Citrix XenDesktop 5.6 Feature Pack 1
Long waited…. oh yes this is huge news and will take the leading VDI product Citrix XenDesktop to the higher clouds and position XenDesktop as the leader in VDI space. HDX 3D Pro is out in generation 3 with huge improvements Citrix says it will reduce bandwidth with 50% and now you can run “applications/games” in full screen and CUDA cores are not used anymore for the codecs. which was used before so. New technology is out so you can remote your PC with HDX (remote pc) and virtual print server is final out and next generation of HDX realtime that will speed up Unified Communications solution build on Citrix VDI platform and i can go on.. lets dig in.
What’s New in XenDesktop 5.6 Feature Pack 1
HDX 3D Pro Enhancements
Introduced in XenDesktop 4, HDX 3D Pro released in this version of XenDesktop enables you to leverage GPU hardware acceleration for 3D applications based on OpenGL and DirectX. With HDX 3D Pro, you can use XenDesktop to deliver complex interactive graphics over wide area network (WAN) connections with bandwidths as low as 2 Mbps. On local area network (LAN) connections, HDX 3D Pro enables you to replace complex and expensive workstations with much simpler user devices, moving the graphics processing into the data center for centralized management.
XenDesktop 5.6 Feature Pack 1 introduces the following enhancements to HDX 3D Pro:
- New, default CPU based deep compression improves performance and reduces GPU costs.
- NVIDIA VGX™ direct frame buffer provides access to a highly interactive user experience.
- Full screen application support.
- Improved screen resolution negotiation.
Remote PC Access
Remote PC allows an end user to log on remotely to the physical PC in his or her office from virtually anywhere. The Citrix XenDesktop Virtual Desktop Agent on the office PC enables it to register with the XenDesktop Controller and manages the HDX connection between the machine and end user client devices. The Citrix Receiver running on the client device provides access to the office PC.
HDX RealTime Optimization Pack for Microsoft Lync
Citrix HDX RealTime Optimization Pack for Microsoft® Lync™ offers highly scalable video conferencing and clear, crisp high-definition audio-video calls in conjunction with Microsoft Lync. Users can seamlessly participate in audio-video or audio-only calls to and from other HDX RealTime users and other standards-based video desktop and conference room systems.
HDX RealTime optimized Lync calling is not available for use with Remote PC access.
Citrix Mobility Pack
Citrix Mobility Pack automatically re-skins virtual desktops for more intuitive, touch-friendly use on tablet devices. Tablet-optimized desktops work with the currently available Receiver for iOS and Receiver for Android.
Citrix Mobility Pack provides users with a true Native Device Experience by recognizing the type of endpoint operating system and enabling mobile device features such as auto-keyboard popup, local selector controls, and auto-scrolling. Receiver for iOS and Receiver for Android are required to take advantage of these enhancements.
This pack is required to make the unique capabilities of a mobile device such as GPS, camera, and other sensors available to application developers who may use it in conjunction with the Citrix Mobile Application SDK to create custom, mobile-friendly, virtual desktops hosted by XenDesktop in the data center.
Universal Print Server
The Citrix Universal Print Server extends XenApp and XenDesktop Universal printing support to network printing. This feature eliminates the need to install numerous network printer drivers on XenApp and XenDesktop hosts, and enables more efficient network utilization. The new Citrix Universal printer driver supports direct network printing from any Citrix Receiver, supporting a wide range of Windows and non-Windows clients.
After you install the Universal Print Server components and configure the new policy settings, a user can add and enumerate network printers through the Windows Provider and Citrix Provider interfaces.
The Universal Print Server feature comprises a client component (UPClient) that you install on XenApp and XenDesktop hosts, and a server component (UPServer) that you install on a print server. You must also ensure that your XenApp and XenDesktop hosts and the computer where you use the Group Policy Management Console have the appropriate updates installed.
XenDesktop Collector
Use XenDesktop Collector to gather information about the health of your XenDesktop deployment. XenDesktop Collector captures key, troubleshooting data points for Citrix XenDesktop Controllers and Virtual Desktop Agents.
XenDesktop Collector has a Graphical User interface (GUI) that lets you Collect environmental information on multiple virtual desktops and upload that data to Citrix Technical Support. It also provides data collection reports and logs.
XenDesktop Collector Command Line Interface (CLI) provides the same functionality as the GUI. Additionally, you can automate data collection through scripts running XenDesktop Collector commands, collect data points specific to your XenDesktop environment, and collect one specific data point for multiple virtual desktops in large environments.
HDX RealTime Webcam Video Compression Support of Cisco WebEx
With this release of XenDesktop, HDX RealTime Webcam Video Compression now supports Cisco WebEx.
HDX RealTime WebCAM Video Compression supports the following applications:
- Adobe Connect
XenClient Enterprise 4.1
XenClient 4.1 now supports 9x more PCs, has wider graphics support with NVIDIA graphics & has broader server hypervisor support. Its backend management can now run on XenServer, vSphere & Hyper-V. The release brings robust policy controls to the platform & role based administration. XenClient 4.1 delivers enterprise level scalability with support of up to 10,000 endpoints.
Source
Download Citrix XenDesktop 5.6 Feature Pack 1 here (require MyCitrix ID)
