The Citrix and AppSense relationship demonstrates over ten years of joint respect, understanding & recognition and engagement with each other as leaders in our respective fields.   Together Citrix and AppSense have developed and delivered solutions into some of the world’s largest and most demanding computing environments which can be read about in our numerous joint Case Studies and Video Testimonials, for example:
Citrix.com – Managing Finance Users with AppSense User Virtualization
Citrix.com – Managing Healthcare’s Roaming User with AppSense

One of the main drivers behind a joint AppSense and Citrix solution, is to enable and adopt a Desktop Transformation project, such as a Citrix XenDesktop environment, faster, with less risk & disruption, at lower cost and with maximum user acceptance.  Best practice and the first step in transforming your existing desktop to a low-cost, dynamic Citrix XenDesktop is to virtualize the user first, separate them along with all of their information from the existing platform, swap out and move to Windows 7 on Citrix XenDesktop, then re-apply the user and all of their relevent settings and data to the new environment.

This best practice to ‘Simplifying Desktop Transformation’ can be seen in the Citrix and AppSense White Paper within the Citrix Desktop Transformation Model:  AppSense User Virtualization – Extending the value of Citrix and forming a strategic component of the Citrix Desktop Transformation Model (DTM), which can be downloaded from Citrix.com here.

Below are a couple of highlights from the paper:

“The Citrix Desktop Transformation Model (DTM) is designed to help customers get from “wow to how” and quickly realize the many benefits of desktop virtualization. Citrix has worked closely with customers and partners – in this case AppSense User Virtualization – to develop the first industry-endorsed, repeatable method for transforming desktop computing from today’s device-centric, distributed management paradigm, to a more user-centric, virtualized model.”

When used with your Citrix Desktop Transformation Project, AppSense User Virtualization provides:

Other topics in the White Paper include:

Upon reading the White Paper and when you are ready for your next steps in Desktop Transformation, you may be interested in the joint Citrix and AppSense Proof of Concept Kit, details of which are also in the paper in the ‘Further information and next actions’ section.

There are other documents created by Citrix to help educate and cover the benefits of User Virtualization in your Citrix environment such as the Citrix Case Study on AppSense – Leading User Virtualization Solution. which provides more information on why “Citrix recommends the use of AppSense for advanced user personalization and desktop configuration requirements in enterprise environments.”

Further information can be found within the Citrix Featured Partners pages, which highlights their leading Citrix partners in their respective fields and how they add further value and form a strategic component of Desktop Virtualization and Transformation – AppSense and XenDesktop Featured Partner Page

I hope this is of help and provides insight on managing the user component of the desktop as part of your Citrix Desktop Transformation Model, please let me know if you have any questions or would like any further information.