It is always exciting when the first emails start to come in with feedback on a new software release. A few weeks ago, the Apollo team put out a second Tech Preview release of our accelerated bitmap remoting technology for 3D graphics acceleration on XenDesktop. This release introduced support for delivering 3D professional graphics applications -- both OpenGL and DirectX based -- over a DSL-like WAN/Internet connection (1.5 - 6 Mbps). With this new technology, companies can keep their intellectual property safe in the delivery center while enabling workers to access 3D applications remotely, even from another continent. Here are some of the early comments:

• "We have been extremely impressed by early results while testing the Apollo Tech Preview with [Autodesk] Revit Architecture." -- Global architectural firm, testing over high latency trans-Atlantic WAN links.
• "The [test subjects'] reactions are positive so far. At 1.5 Mbps it is still very usable." -- Major software vendor.
• "So far this is the only product to have anywhere near acceptable performance." -- Top tier system integrator.
• "[We're] doing user testing and so far everyone is loving it." -- Diversified manufacturer of commercial and defense products.

Based on the positive response, we are now accepting additional organizations into our Tech Preview Program. So if you'd like to "kick the tires", please complete the application form at www.citrix.com/apollo3Dgraphics.

Derek Thorslund
Product Strategist, Multimedia Virtualization

Can you run Direct3D apps on XenApp? What about WPF apps?

Direct3D, part of Microsoft's DirectX API, is used to render 3D graphics in applications where high performance is required. Direct3D apps are not generally supported on XenApp because they require hardware acceleration. That's what kicked off the 3D acceleration technology being developed by Citrix under project Apollo. However, some Direct3D apps will fall back to software rendering, so they can be hosted on XenApp. It depends on whether the software developer has enabled fallback to the software rasterizer. Be aware that Direct3D apps may consume a lot of CPU to do the graphics rendering, especially if they make use of a lot of fancy effects. You'll probably want a multi-core server with lots of memory to deliver these apps.

WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation, the graphical subsystem of .NET Framework 3.0 and above), although Direct3D based, automatically falls back to software rendering when no GPU is available. WPF apps have been supported on XenApp as of PS 4.5 FP1 which was released in September 2007. They will run on XenApp for Windows Server 2003 when 16-bit or "5-6-5" color (also called "High color") is configured. With Windows Server 2008, 24-bit or "8-8-8" color ("True color") is also supported.

Depending on the WPF functionality that is leveraged by the application, performance and scalability on XenApp will vary. SpeedScreen Progressive Display optimizes the delivery of rendered graphics to the client device via compression and auto-sharpening. However, WPF applications using intensive 3D graphics or fading effects will consume more CPU and memory than typical GDI applications, so you can expect server scalability to be lower. Another challenge for project Apollo . . .

Derek Thorslund
Product Strategist, Multimedia Virtualization

Many organizations have a need to give certain remote workers access to 3D graphics and imaging applications, but that has been a big challenge in the past. Managing high-end graphics workstations at remote locations isn't easy. And even if the user has the right equipment, pulling up large design drawings (potentially millions of vertices) from a central database over a network connection can be agonizingly slow. On top of that, the company's intellectual property may be exposed because the data has to be sent over the network to the user's workstation.

Citrix solved these challenges for 2D and lightweight 3D graphics with the introduction of SpeedScreen Progressive Display in XenApp PS 4.5 (also included in XenDesktop), and since then we have been working on combining our remoting technologies with 3D graphics hardware acceleration. One of the new technologies being developed under the Citrix Multimedia Virtualization Initiative is Apollo Accelerated Bitmap Remoting (ABR), and we're about to unveil our second Tech Preview of Apollo ABR on October 27, 2008. Whereas our first Tech Preview release was focused on demonstrating the ability to deliver DirectX applications and Vista Aero desktops with full animation and glass effects, this new release is all about delivery over DSL-like WAN/Internet connections. This will allow organizations to effectively deliver high-end 3D graphics and imaging applications to remote users who have standard PCs or recent-model desktop appliances. Centralization allows organizations to protect their intellectual property and reduce IT management costs and complexity. It even opens up the potential for organizations to recruit professionals from around the world.

Apollo ABR is a XenDesktop-based technology that leverages a graphics processing unit (GPU) on the host workstation in the delivery center to render 3D graphics. Users connect through the XenDesktop Desktop Delivery Controller. A special version of the XenDesktop plugin (client) has been created for Apollo ABR to optimize the user experience over DSL-like network connections (2-6 Mbps).

If your organization would like to evaluate Apollo ABR Tech Preview 2, please review the information on our web page and complete the application form. Applications will be evaluated according to match against Citrix's objectives for the Tech Preview program, variety and graphics-intensity of applications, and resource availability for support.

Derek Thorslund
Product Strategist, Multimedia Virtualization

Several people applying to join the Tech Preview program for Apollo Accelerated Bitmap Remoting (ABR) for 3D professional graphics have asked about AutoCAD. While Apollo ABR can certainly be used to deliver AutoCAD, this sort of 2D graphics application can actually be delivered very effectively with XenApp since it generally does not require GPU hardware acceleration. The challenge is that AutoCAD itself is not supported on Terminal Services, but the answer to that issue is found in Chris Richner's blog post. The solution is to upgrade to Autodesk Map 3D, which includes all of the features and functionality of AutoCAD but is fully supported on Terminal Services. Be sure to check out www.autodeskandcitrix.com.

I posted a blog earlier this year on running OCS 2007 on XenApp. Since that time, I've received many emails from customers telling me they've started rolling out OCS 2007 via XenApp in either pilot or production environments. Most of these customers are running IM and Presence with integration into office apps. For those who are still not sure about delivering OCS 2007 via XenApp, I have good news. Citrix Consulting Solutions team has documented a best practice guide detailing how to you can deliver Office Communicator with XenApp 4.5. Come download the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Application Delivery Best Practices guide at: http://support.citrix.com/article/ctx118216

Remember the impressive demo that David Stone gave at Synergy in Houston showing how Citrix's RAVE technology is being adapted to improve the delivery of Adobe Flash content? Perhaps you caught the video on Synergy Underground. David showed a graphics-intensive 3D Flash animation of a shark and fish swimming in the ocean. It was far beyond the typical Flash animations found on corporate web pages yet the quality was "just like local". Since then, the Apollo Multimedia Virtualization team has continued to make excellent progress enhancing SpeedScreen Flash Acceleration with our RAVE technology. I met with Dave recently and we recorded this video to show how RAVE can deliver a high definition Flash movie complete with HD audio. The user experience is amazing and server CPU consumption is extremely low. Sorry, no dates have yet been announced for beta trials or general availability. But I think you'll be amazed at what the Apollo team has already achieved. RAVE (Remote Audio & Video Extension) is a strategic technology for Citrix and a key piece of our SmartRendering vision - the intelligent combination of server-side and client-side rendering based on factors such as the particulars of the application, the capabilities of the client and the server, and the characteristics of the network connection. RAVE is already used in XenApp's SpeedScreen Multimedia Acceleration feature, which is now being ported to XenDesktop, to deliver high quality video and audio from hosted media players based on DirectShow, DMO or Media Foundation technology. Many customers have been asking Citrix to enhance SpeedScreen Flash Acceleration with RAVE to improve the delivery of Flash-based eLearning applications and corporate communications videos. So take a look and let us know what you think. How will this technology help your organization? What are your most important "use cases" for delivering Flash content using XenApp or XenDesktop?

The Apollo Accelerated Bitmap Remoting technology leverages Vista Aero to efficiently capture and deliver DirectX and other 3D graphics. But what if you need to deliver applications that aren't Vista compatible into the same virtual desktop as your 3D professional graphics applications? The trick is to deliver them using XenApp, the Integrated App Delivery feature of the XenDesktop Enterprise and Platinum editions. XenApp supports applications that run on Windows Server 2003 and (with XenApp 5) Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services. Your non-Vista applications can be hosted on XenApp and delivered seamlessly into the user's XenDesktop virtual desktop via Citrix's ICA protocol. Application compatibility issues are eliminated because these applications are never actually installed on Windows Vista. They appear seamlessly integrated with the user's Vista Aero virtual desktop even though they are actually running on a different operating system.

Derek Thorslund
Product Strategist, Multimedia Virtualization

Southwest Florida Water Management District is one of many Citrix XenApp customers using SpeedScreen Progressive Display to give remote users an excellent user experience when accessing a highly graphical application. On August 28th, Marc Versley (Lead System Administrator) and Axel Griner (Senior GIS Analyst) of Southwest Florida Water Management District will share insights into how they have configured their XenApp PS 4.5 system to deliver ESRI ArcGIS, an integrated system for authoring, serving and using geographic information. I'm really looking forward to this webinar as Marc and Axel are planning to give us an in-depth demonstration from both an admin and end user perspective, and share some valuable tips and tricks. So if you're interested in graphical application virtualization, I encourage you to register for this webinar, scheduled for August 28th at 2pm Eastern / 11am Pacific, and learn about this topic straight from a customer who has this technology running in their production environment.

Derek Thorslund
Product Strategist, Multimedia Virtualization

SpeedScreen Progressive Display, introduced in XenApp PS 4.5 and also included in XenDesktop 2.0, has really "moved the needle" when it comes to remote delivery of 2D and lightweight 3D graphics. I just saw the results of a recent Citrix Customer Satisfaction Survey and was impressed to learn that 37% of our XenApp Platinum Edition customers are now using this technology! 

Compared to PS 4.0, SpeedScreen Progressive Display speeds up graphics performance by up to 15 times (see the Tolly Group's report). You've probably seen the demo on our web site which illustrates the user experience. And SpeedScreen Progressive Display lowers the cost of delivering graphics applications by dramatically reducing bandwidth consumption (up to 93%) and allowing access from low cost endpoints.   

If you're using this new graphics technology, please send me an email and let me know which applications you use with it and how big an impact you are seeing. Also, let me know if you have any suggestions for future enhancements. Based on customer input, we recently introduced an enhancement to allow users to control the compression level by means of a toolbar (see picture below); this is available as hotfix PSE450R02W2K3037 (32-bit) or PSE450R02W2K3X64012 (64-bit) for XenApp PS 4.5 HRP02. Now the Apollo multimedia virtualization team is looking at other potential enhancements to SpeedScreen Progressive Display as we integrate this feature into Apollo Accelerated Bitmap Remoting for 3D professional graphics, so we welcome your feedback and suggestions.

 
 
Derek Thorslund
Product Strategist, Multimedia Virtualization

Adam Jacques gave a brilliant demonstration of project Apollo Accelerated Bitmap Remoting at Citrix's Application Delivery Conference in Melbourne, Australia. Take a look at this 5-minute video on YouTube.

Derek Thorslund
Product Strategist, Multimedia Virtualization

Sit back and listen in as I speak with Doug Brown, Citrix Technology Professional and Microsoft MVP, about the Citrix Multimedia Virtualization Initiative and the new technologies being developed by the project Apollo team in this DABCC Radio podcast...

Derek Thorslund
Product Strategist, Multimedia Virtualization

Back in April we ran a poll here on The Citrix Blog to get your feedback on the quality of the audio in a sample recording. We didn't provide much background at the time, since we didn't want to bias the results. But now I'd like to tell you what this was all about.

What you were listening to was an audio sample being delivered at the Medium Quality setting in XenApp, representative of audio as it sounds without the benefit of the RAVE (Remote Audio and Video Extension) technology used in our SpeedScreen Multimedia Acceleration feature for DirectShow/DMO/MF streaming media playback (and currently being adapted for Flash). For most non-RAVE use cases, the Medium Quality setting provides the best balance between sound quality and bandwidth efficiency. We also offer a High Quality setting which leaves the audio uncompressed (bandwidth consumption is high) and a Low Quality setting -- which I really think we should have called "Low Bandwidth" since no one really asks for low quality -- so that anyone still on a dial-up connection can at least hear something even though the sound quality leaves a lot to be desired.

The results of the April survey are summarized in this chart:

I'm no statistician, but the distribution of ratings strikes me as unusual; not what I'd call a bell curve or "normal distribution". There were roughly equal votes cast for each possible rating.

We asked the members of our Citrix Customer Advisory Community to evaluate the same audio sample. The distribution of results was a bit different (I don't know why):

I think the good news from these two surveys is that at least 50% of listeners consider the audio quality at the Medium setting to be either acceptable or great. But of course the bad news is that for anywhere from 9% to 25% of us, Medium Quality is not usable.

So, what can you do with this information?

For one thing, now that you know that this is a sample of audio at Medium Quality, you can use this recording as a reference if you're not quite sure whether you have Medium Quality audio properly configured on your system. Accessing the blog post from a locally installed browser, you can listen to the sample and use it as a reference to compare against the audio quality on your own XenApp system.

This information is also of interest if you're thinking ahead to delivering VoIP-over-ICA. With the new audio mixing capabilities of Windows Server 2008, you may be considering publishing a softphone on XenApp and delivering VoIP-over-ICA using XenApp's bidirectional audio capability. As the various softphone ISVs achieve Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services compatibility, it should be possible to deliver VoIP-over-ICA to users on the same LAN as the XenApp server (ICA does not yet support UDP so over a WAN or Internet connection packet loss could gum up real-time voice transmission). If you can't spare the bandwidth for uncompressed High Quality bidirectional audio (roughly 1 Mbps), Medium Quality provides a good balance between sound quality and bandwidth efficiency (it uses about 40 kbps in each direction).

Remember, our audio codec doesn't even come into play if you are watching a video or listening to streaming audio using the RAVE technology in SpeedScreen Multimedia Acceleration. With RAVE, no decoding is done on the server; the native compressed media stream is redirected to the client and decoded there. So with RAVE you can even deliver full HD audio, with much lower bandwidth consumption than uncompressed High Quality audio.

Do you have use cases where your users would really value higher quality audio but the bandwidth consumption of the current High Quality audio setting is too high? Then I'd like to hear your feedback on the research work we've done exploring a new audio codec technology -- see my blog on Project Ulysses. Your input will help us gauge the priority of bringing that to market.  

Derek Thorslund
Product Strategist, Multimedia Virtualization

Are you interested in running Autodesk products on Citrix XenApp (previously known as Presentation Server)? If you do, please read on.

Citrix and Autodesk have been working together to make sure our products can work well together. It's exciting to work in this project because both Autodesk and Citrix users can really benefit from such efforts.

AutoCAD Map3D 2009 is now Citrix-ready for XenApp. It is the first fruit of this effort. And if successful, you can expect more Autodesk products to become Citrix Ready. If you like the direction we are going, I'd appreciate your help by giving us feedbacks.

The joint site is at http://www.citrixandautodesk.com/. You can find useful information such as installation guide, FAQ, sales contact etc.
There are some post-installation changes you will need to make after installing Map 3D on XenApp. To make it easier, I wrote a script to automate such steps. The up to date script can be found here.

I created a short video demo of map 3D running on XenApp. You can find the video with additional notes here.

I'd love to hear from you about your experience running map 3D on XenApp including the script and what other Autodesk applications you would like to run on XenApp or other Citrix products. I will try my best to answer your questions.

Did you miss the Apollo Accelerated Bitmap Remoting demo at Synergy in Houston? Click here to view a brief video recorded by Vishal Ganeriwala, featuring "yours truly" and Daniel L'Hommedieu from our Engineering team.

Derek Thorslund
Product Strategist, Multimedia Virtualization

The Project Apollo multimedia virtualization team has just released the first Technology Preview of Accelerated Bitmap Remoting, a new technology that leverages graphics processor hardware acceleration to efficiently deliver high end 3D professional graphics and imaging. Although most customers' graphics needs are already well met by SpeedScreen Progressive Display (a revolutionary technology introduced in XenApp Presentation Server 4.5 and also included in XenDesktop), working with large 3D graphics models often demands the added computational power of a graphics processing unit (GPU). Project Apollo follows in the footsteps of Project Pictor which developed the technology behind Citrix's new Virtual Design Studio product for applications built on the popular OpenGL graphics API. Since many software vendors are now introducing applications using DirectX, the Apollo team has been busy researching new techniques for supporting the full range of Windows-compatible 3D graphics technologies. The Apollo technology also delivers Microsoft Windows Vista Aero desktops with full "glass" effects and Flip 3D animation.

This Tech Preview release marks the completion of phase one of project Apollo, focused on verifying the ability of this technology to efficiently capture graphics from a very wide range of professional graphics applications. Optimizations to reduce network bandwidth consumption, including enabling SpeedScreen Progressive Display to work along with Accelerated Bitmap Remoting, are in the works for the next phase of the project.

If you'd like to nominate your organization to evaluate this Tech Preview release, please visit www.citrix.com/apollo and complete the application form. The Apollo web site also provides answers to frequently asked questions and information on technical prerequisites.  

Derek Thorslund
Product Strategist, Multimedia Virtualization

A new Hotfix Rollup Pack for Citrix Presentation Server 4.0 has just been released that includes enhanced Flash version support. HRP05 for PS 4.0 for Windows Server 2003 (see http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX116264) has a new generic method of handling new Flash versions. HRP05 for PS 4.0 for Windows 2000 Server (see http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX116259) supports up to Flash 9f.

Derek Thorslund
Product Strategist, Multimedia Virtualization

I've been spending quite a bit of time digging into the topic of how to optimize the performance of Adobe Flash content (animations and videos) when using a web browser hosted on Citrix XenApp (see Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4 of this series). Here's a secret for optimizing Flash performance that will seem totally counterintuitive. Actually, this one took me by complete surprise...

From my blog post on SpeedScreen Browser Acceleration ("SpeedBrowse" for short), you might have picked up on the fact that there is an incompatibility between this feature and Flash content. Delving into this, I recently learned that if Internet Explorer running on XenApp will be used to access a web app or web site(s) with Flash content, it is best to turn SpeedBrowse off. Why?

When Internet Explorer encounters Flash content, it switches to an off-screen rendering and compositing mode. In this mode, SpeedBrowse is prevented from tracking how images get drawn onto the off-screen surface and then to the real display surface (bit block transfers). From then on, JPEG and non-transparent GIF images will be sent over the wire twice; over the SpeedBrowse virtual channel (but never used) and over ThinWire to draw them. As a result, more bandwidth is consumed than necessary.

To avoid this interaction issue, I recommend that you review how your organization uses Internet Explorer on XenApp. On servers where IE is used only to access specific web apps that don't utilize Flash, you'll want to keep SpeedBrowse enabled. But if you're publishing Internet Explorer for general web browsing or to access web applications with Flash content, I recommend turning SpeedBrowse off. This can be done at the server or farm level.

As you would expect, a mitigating hotfix is now in the works (in fact, it has already been incorporated into XenDesktop 2.0). I'll keep you posted as we make further progress on this issue.

Another option to consider (dare I go there?) is to turn Flash off. Again, you'll want to carefully consider how Internet Explorer is used in your organization before making this choice. If IE on XenApp is intended to be used just to access specific web sites, you may determine that the Flash content on those sites is not particularly important. Or, like MSN.com, the site may be designed to provide alternative content if Flash isn't available. You could then choose to turn Flash off in order to maintain the benefits of SpeedScreen Browser Acceleration. There is an article in the Citrix Knowledge Center that provides instructions for disabling Flash (document ID CTX110407).

If you have any feedback on this blog post or the others in this series, please share your comments! If you are able to measure a change in bandwidth consumption after following my recommendations above, please share your results. And I'd love to hear your views on the importance of further optimizing Flash performance and your use cases for published web browsers.

Derek Thorslund
Product Strategist, Multimedia Virtualization

The Apollo team is busy developing several new technologies for multimedia virtualization. Details of the upcoming Tech Preview release of Apollo Accelerated Bitmap Remoting have now been posted on the Citrix.com web site. This technology expands Citrix's capabilities for high-end professional graphics and 3D medical imaging beyond OpenGL. This video demonstrates Accelerated Bitmap Remoting delivering Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk Revit Architecture and Google Earth over ICA, leveraging the graphics processor on a Windows Vista host.

Derek Thorslund
Product Strategist, Multimedia Virtualization

A key part of my job as Product Strategist for Multimedia Virtualization is to stay tuned in with the evolving needs of our customers for graphics and multimedia technologies. Citrix has many different ways of collecting such market input, and your comments on my blog posts are one source that I particularly appreciate. Another highly valuable source of input is the Citrix Customer Advisory Community, a global group of customers who provide their perspectives and opinions in an online community forum. What are they saying about their needs around graphics and video?

The technology referred to most frequently in a recent dialogue with the Citrix Customer Advisory Community was streaming video. At least a third of respondents specifically mentioned Adobe Flash. Obviously - and this was no surprise - Flash has been widely adopted in the enterprise for employee training and corporate communications. And Flash content has become prevalent on the Web. Many Citrix customers are publishing a web browser or a complete Windows desktop to their users, so Flash support is becoming increasingly important to them. As I noted in my blog post Secrets for Optimizing Flash Performance - Part 2, significant improvements to Flash support were introduced in XenApp 4.5. And there's more to come. One of the priorities of the Citrix Multimedia Virtualization Initiative is to adapt our RAVE (Remote Audio and Video Extensions) technology to further optimize the delivery of Flash videos and animations while dramatically increasing server scalability. We are also looking ahead to Silverlight, an important new technology from Microsoft.

A wide variety of graphics-intensive applications were named by the Advisory Community. Several were OpenGL applications like Dassault CATIA, which will be well handled by Citrix's new Virtual Design Studio product based on our Pictor technology. Others were DirectX based applications such as Autodesk AutoCAD/Inventor and Bentley MicroStation, for which our new Apollo accelerated bitmap remoting technology will be very well suited. Customers in the Healthcare space mentioned 3D echocardiograms and high contrast CT scans that generate large graphics models requiring hardware acceleration, again a great opportunity for Apollo technology.

Customers running 2D and lightweight 3D graphics applications commented on the excellent graphics performance of XenApp Presentation Server 4.5, thanks to the new SpeedScreen Progressive Display technology. Applications mentioned included SolidWorks eDrawings, Intergraph PDS and SmartPlant, AutoCAD Map 3D and ESRI ArcGIS. SpeedScreen Progressive Display is truly a needle-mover for the vast majority of graphics applications being used by our customers today.

Some customers are using client-side application virtualization (also known as "application streaming") to deliver graphics applications. They get the benefits of centralized management and application isolation while fully leveraging the capabilities of the user's PC.

Tickers that scroll horizontally were mentioned a couple of times. Today's SuperCaching algorithm is optimized for vertical scrolling, but we've been doing some research into an enhanced algorithm that will accommodate scrolling in any direction. It will be interesting to test out the new algorithm with applications like on-screen "readerboards" that display text in this way.

What are your priorities for multimedia virtualization, including graphics, streaming media and real-time communications? What experience have you had delivering graphics applications with SpeedScreen Progressive Display? What are your plans for adopting unified communications, voice chat or desktop video conferencing ? I look forward to your comments!

Derek Thorslund
Product Strategist, Multimedia Virtualization

Several hotfixes to support new versions of Adobe Flash when using SpeedScreen Flash Acceleration have recently been released in hotfix rollup packs. Here's a summary of the most current hotfixes, handling Flash versions up to 9d:

• HRP2 for XenApp Presentation Server 4.5 for Windows Server 2003 32-bit Edition: PSE450W2K3R02 (see KB article CTX116289)
• HRP2 for XenApp Presentation Server 4.5 for Windows Server 2003 64-bit Edition: PSE450W2K3X64R02 (KB article CTX116294)
• HRP4 for Presentation Server 4.0 for Windows Server 2003: PSE400W2K3R04 (KB article CTX113484)
• Limited release hotfix PSE400R04W2K012 for Presentation Server 4.0 for Windows 2000 Server (KB article CTX115555)

Support for Flash 9e is in the works (see Secrets for Optimizing Flash Performance - Part 3).

Derek Thorslund
Product Strategist, Multimedia Virtualization