citrix

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.

PlateSpin Reaffirms Commitment For Extended Citrix XenServer Support

May 21, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

PlateSpin, since recently a Novell company, today reaffirmed its commitment to support Citrix XenServer across the PlateSpin product line. PlateSpin considers XenServer support to be a key element of its multiplatform strategy, which aims to offer enterprises a unified suite of solutions for managing heterogeneous data center environments and making physical and virtual infrastructures work as one.

“As a Citrix Technology Partner, PlateSpin is committed to working with Citrix to offer customers simple, efficient and interoperable solutions to virtualize servers and better manage their XenServer environments,” said Stephen Pollack, CEO of PlateSpin ULC. “PlateSpin Workload Portability and profiling technology helps Citrix customers make the most of their XenServer investments by accelerating and simplifying the integration of XenServer into their mixed data center environments where multiple hypervisor technologies coexist.”

With broad support for today’s distributed, multi-platform environments, PlateSpin PowerRecon provides an enterprise-scale workload profiling, planning and optimization solution that improves the speed and quality of virtualization initiatives and eases the burden of managing virtual environments.

[Source: VMblog]

IGEL’s Range Of Thin Clients Supports Citrix XenDesktop

May 21, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

IGEL Technology announced the broadest range of thin client models supporting the important Citrix XenDesktop virtualization standard. With all of its 22 (!) models now supporting Citrix XenDesktop, IGEL claims its unique digital services approach allows organizations to offer the best user experience combined with robust desktop resilience and powerful remote management.

The IGEL Technology range includes traditional desktop designs, PC upgrade cards, 17” and 19” LCD integrated units, wireless tablets and quad screen units. The variety of choice allows organizations of all types to deploy the Citrix XenDesktop virtualization solution to almost any part of the business, including office workers, mobile users, space constrained point-of-sale areas and multi-screen environments such as dealing rooms.

The flexibility of the IGEL approach allows organizations to pick and choose the best digital services to deliver a true PC experience, including web browser, Java, SAP GUI, PDF, terminal emulation and VoIP. This also provides desktop resilience if the virtual PC connection should be lost, for example, users can access email via the local web client or SAP via the native SAP GUI in this event.

“The arguments for virtualizing PCs are becoming overwhelming,” said Dirk Dördelmann, technical director, IGEL Technology. “Applications can now be migrated to the data center without compatibility issues. The access device choice is so broad that organizations can place them almost anywhere, and the process of deployment is no more complex than plugging in a telephone. IGEL offers the end user a thin client experience that is just like a PC but without the hassles, and we are excited to now offer this capability in conjunction with our long-term partner Citrix.”

Splunk Announces Server Virtualization Management Application for Citrix XenServer

May 20, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Splunk today announced the immediate availability of its first server virtualization management application, Splunk for Citrix XenServer Management which offers extended management capabilities for Citrix XenServer. In the coming months, Splunk expects to release applications for each of the leading server virtualization platforms, built on the company’s IT Search platform.

Splunk brings IT Search, indexing, alert and reporting to the challenges of troubleshooting server virtualization. IT Search promises to deliver a comprehensive view of 100 percent of IT data – not only from the hypervisor and VM (virtual machine), but also from the server, guest OS, applications, and network.

With multiple VMs sharing a pool of server, storage and network resources, changes to any one layer or VM could potentially affect others – and the applications they contain. Splunk’s ability to index data across every tier of the infrastructure in real-time makes it the only solution to alleviate the challenge of running a dynamic environment on finite resources with optimal results.

“Splunk just gets it,” said Simon Crosby, CTO, Virtualization & Management, Citrix Systems. “XenServer customers have been asking for a way to correlate hypervisor data and metrics with everything else going on in the IT stack, including guest VMs and apps. Splunk has the smarts to put all the relevant logs, metrics and events together in the most intuitive way so you can really understand what’s happening all the way up the stack.”

According to the press release, Splunk for Server Virtualization Management supports all management use cases throughout the virtualization lifecycle – virtualization planning, workload optimization, performance monitoring, root cause analysis and log management. Whether customers are testing a new virtualization rollout or managing an existing infrastructure, Splunk Apps provide a holistic view across virtualization platform metrics from guest operating systems and applications.

Users can download a free 30-day trial of the Splunk for XenServer Management application.

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.

HP & Virtualization: New Thin Client Hardware, Extended Software Offerings, Deeper Partnerships With Citrix and VMware

May 19, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

HP today introduced the new HP 2533t Mobile Thin Client, which it claims combines “the best of HP’s industry-leading thin client and business notebook technologies to enhance data security and improve both ease of use and reliability”.

The company also plans to expand its Remote Graphics Software technology. HP RGS supports a remote, yet collaborative work model that helps overcome the distance barriers that can impede global organizations and delivers to remote client environments rich, local desktop-like user experiences. With HP RGS, professionals can work together, from any physical location with Internet access, and make decisions in real-time with more secure access to multimedia content including flash animations, video, hardware accelerated 2D and 3D applications.

The HP 2533t provides enhanced access to virtual computing solutions, such as blade PCs or a virtual desktop infrastructure, and increased protection of corporate data and software applications by storing files on a secure, centralized server. No data resides on the actual mobile thin client, so companies should be assured that data is not compromised in the event the client is lost or stolen.

In addition, HP announced its full portfolio of Citrix-Ready thin clients and blade client products is now available with Citrix XenDesktop, as well as being certified by VMware for compatibility with its VMware Virtual Desktop Infrastructure.

“Today’s news is the latest example of HP’s building momentum in the client virtualization market,” said Roberto Moctezuma, vice president and general manager, Desktop Solutions Organization, HP. “We’re offering businesses a one-stop shop to meet their virtualization needs with the most comprehensive portfolio of virtual client solutions, ease of management and the highest levels of IT security.”

HP thin clients are now certified for the Citrix XenDesktop appliance program across the line, with the HP Compaq t5730 Thin Client delivering the “Desktop Appliance Plus” experience and verified Citrix-Ready for Citrix Password Manager, Citrix XenApp (Citrix Presentation Server 4.0 & 4.5), Citrix XenDesktop and an embedded Desktop Receiver.

“With the availability of XenDesktop, Citrix uniquely delivers virtual desktops that dramatically reduce the cost of ownership for IT, while providing a superior user experience for knowledge workers,” said Raj Dhingra, vice president and general manager, Desktop Delivery Group, Citrix Systems. “We are excited to be demonstrating the results of our collaboration at Synergy 2008. The Citrix and HP relationship enables enterprises to quickly implement and manage a best-of-breed client virtualization solution from the data center to the desktop.”

Today’s expansion of the HP virtualization portfolio also extends the recently introduced ProLiant iVirtualization joint venture with Citrix, VMware and Microsoft, which uses customers’ existing server management tools to integrate virtualization technology directly into a broad range of HP ProLiant and BladeSystem platforms.