USD $75
XenDesktop Advanced – USD $195
XenDesktop Enterprise – USD $295
XenDesktop Platinum – USD $395

Citrix also unveiled a new Desktop Appliance Partner Program aimed at establishing trusted standards for desktop appliances, a new class of device that is purpose-built to deliver a superior user experience for virtual desktop delivery.