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My session at NVIDIA GTC 2013

Hi All

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I am pretty excited about this blogpost, last week I was at NVIDIA GTC in San Jose, California. I was invited by NVIDIA to come and talk about my experience with delivering 2D/3D apps with remote graphics solutions from Citrix. In this session I cover the history of remote graphic solutions from Citrix (XenDesktop, XenApp and XenServer) and whats possible to do today with the technologies and how the collaboration is together with NVIDIA. You get an understanding how to build the solution on a high level and then I tell about 4 real world examples, where you get key insights for determining if these solutions are the right for your company.

You will learn how Vestas have been using this technology with Citrix XenDesktop HDX 3D Pro since 2008, and how Ramboll uses this for several years and what they gained of implementing remote graphics solutions globally. The third case is a very excited story, which is a POC I did at an Oil client and in this case ,we used the new NVIDIA GRID K2 with Citrix XenDesktop HDX 3D Pro and Citrix XenApp HDX 3D + the new OpenGL GPU sharing feature and how this works together with thin clients and collaboration software from CISCO UC, so the business are able to take their 3D application from their desktop session, and share this to a collaboration room and then share this with multiple screens to multiple locations globally and work in 1 place with people and technology combined in place. Amazing stuff. The last case study is how Raysearch Lab have been using Citrix XenDesktop HDX 3D Pro to their clients for several years and how they make the world a better place with their software for cancer treatment.

Citrix Mobile Solutions

Citrix have released a new product called Citrix Mobile Solution which are the components of Zenprise now called XenMobile combined with Citrix CloudGateway (AppController, app prep tool+access gateway). Citrix have done a great job combining the two technologies into 1 product. I saw how the new XenMobile MDM & @WorkMail app for iOS worked at a Citrix Disti Bootcamp that was held 25-25th February  at Citrix Systems in Stockholm, and it looks really awesome and fast too, so its a ready product but i doesn’t communicate with the local contact phone list, and let you abstract the informations from the local phone book to the @WorkMail, which some mights wants this functionality. Lets digg in.

Mobile Solutions

Citrix Mobile Solutions is an enterprise mobility management solution that provides mobile device, app and data freedom for employees by giving users access to all their mobile, web and Windows apps and data from a unified app store. Mobile Solutions includes the following components:

  • CloudGateway that includes AppController, the App Preparation Tool, and Access Gateway.
  • XenMobile MDM contains Device Manager, Secure Mobile Gateway, and the Multi-Tenant Console.

The Citrix Mobile Solutions Bundle, is comprised of XenMobile MDM and CloudGateway. Employees have quick, single-click access to all their mobile, web, SaaS and Windows apps from a unified app store, including secure productivity apps that seamlessly integrate to offer a great user experience.

The Mobile Solutions Bundle provides identity-based provisioning and control for all apps, data and devices, policy-based controls, such as restriction of application access to authorized users, automatic account de-provisioning for terminated employees and selective wipe of device, apps or data stored on lost devices. With the Mobile Solutions Bundle, IT can give users device choice while giving IT the ability to prevent data leakage and protect the internal network from mobile threats.

mobile solutions architecture

Mobile Solutions Bundle is composed of the components below

  1. AppController – A Linux based virtual machine available for both XenServer and VMware® based hosts, providing the central administrative point for configuration of all native mobile apps, Web/ SaaS apps, and ShareFile data.
  2. Gateway services – Delivered through the Citrix Access Gateway, either standalone, or as a feature of the NetScaler MPX, VPX and SDX platforms.
  3. App Preparation Tool – MDX technology provides encapsulated iOS and Android applications with security, encryption, and control.
  4. @Work Applications – @WorkMail and @WorkWeb applications for secure Exchange mail and secure Web.
  5. Mobile Device Management – Allows IT to manage mobile devices, set mobile policies and compliance rules, gain visibility to the mobile network, provide control over mobile apps and data, and shield the corporate network from mobile threats

xenmobile device manager

AppController 2.6, whats new

  • Certificate support. When you log on to AppController for the first time in the web-based management console to configure the initial settings, you can add or create certificates on the Active Directory settings page. This option appears only when configuring settings in the management console the first time you log on. When you log on subsequently to the management console, you can configure certificates by using theCertificates link on the Settings tab.
  • Microsoft Hyper-V support. You can install the AppController 2.6 virtual machine on Windows Server 2012 with Hyper-V enabled or on Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012.
  • Migration support to AppController 2.6. You can upgrade to AppController 2.6 from AppController 2.0 or from AppController 2.5.
  • Secure connections to Active Directory. When you log on to AppController for the first time in the management console to configure the initial settings, you can configure secure connections to Active Directory on the Active Directory settings page. When you log on subsequently to the management console, you can change Active Directory settings by using the Active Directory link on the Settings tab.
  • ShareFile updates. In previous AppController versions, when you configured ShareFile, the domain sharefile.com was automatically appended to the domain name. In this release, the domain sharefile.com does not automatically append to the ShareFile domain name. You must enter the entire ShareFile domain name.
  • Support for mobile links. You can configure mobile links to retrieve the name and description of apps automatically from the Apple App Store. For apps available through the Google Play Store, you enter the name, description and URL of the app. When you configure mobile links, links appear in Receiver with the Play Store or App Store name.
  •  Web proxy user name format. When you configure the web proxy, you can use either the SAMAccount format or the User Principal Name (UPN) as the user name.

Source

Download Citrix Mobile Solutions bundle here (Require MyCitrix) 
The new version of the AppController 2.6 & App preparation tool for iOS and Android are located in above link + XenMobile components.

edocs of Citrix Mobile Solutions

Architecture of the Citrix Mobile solutions bundle

Release Candidiate – Citrix @WorkMail & @WorkWeb for iOS

Citrix have released a Release Candidate of @WorkMail @WorkWeb for iOS that works with Citrix CloudGateway Enterprise 2.5.

Below is the blog post Citrix made 16th October 2012, that tells more about what WorkMail & WorkApp is and i have added the screenshots so you can see the apps.

More about @WorkMail & @WorkWeb

@WorkMail is an Exchange email client for the iPhone, iPad, Android phones and tablets. This app is part of the larger Me@Work application suite that was announced at Synergy Barcelona.

Most of you are probably blasé to new email clients and have the notion that they seen it all. Let’s face it – email is so 1990’s way to communicate! Many of us probably use Facebook, WhatsApp or LinkedIn messaging as much as their regular email – I definitely do so. You might rightfully expect that building a new email client that adds innovative value to users is wishful thinking – akin to expecting sunshine in Seattle during winter!

However there is no denying that corporate email is the original ‘killer app’ for mobile device and arguably it’s ‘killer’ status remains today – we should remember that RIM made a fortune via Blackberry secure messaging.  As we listened to our customers we found that there is still lots of work to be done for securely delivering enterprise email in BYOD environment that has a great user experience. This is particularly so for our customers who are in highly regulated industries such as healthcare, industry and finance where the costs and liability of information leakage via email are huge. The IT groups at these customers bear the onerous responsibility of ensuring that there is no email data leakage and any mobile device lost at a random bar does not result in sensitive information being divulged. Typically, IT reacts to this responsibility by clamping down and ensuring that no mobile devices have access to corporate email.

Of course, this situation is not tenable and there is a strong demand for secure messaging with usability to match the typical employee’s expectation of a mobile user experience.

Keeping in mind the above context for secure messaging, we targeted the following goals as we designed our email app:

 Build a beautiful and delightful user experience – On mobile devices, users have high expectations of user experience. Enterprise users are the same mainstream customers who have soaked up consumer app user experiences – they expect the same polish and delight in enterprise apps (whether they articulate this or not is a different matter). We have taken this expectation quite seriously and worked hard in creating an integrated design for Mail, Calendar and Contacts.

Work well with Microsoft Exchange and ActiveSync – Exchange is the big boy of enterprise messaging and is the definitely the thought leader. Exchange pretty much dominates the enterprise email and with their Office 365 offering they might dominate the SMB segment as well. We have ensured that Exchange and ActiveSync push messaging protocol works well with our app.

Integrate well with other mobile apps in the Citrix Me@Work Suite – Along with @WorkMail, we launched @WorkWeb – a secure browser app.  We designed from ground-up for our email app to work seamlessly with other apps in the Me@Work suite including the browser app. As a user comes across an intranet link in his email message, he can click on that link to launch @WorkWeb to the intranet site without any further authentication check.  MDX Interapp technology ensures that Single-Sign On and app communications happen in a transparent manner to the user.

Conversely, if you click on a mailto link on the page you are browsing in @WorkWeb it seamlessly opens in @WorkMail email compose form. We have worked hard to ensure that the app to app scenarios work in a secure and great user experience.

Data integration – We have also enabled close integration with the ShareFile space using MDX Interapp technology. We have designed a user experience to easily download document attachments in his email to his ShareFile space – as this space can be managed by IT, it is more secure and goes a long way in addressing DLP.  Using @WorkMail a user can’t download documents to unsecured locations on his device that are outside the purview of IT.

In addition to above features, we have also added bunch of other features such as calendar integration with GoToMeeting for scheduling meetings, showing Free/Busy times and of course encryption, policy and security aspects of MDX Vault.

      

Source

blog post from Citrix “Citrix delivers email to your mobile device… securely!”

Download technology preview of Citrix @WorkMail & @WorkWeb for iOS here (Require MyCitrix ID)
* HINT look under @Applications on the webpage to find them.

Citrix Receiver 1.1 for HTML5

Citrix have released a new Citrix Receiver for HTML 5, lets dig in whats new.

About Receiver for HTML5 1.1

Receiver for HTML5 integrates with Access Gateway and StoreFront to enable users to access desktops and applications directly through their web browsers. Resources provided by XenDesktop, AppController, and XenApp are aggregated in a StoreFront store and made available through a Receiver for Web site. Users without Citrix clients installed on their devices log on to the site using HTML5-compatible web browsers and access their desktops and applications directly in browser tabs.

What’s new

Receiver for HTML5 supports a wider range of web browsers with the addition of support for Internet Explorer and Safari.

Known issues

The following is a list of known issues in this release. Read it carefully before installing the product.

SSL Relay support requires connections through Access Gateway

Users cannot connect to applications provided by XenApp deployments that include the SSL Relay without using Access Gateway. To work around this issue, ensure that all users, including users on the local network, connect to the Receiver for Web site through Access Gateway. [#289816]

Limitations

Receiver for HTML5 does not support client drive mapping.

Receiver for HTML5 user experience

Receiver for HTML5 enables users who cannot install Citrix Receiver on their devices to access their desktops and applications through their web browsers. Users without Citrix clients installed on their devices log on to Receiver for Web sites using HTML5-compatible web browsers and access their resources directly in browser tabs.

Users must connect to Receiver for Web sites through Access Gateway to access desktops provided by XenDesktop, web and SaaS applications provided by AppController, and applications provided by most supported versions of XenApp. For more information, see System requirements for Receiver for HTML5 1.1.

By setting a XenApp policy, you can enable local access through Receiver for HTML5 to applications provided by XenApp 6.5 Feature Pack 1 without routing connections through Access Gateway. For more information, see Install and configure Receiver for HTML5.

To access their desktops and applications using Receiver for HTML5, users navigate to a Receiver for Web site using a HTML5-compatible browser running on a supported operating system. By default, when a user accesses a Receiver for Web site from a computer running Windows or Mac OS X, the site attempts to determine whether Citrix Receiver is installed on the user’s device. If Citrix Receiver cannot be detected, the default configuration enables users logging on to the site with a supported browser to use Receiver for HTML5. When users running Chrome OS log on to a Receiver for Web site, Receiver for HTML5 is always used.

When a user accesses a desktop or application through Receiver for HTML5, the resource starts in a new browser tab or window, according to the user’s browser settings. A floating toolbar containing controls for Receiver for HTML5 is displayed in the tab or window. The clipboard button enables users to copy and paste text between the local clipboard on the device and the resource running in the browser. Users can send the CTRL+ALT+DELETE key combination to their desktops and applications using the lock button.

Source

Download Citrix Receiver 1.1 for HTML5 here

Citrix Receiver 5.7 for iOS

Citrix have released a new version of Citrix Receiver 5.7 for iOS

What’s New in Version 5.7

In addition to general usability and performance improvements, this release adds these features:

· On iOS 6 operating systems, support for the Bluetooth keyboard, as well as fixes for rotation issues and Access Gateway timeout issues.

· On iPhone 5 devices, support for the new screen size.

· First-time use updates, including support for Access Gateway URL input.

· Improved performance when logging on, including reduced time for enumeration of applications.

· Support for multiple stores. Log into multiple accounts at one time, including both a PNA or Web Interface account and a StoreFront account with App Controller running simultaneously within Receiver. A new icon enables you to switch between accounts.

· SAN SSL certificate support.

· Enhanced client-side logging. Enable “Advanced Logs” in the Advanced Settings to help troubleshoot problems.

· New options for sending feedback, including the option to request for help from Support and to send feature requests to Citrix.

· Enhancements in the extended keyboard ribbon. Add and view extended keys more easily, including “sticky” keys for multi-key combinations.

· Support for Citrix @WorkMail™ and @WorkWeb™ for iOS-based devices that let users easily access their email, calendar, and contacts, as well as intranet web sites. You upload the mobile apps to AppController and users subscribe to these two apps from Receiver.

· Support for CloudGateway AppController 2.5, including:

· Policies for MDX-enabled mobile apps. Enable policies while wrapping apps, including policies that support device security, networks, and the ways apps interact with documents and web sites. You can also limit or block device functions, such as copy and paste, the camera, and GPS location services. These policies provide support for iOS apps, including @WorkWeb and @WorkMail.

· Ability to manage the your device inventory, including locking user devices, erasing application data and documents from user devices, and removing devices from the inventory list in AppController.

· Ability to configure workflows, including multiple workflows before you add applications. When you configure applications, you can select the appropriate workflow.

· Policies for Web and SaaS apps, including policies that support blocking of compromised devices, wireless network settings, the requirement for users to connect to an internal network to access apps, and the ability for users to have network access.

Source

Download Citrix on your AppStore or this link