It's no wonder that the recent announcement of Citrix XenDesktop 4 is the hot buzz around town. Citrix XenDesktop 4 delivers optimized delivery for every user, making it the best way to manage applications and the best user experience. It is the first-ever solution to provide all the desktop and application delivery technologies needed to bring desktop virtualization to every user.

So now that you've heard the news, it's time to get geared up with partner Sales Tools designed especially for Citrix XenDesktop 4. This includes a whitepaper about the future of desktop virtualization, a whiteboard, technical overview presentation, proof of concept quick demo kit, a product reference card, and a whole lot more. 

Also, in store for you is a FREE Citrix XenDesktop 4 training offer, where you can gain an overview of the Citrix XenDesktop 4 technology in less than an hour! In this training course, you'll learn about key product features, editions, strengths, and how XenDesktop addresses traditional desktop management challenges. Also covered are the key aspects of FlexCast delivery, architectural diagrams, and the steps to move to desktop virtualization.

For added insight, get the complete 411 at the Citrix "Secrets, Lies and VDI" event being held tomorrow, Oct 13 just for Citrix partners. This is not-to-miss event that will unravel the myths and uncover the truth about VDI to give you a clear, strategic view of desktop virtualization today. You'll get a complete understanding of what desktop virtualization really means. Some of the event features include a Keynote Address and sessions, as well as Ask the Expert Q&A. Registration is still going on - don't miss out!

Okay, now you have it - complete sales tools, free training, and a super, hot event!

Virtualization - it's a Citrix world now!

We have just published a new white paper detailing the integration of Citrix XenApp 5 and Oracle Database 11g with Real Application Clusters (RAC) as it relates to the XenApp Independent Management Architecture (IMA) Data Store. The XenApp IMA Data Store is the central database of Farm-wide XenApp configuration data, enabling centralized management of multiple Application Delivery Controllers as a single entity. The Oracle Database 11g RAC can provide not only the database services for a XenApp farm, but additional scalability and availability capabilities, ensuring enterprise class service and uptime for large scale XenApp environments.

The white paper can be found at http://www.citrix.com/site/resources/dynamic/partnerDocs/UsingOracleDB11gRAC_CitrixXenApp5IMA_WP.pdf

Special thanks to Allen Hoke and Sean Stacey at Oracle, and Andy Zhu in XenApp engineering for helping to create this document.

There is an $8 Billion market opportunity for hosting Windows applications, but if you don't have the right marketing approach, you'll be sitting on the sidelines.  Our partners, who are both Microsoft SPLA (Service Provider License Agreement) and CSPs (Citrix Service Providers) have been screaming for more marketing insight, so here it is!
I wrote a blog back in August about Marketing IT Services and this blog speaks specifically to Step 2 - "Know Thy Customer" and Step 3 - "Know Thy Marketing Approach".  For Step 1 "Know Thy Product and Value" we are running a separate webinar that you can sign up for by hitting the links listed here...

Date: Wednesday, October 28, 2009*

Time 9:00-10:00 AM EDT

Time 2:00-3:00 PM EDT

Time 9:00-10:00 PM EDT

*If you can't make any of these times, you can register afterwards for the recorded session.

Under the "Know Thy Customer" heading, you've got to pick a way to get to them after you've figured out your product offering.  One of the most cost effective approaches today in this market is through your website.  Most service providers know this but don't spend the right resource emphasis to make it a reality.  Look, 1990s marketing approaches won't work in this space and your (potential) customers are searching for ways to do business the same way they are doing all of their other research, via the web.  So if you don't have the right content, or tools to monitor your sales approach, you will be stuck going door-to-door, which is the recipe for long sales cycles in a volume subscription market... not what you want!

The first question you need to ask is, "Is my site effective?" To know this you'll have to employ some kind of web analytics to get the information required to determine the effectiveness of your online campaigns and lead generation.  If you want to do this on the cheap, Google has a free tool you can pick up that will show you things like "bounce rate" (people who leave your site from the top page).

The second question you should ask is, "How do I get visitors to immediately sign up for my service?"  One way to do this is to provide them with an interactive tool where they can see for themselves the benefits you provide over their existing model.  The CSP Marketing Team has created a great TCO/ROI tool that you can repurpose and rebrand for your site.  Another way to do this is by allowing customers to trial the service without having to pay right up front.  One way to accomplish this is to sign up with a billing clearinghouse/broker who will allow you to encourage "impulse buying" by your prospective customers.  According to one company, "customers who use the service spend 75% more per transaction than a website's typical buyer".

Now that you've got a way to get knowledgeable about your customer and a way to allow he or she to access your services more easily let's talk about the "Know Thy Marketing Approach" for a minute.

It may seem infantile in this age of high tech, highly graphical marketing, but online selling gimmicks such as Avatars are very effective.  There are companies who specialize in this marketing approach and can set you up with the tools to rapidly put these animated sales people to work for you.  Buy the way, according to some experts, among virtual sales reps, female avatars produce twice as many sales as males.

You should also offer "Amazon.com-style recommendations".  This may seem like expensive proposition again, but there are companies that specialize in setting up the tools for you and you'll know in just a couple of months whether or not this is worthwhile for you.  One company who issues this software claims you'll see an average increase in sales of 20%.

Lastly, use Email advertising.  Hear what I am saying...DON'T SPAM your customers.  Rather once you have your analytics from the tools you incorporate, ask for potential customers to "opt in" to messaging from your company.  You have to be careful with this approach and be very targeted with your email ads.  I subscribe to five different services for marketing research and I can tell you that I'm fed up with all but one of them because they send me information that has nothing to do with my work... and so they have now been either discontinued or sent to my SPAM mail box.  If you do this correctly, you could see up to 35% conversion rates on the ads you send.... if you do it incorrectly you'll not get another chance with that same customer.

Follow these steps and I can assure you that you will do better than just throwing a web site together and hoping for the best.  By the way, if one of your senior people isn't personally running your electronic marketing, then you might as well just stop doing it.  Research shows that there is a direct proportion of sales (or lack thereof) to the quality of the team supporting the content.

Note: I need to credit INC magazine for some of the content here.  They had a great article in their February 2008 edition if you're interested.

If you currently manage a Platinum appliance, or are considering migrating to this platform in the future, it is recommended that you take the next step towards optimal Web application delivery with advanced NetScaler training: CNS-300-1I Advanced Administration for Citrix NetScaler 9.0 Platinum Edition

Upon successful completion of this course, you will have the expert knowledge required to:

• Identify common Web attacks and vulnerabilities
• Write PERL compatible regular expressions
• Configure Citrix Application Firewall 9.0 to protect Web applications
• Troubleshoot Citrix Application Firewall 9.0
• Install and configure Citrix EdgeSight for NetScaler to monitor Web application performance
• Install, configure and use Citrix Command Center to manage NetScaler devices
• Configure and use additional advanced features of NetScaler 9.0 including NetScaler Web
• Logging, HTTP Callout and AAA authentication for Web applications

Register Now
Cost: $4,995 USD
Duration: 5 days
Upcoming Q4 2009 Dates: November 2-6 (San Francisco, CA); November 2-6 (Instructor-led Online); December 14-18 (Instructor-led Online)

Questions? Contact a Citrix Education training specialist at 866-714-1260 or e-mail americaseducation@citrix.com

As of December 31, 2009, the Citrix Certified Sales Professional™ (CCSP) 2008 certification program will be discontinued in French, German, Portuguese and Spanish. After this date, all CCSP 2008 tracks will no longer be available to new registrants. Individuals in the process of obtaining CCSP 2008 must register for all required courses by December 31, 2009 to access these courses after the discontinuation date via their learning transcript.

Individuals currently holding or pursuing the CCSP 2008 are encouraged to attain the most current certification - CCSP 2009. The CCSP 2009 is now available in English and will be available in French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, and Spanish by November 2009.

Partners who currently hold a CCSP 2008 should contact their regional channel team for more information on maintaining their certification status and the timeline for migrating to CCSP 2009. Please forward any additional questions or comments to training@citrix.com.

Looking for a clear way to get up to speed on Citrix desktop virtualization? Check out the Learning Path for Desktop Virtualization - a guide to help you determine the training you need, based on your key virtual desktop learning objectives. This learning path includes the hypervisor, provisioning/delivering desktops and delivering apps on-demand, as well as advanced virtualization solution training. Learn more

72 hours after the XenDesktop 4 announcement

In the past 72+ hours after the announcement of XenDesktop 4, I have seen several positive comments written up by esteemed bloggers such as Chris Wolf (Burton Group), Dan Kuznetsky, Brian Madden, Doug Brown, the 451 Group, and more, reinforcing our mission to make desktop virtualization as the solution to the outdated desktop management practices.

In addition, I have personally had several 1:1 conversations with customers and partners and the feedback I have received has been extremely positive. In fact, I was visiting a healthcare customer today and when they heard about XenDesktop 4 - they loved it and when I told them about the Trade-up program, they were excited and wanted to move forward with it ASAP.

Licensing - what? why? hmm!!!

Licensing for XenDesktop 4 has certainly created some discussions in the blogosphere. The user-based licensing in XenDesktop 4 means that customers pick the users they want to deliver virtual desktops or apps to. In addition, it offers the ability to reassign a license from one user to another. For example, in a scenario where an employee quits an organization - the license can be reassigned to another employee. The licensing works perfect for the mainstream use cases where customers are rethinking their desktop management and applying the power of all types of virtual desktops and applications across a range of users. And, the licensing makes even more sense when you implement local VM-based desktops with offline use. In my conversations with the customers and partners, we have found that the licensing works well for majority of customers and prospects.

However, we have also seen comments that user-based licensing does not work for certain use cases, for example - student labs in schools or Universities or shared devices in a healthcare facility. First of all, I want to state that majority of these comments have reinforced that XenDesktop 4 is a solid product that addresses customer requirements, and customers are extremely interested in using the product for their implementations. Citrix's goal is to enable organizations to adopt desktop virtualization and address all enterprise use cases and not restrict usage for any specific use case scenario.

Is Citrix doing something about it?

We have received the customer feedback and we are actively investigating appropriate licensing programs for XenDesktop 4 to address these use cases. We believe that all customers should be able to adopt desktop virtualization enterprise-wide and reshape their desktop computing, and we stay committed on that mission. We are in the process of collecting some more information and we plan to share our solution to address these requirements within 30 days.

How can you help?

Finally, we recently launched a survey to collect more information on how our customers plan to start their desktop virtualization projects with XenDesktop 4. It takes less than 5 minutes to fill it up with mostly multiple choice questions. I encourage everyone to give us your direct input on your use cases. It will help us enhance our product offering overtime and guide us to offer appropriate licensing programs immediately. CLICK HERE TO PROVIDE FEEDBACK

Thank you for interest and support in Citrix and XenDesktop 4. We are open to input so we can serve you with the right products and programs.

Don't forget to attend our online event - we will talk licensing a bit more then!

Mac users out there have long been asking for and waiting for a rich and secure remote access experience with Access Gateway solutions. Now the wait is over. Mac users can now download the Access Gateway plug-in for Mac from MyCitrix.

Access Gateway team has made available Mac OX X plug-in for Access Gateway 4.6 Standard Edition and Access Gateway 9.1 Enterprise Edition:

- The user experience of the plug-in conforms to the native Mac experience, providing rich user experience.

- Mac users can securely connect to their remote applications, leveraging pre- and post-authentication endpoint scans to confirm to their corporate security policies. For stronger security, when the remote Mac user logs off,  the plug-in also destroys any session data (cache, cookies, etc) on the client.

- With globalization features, the plug-in brings this new experience to English, French, German, Spanish and Japanese users.

If you are a Mac user, I encourage you to go to the downloads section on MyCitrix and select Citrix Access Gateway from the drop-down menu of 'Search Downloads by Product", then find "Access Gateway Plug-in for Mac OS X, Version 1.0.2.23" under the Clients section.

If you are using this new plug-in, please share your experience with me and what you would like to see next.

Sai

The Citrix XenDesktop 4 announcement has already generated plenty of positive buzz about the product and its exciting new capabilities. If you're ready to learn more and delve deeper into the technology, check out free training course CXD-100-1W: Citrix XenDesktop 4 Technology Overview.

In less than an hour, you'll learn about key product features, editions, strengths, and how XenDesktop 4 addresses traditional desktop management challenges. Also covered are the key aspects of FlexCast delivery, architectural diagrams and the steps to move to desktop virtualization.

Visit www.citrix.com/xdtraining to get started on this free training today! For more XenDesktop learning, including the learning path for desktop virtualization, click here.

Citrix Support is focused on ensuring Customer and Partner satisfaction with our products.
One of our initiatives is to increase the ability of our Partners and Customers to leverage self-service avenues via our Knowledge Center.

Our Licensing team in Citrix Support receive lots of questions everyday around How to retrieve licenses for XenApp Platinum or How to license XenServer, etc...

The most common questions asked are documented in the Citrix Knowledge Center.

Below you will find a list of the most common questions asked.

David
Twitter - http://twitter.com/citrixreadiness
Citrix Support on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/citrixsupport

Last week, Citrix released to web XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2. Hopefully, you've had a chance to download the media and install it in your lab, as well as read about some of the new features and functionality. Or maybe you've pondered it and brushed it off because transitioning to a new Feature Pack level might take more time and effort that you can expend right now. Hold on!

Transitioning to XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 isn't all that complex—if you have the right tools. Here's how to simplify your life:
• Attend the Best Practices for Upgrading/Migrating to XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 TechTalk on October 8th (also available on demand after that date)
• Download the Technical Guide for Upgrading/Migrating to XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 white paper

The TechTalk and white paper are straightforward technical how-to resources that include those little "gotcha" items that will simplify the transition to XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2. You'll get a very brief overview of the new features and then dive right into what it takes to upgrade or migrate.

So, here's the challenge: Invest 50 minutes in the TechTalk and/or read through 20 pages (mostly tables), and you'll definitely save at least a few hours (maybe days?) implementing XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2. Let me know how much time the TechTalk and/or white paper saved you!

Now that XenDesktop 4 is a few days old and people are starting to digest the many new capabilities of the product, I thought I'd spend a little time what exactly "FlexCast™ delivery technology" means.

I find that it helps me to think of FlexCast more as a strategy for delivering desktops, than as a specific technology. It's about thinking of all your virtual desktop and application delivery methods as a toolbox that enable you to directly address the different performance, security, personalization and mobility requirements of all your users. This approach is dramatically different from the way most other vendors are looking at desktop virtualization. They try to force fit a single desktop virtualization approach to all use cases, even when it doesn't make sense. FlexCast is revolutionary in comparison, but the idea is quite commonplace if you think of some analogies.

For example, instead of talking about how to run an IT service, let's say I'm running a different kind of service - a restaurant. A hundred people come to my restaurant one night, and they walk in with the expectation that they can order what they like to suit their tastes and hunger. But instead of taking their orders, I don't even offer a menu, and I serve everyone a plateful of chicken, green beans with almonds and potatoes. For the lighter eaters, this is way too much food, and for the folks that skipped lunch, they are woefully underfed. Then there are those that have strict dietary requirements, like a nut allergy, and they can't eat any of it because almonds touched the plate! You might please a few patrons, but you've wasted your inventory by giving too much food to some, the wrong food to others, and not enough to the remainder. And at the end of the night, none of them want to come back ever again.
Of course, this would never happen in the real world, but for some reason this one-size-fits-all approach is how other technology vendors have treated desktop virtualization. XenDesktop 4 with FlexCast is your extensive menu of options for giving users what they want and what they need.

That said, I'll give a quick drill down on each of the FlexCast delivery models and describe them each as plainly as I can. The names we chose to assign each model might be a little different than the current lingo - but this was necessary to be more precise, because no one has ever really talked about them all in the same context before:

• Hosted shared desktops. If you are a XenApp customers today, you think of these as "published desktops," and we estimate that you are using this delivery model for over 10 million users today. The problem with that name is that the term "published" can describe nearly every delivery model! Not very helpful. Hosted shared desktops are built on the Microsoft Terminal Services (or now Remote Desktop Services) platform, where users share effectively one configuration of a Windows Server desktops via independent sessions. In this model, there's a lot of IT control over the configuration, and personalization is minimized or disallowed. This model is attractive not only for the standardization it enables, but also the maturity of the technology, its massive scalability and low TCO - up to 500 users could share a single server. These traits are what make it ideal for factory workers, retail clerks, bank tellers, nurses' stations and the like.
• Hosted VM-based desktops. You know these as VDI or hosted virtual desktops. Each user's desktop runs in its own virtual machine, enabling multiple users to share a single physical server while running their environments in isolation from each other. This affords each user more potential personalization, a familiar Windows desktop environment, and compatibility with applications designed to run on a desktop OS. Scalability is good, with about 50 production desktops per server, and getting better all the time - but still not of the scale of hosted shared desktops.
• Hosted Blade PC desktops. In reality, these could be blade or rack workstations, or simply PCs relocated in the datacenter. In this model, you have one user per hosted blade PC, so clearly massive scalability isn't your goal. Going back to the restaurant analogy, this is what you pull out of the kitchen when the local football team's offensive line comes in to eat . Workers with heavier computational requirements, like engineers, scientists, researchers, etc. would get these.
• Local Streamed desktops. This model is truly one of the hidden gems of desktop virtualization, often overlooked but very useful and cost-effective. You may have heard this type of model referred to as "network boot " or diskless PC. Let's say you have an environment with lots of standardized PCs that you've just purchased in the past couple years. Perhaps they are attached to some specialized peripherals that are particularly "chatty" with the desktop OS. Desktop streaming enables you to leverage the CPU and RAM of that PC and give a truly local experience, but also centralize the management of those desktops. A "provisioning server" in the datacenter streams the OS bits needed to run the desktop to local memory. A single server has enough horsepower to serve a few hundred users, so the scalability is somewhere between hosted shared and hosted VM-based desktops. The re-use of existing PCs also contributes to the cost-effectiveness of this model. You need fairly standard PCs and a LAN connection, but this works great for all those users that work from the office primarily anyway.
• Virtual apps to installed desktops. For current XenApp customers, this is what most of you are doing today. You are either hosting or streaming apps to rich clients with locally installed OSes. You get the benefits of reducing overall desktop management costs by simplifying application management - the more apps you virtualize, the lower your costs. This model is often the simplest, most "traditional" way to start with desktop virtualization. Virtual apps can be used both online and offline for mobile workers. Only issue is that you still have to deal with the OS at the endpoint, and this is something many IT shops are looking to desktop virtualization to solve.
• Local VM-based desktops. This model is enabled by a client hypervisor, which, to be clear, isn't quite here yet, although Citrix has publicly discussed and demonstrated XenClient. This model means that virtual machines live on the endpoint, and virtual desktops are delivered into those VMs. A robust solution incorporates encryption, security policies, and synchronization for OS, apps and user data with the data center. This client hypervisor would enable a centrally managed, virtual desktop to be taken offline, so it's ideal for the fast-growing laptop using population. This isn't part of XenDesktop 4 today, but it is definitely a significant part of our overall FlexCast delivery technology strategy.

So there you have it - a quick overview of FlexCast delivery technology in all its flavors. It's a powerful concept, and a technologically involved one. The real takeaway is that, for Citrix, despite involving many technologies, it is indeed ONE comprehensive strategy, designed to meet many requirements.

Learn more about Citrix XenDesktop 4

• Official Press Release - http://citrix.com/xd4/pressrelease
• XenDesktop 4 Virtual Launch Event - http://citrix.com/citrixlive
• XenDesktop 4 Web Site - http://citrix.com/xd4
• XenDesktop 4 Executive Video - http://citrix.com/xd4/video
• XenDesktop Developer Network - http://community.citrix.com/cdn/xd
• XenDesktop 4 Blogs- http://citrix.com/xd4/blogs
• XenDesktop Product Page - http://citrix.com/xendesktop/

Follow XenDesktop on http://twitter.com/xendesktop

The most common request we get for Power and Capacity Manager is the support for other power management APIs... With XenApp 5.0 Feature Pack 2, we only support Wake-on-LAN and XenServer API. We will extend this list in upcoming versions.

In the meanwhile, your only option is to use WMI events to trigger power-on commands to your computer management infrastructure.

I've tested the following using Powershell V2. The script has to run in the Concentrator:

Register-WmiEvent -Namespace "ROOT\Citrix\XenAppPCM" -SourceIdentifier "PowerEventAction" -Query "Select * from __InstanceModificationEvent within 10 where TargetInstance ISA 'Server' and TargetInstance.PowerActionState=4" -Action {
   $servers = Get-WMIObject -Namespace "ROOT\Citrix\XenAppPCM" -Query "Select * from Server Where PowerActionState=4"
   foreach ($s in $servers)
   {
     #Launch power action command to the server management infrastructure here
     Write-Host $("Server: " + $s.Name + " MAC: " + $s.MacAddress)
   }
}

PCM classes in WMI are registered under ROOT\Citrix\XenAppPCM namespace. The script above registers a listener that triggers when PCM changes a server "PowerActionState" attribute to 4 – this state indicates PCM needs additional capacity for a workload.

Another interesting event in PCM WMI is "NotEnoughCapacityEvent". This event triggers when all servers in the workload are on-line, but policies would require additional servers to become on-line. You could use this to trigger provisioning of additional servers in that workload.

PCM WMI classes are pretty feature rich. In fact, all console operations issue WMI operations under the covers. You can find the MOF files after installing the Concentrator, at %WINDIR%\System32\WBEM\PCMConcentrator_v2.0.50727.mof and %WINDIR%\System32\WBEM\Framework\root\Citrix\XenAppPCM\PCMConcentrator_SNVersion_1.0.2.0.mof

You may also take a look at the Powershell WMI Explorer from thepowershellguy.com (link), it's a pretty decent WMI browser using nothing but Powershell!

With so many articles flying around about desktop virtualization and VDI, have you ever seen or heard of anyone actually implementing this solution? And even if you have, I bet you, like me, have many questions to ask.

Well, I've had the opportunity to sit down with Sandy Kingdon, a Dynamic Desktop architect for CSC. Sandy is working on a large XenDesktop implementation and I was able to speak with her about it. It is an interesting discussion and architecture in that it uses Citrix XenDesktop, VMware ESX and AppSense User Environment Management

• Current Capacity: 1,000 users
• End of Year Capacity plan: 10,000 users
• End of Project Capacity plan: 40,000 users
• Virtual desktop specifications: Based on customer analysis and experience
• Antivirus requirements and updates design
• Application integration with the user desktop images
• User-installed applications requirements and design
• End-point device configurations

This discussion was focused on the architecture, design considerations and experiences.  I can imagine as this project continues to grow to their 40,000 user goal we can have additional discussions on lessons learned, tips/tricks, etc. 

If you want to hear more and see what else we have going on around desktop virtualization architectures, I recommend you visit the Ask the Architect site. Also, if you or someone you know who is currently or already completed a desktop virtualization implementation, I'd be eager to hear from you.

• Sandy Kingdon (CSC) Podcast
• Ask the Architect - Next-Generation site
• Questions - Then Ask The Architect
• Twitter: @djfeller

Daniel - Lead Architect - Worldwide Consulting Solutions

They were once multi-billion dollar technology companies and now they no longer exist!

Well we could leave it right there and just chalk up the demise of these companies to poor economies or even to a fatal flaw in their technology.  But neither of these answers would be true.  In fact, in their hay-days each of these companies would have been called the darling of the industry.  What Wang did for business productivity shot them to the top of the charts back in the 80's and at $3 Billion in sales with over 40,000 employees one would have thought them to be a long term contender.  Wang got so overly focused on a single platform application (word processing) that by 1992 they had to file for bankruptcy.

In 1987 I was a software engineer doubling as a Systems Administrator for engineering workstations at a company called TRW (which was also a multi-billion dollar company that no longer exists).  We were just migrating from DEC equipment to Sun Sparc Stations... and man did those things run fast (at the time).  Sun was said to have (3) generations of workstations ready to ship but there was so much demand for their hardware the rumor was they were holding back the shipment of new technology until they gave themselves enough time to sell what was already going like hot-cakes.  But hold on to that for a second while I back up to talk about DEC.

We had a gaggle of Systems Admins for the DEC VAX computers in 1983-85.  DEC was crushing IBM at the time with performance/cost and shares of DEC stock were going through the roof.  However, as Sun began to emerge there was a whispering on the wind about the proliferation of Sys 5 and BSD based operating systems.  DEC was proprietary at the time and you had to be a PhD in VMS command line just to know how to boot a machine.  With so much frenzy over Unix, DEC decided to get into the business but do it in a way that ultimately led to their demise.  They had so much expertise in their own operating environment that they had to pay huge sums of money to get Unix developers on board and get their own version of Unix (called Ultrix) into market.  But to pay for the development DEC came up with a scheme that ultimately put them in the ground.  They decided to charge double the amount for system maintenance and software upgrades to all of the customers that had been loyal to them for years.  And when Sun came out with higher performance minis and IBM fought back with their 6000 series, DEC was caught with their pants down.  The net result was an exodus away from the VAX machine and no loyal customers to foot the Ultrix bill.... Good-bye DEC!

By 1990, Sun was the "Super-Hero" and they began to forge ground against the incumbents like IBM and HP.  There was a huge following of Sun both in terms of performance/cost and in terms of the scientific community as Sun became known as the anti-establishment technology company sprouting forums for the enhancement of open source collaboration.  So superior was their technology that the big mainframe companies tried desperately to steal their talent away.  But the die-hards at Sun would have nothing of it.  Besides creating the best platforms in the world, Sun had become the giant for networking with their mantra of "The Network is the Computer".  Driving network development through the precursor to Internet Protocol, Sun was on a rocket ship ride.  But then something odd began to happen.  Sun began to fragment their development and soon the performance of their equipment was not as stellar as their focus shifted to a world of Java collaboration.  They had a great run but couldn't figure out how to monetize all of their engineering efforts to create a Java enabled world.  With millions of devices running Java clients, but no revenue streams, Sun began to bite the bullet... and now... swallowed by Oracle!

So now there are some new darlings on the block regarding Cloud Computing... aren't there?  And Citrix is staying the course with the technology that has enabled our growth for 20 years.  We just announced XenDesktop 4, which is a logical path to virtualization... both for applications and for desktops.  I think we've learned from the past mistakes of others that you've got to keep doing what got you here and do it better than anyone else.  And don't forget about the next generation of IT Services that are coming on like gang busters.  We're in that market too!

When Citrix first announced NetScaler VPX at Synergy in May, we also announced that we would offer a virtual appliance for Branch Repeater that will be generally available in the first half of 2010. We want to get your input on where, when and how you will use Branch Repeater VPX.

Keep in mind that Branch Repeater is a symmetric solution which means it requires an appliance at both ends of a WAN connection. Today these must be physical appliances but with the upcoming VPX form-factor, one or both could be virtual appliances.

So when, where and how will you use a virtual Branch Repeater? Take our quick poll and then share your comments.

The virtual desktop revolution is here! XenDesktop 4 further widens Citrix's competitive lead with FlexCast™ technology to deliver the best Windows desktop for everyone in the organization, from task worker to power user. And XenDesktop 4 is an HDX-focused release that provides the best "high definition" user experience in the desktop virtualization market, with better reliability and higher availability than a traditional PC.

From the more than 70 new features in this release, allow me to introduce you to some key new capabilities of XenDesktop 4:

• HDX MediaStream for Flash (client-side rendering). While server-side rendering remains Citrix's foundational approach for delivering multimedia content of all sorts, HDX MediaStream for Flash provides an outstanding optimization for Windows online plug-in (client) users on low latency network connections. Leveraging the user device for direct content fetching and rendering, it delivers a high definition user experience and improves server scalability and network bandwidth efficiency by an order of magnitude. This technology supports Flash animations, videos (including HD), and IE-based Flex apps, even video conferencing applications. Citrix competitors do not offer a client-side rendering option for Flash.
• HDX MediaStream enhanced delivery of server-rendered video. New dynamic frame rate adjustment works in conjunction with bandwidth estimation to optimize video and graphics delivery over WAN and Internet connections. Where bandwidth is plentiful, full frame rate (30 fps) server-rendered video delivery is now available by modifying a registry key [new default is about 24 fps]. When compared to competitors' server-side rendering, XenDesktop 4 uses significantly less bandwidth to deliver equivalent quality.
• Enhancements to HDX Adaptive Orchestration. SmartRendering has been enhanced with more intelligence to dynamically select between server-side and client-side video rendering. SmartRendering now considers not only user device type and codec availability but also the real-time bandwidth and latency of the network connection.
• FlexCast™ desktop delivery technology. Different types of workers across the enterprise need different types of desktops. Some require simplicity and standardization, while others need performance and personalization. With FlexCast™ delivery technology, IT can deliver the best desktop for every user, every time. XenDesktop 4 is much more than just a VDI solution. For task workers where personalization is not needed or desired, XenDesktop 4 supports Hosted Shared Desktops, providing a locked down, streamlined and standardized environment with the lowest cost per user. For design engineers and other power users, HDX 3D for Professional Graphics delivers GPU-enabled desktops hosted on blade or rack workstations.
• Expanded USB support, including webcams. HDX Plug-n-Play now supports isochronous USB remoting, enabling LAN-connected users to plug in a webcam and enjoy HDX RealTime video conferencing with popular applications such as Microsoft Office Communicator and Skype. This release also supports specialized keyboards (in particular, the Bloomberg keyboard) and dictation devices such as the Philips SpeechMike.
• Media Foundation support for HDX MediaStream client-side rendering. Media Foundation (MF) is Microsoft's new framework for digital media, used by Windows Media Player for certain media types on Windows Vista and Windows 7. With XenDesktop 4, multimedia rendering through Media Foundation can, depending on network latency and packet loss, be offloaded from the XenDesktop VDA server onto the user's Windows or Linux device, greatly improving server scalability. Media Foundation support extends our HDX MediaStream competitive advantage to the latest Windows platforms.
• New audio codec technology. With the new "Optimized for speech" codec, HDX RealTime delivers clear audio quality to softphone and voice chat users with very modest bandwidth consumption (less than 20 Kbps). HDX MediaStream server-rendered video and music playback benefits from the new "High definition" codec which provides CD-like sound quality. These enhancements leverage version 11.2 of the Citrix online plug-in for Windows.
• HDX Plug-n-Play flexible multi-monitor support. Application compatibility with multi-monitor configurations has been improved and users now have greater control via the Desktop Viewer toolbar. Supported multi-monitor configurations include special arrangements such as U, L, T, reverse L and inverse T. Screens can be of different sizes, resolutions and orientations.
• Expanded OS support, including Windows 7. The XenDesktop 4 VDA platform introduces support for Windows 7 (non-Aero) 32-bit and 64-bit, Windows Vista 64-bit and Windows XP 64-bit. With XenDesktop 4, migrating to Windows 7 is as fast and simple as configuring a single master image and assigning users. In addition, the new Citrix online plug-in 11.2 and Web Interface 5.2 releases both support user devices running Windows 7. Smartcard support has been added for Windows 7 and Windows Vista, for Windows online plug-in users.
• HDX IntelliCache with Citrix Branch Repeater provides tokenized compression and data de-duplication, dramatically reducing bandwidth requirements and improving performance for users at branch office locations. XenDesktop 4 Platinum Edition has been tested with Branch Repeater 5.5. Our measurements indicate a 25 times reduction in bandwidth when using HDX IntelliCache with HDX MediaStream to deliver videos to branch offices.
• Single sign-on and password control are now included with XenDesktop 4 Platinum Edition, powered by Citrix Password Manager 4.6 SP1, increasing application security while providing users with fast, automated logon to Web, Windows and host-based applications.  
• Service level monitoring and reporting. XenDesktop 4 Platinum Edition offers enhanced EdgeSight technology to monitor, alert, troubleshoot, and report on the Citrix XenDesktop infrastructure. Administrators can quickly determine where a problem may exist and take action to deliver higher service levels. New summary reports now make it easier than ever to manage a XenDesktop implementation.
• New EasyCall™ features. With EasyCall call forwarding, users can make and receive voice calls when they're out of the office, using the office telephone system. EasyCall reduces telephone expenses while providing users the convenience of click-to-call dialing right from their virtual desktop. A new portal, accessible from browsers and iPhones, empowers users to add EasyCall conferences to their calendar and manage call forwarding to multiple telephone numbers.
• Active Directory multi-forest support enables virtual desktops to be delivered to users located in different Active Directory forests from that in which the XenDesktop infrastructure servers are registered.
• Site Failover provides a disaster recovery, high availability solution in conjunction with Citrix NetScaler™. Web Interface now supports configuration of a list of disaster recovery farms. When none of the farms in the normal farm list can be reached, Web Interface will automatically try the farms in the disaster recovery list.
• Site Roaming enables a user to travel to a site served by a different data center, logon at a Citrix Ready thin client, and connect to his or her own virtual desktop even though it is not hosted at that site. Users can always access their own virtual desktops and data, regardless of where they connect from.
• RDP support. XenDesktop 4 enables users on a locked-down device where they cannot install the Citrix Receiver or online plug-in to access their virtual desktop using RDP. This capability also simplifies moving up to XenDesktop from other desktop virtualization solutions.
• Extended SDK. The Citrix WFAPI SDK is a collection of APIs allowing software developers and system administrators to access specific features of XenDesktop. It has been extended to add several new functions requested by the development community.

No doubt about it, with XenDesktop 4 the desktop virtualization revolution has begun! Find out more at www.citrix.com/xendesktop4.

Derek Thorslund
Citrix Product Strategist, HDX

Learn more about Citrix XenDesktop 4

• Official Press Release - http://citrix.com/xd4/pressrelease
• XenDesktop 4 Virtual Launch Event - http://citrix.com/citrixlive
• XenDesktop 4 Web Site - http://citrix.com/xd4
• XenDesktop 4 Executive Video - http://citrix.com/xd4/video
• XenDesktop Developer Network - http://community.citrix.com/cdn/xd
• XenDesktop 4 Blogs- http://citrix.com/xd4/blogs
• XenDesktop Product Page - http://citrix.com/xendesktop/

Follow XenDesktop on http://twitter.com/xendesktop

Citrix Education would like to invite you to participate in a workshop to scope the next generation of XenServer curriculum.  This workshop is a great opportunity for you to help shape the XenServer courses and exams for 2010 based on your own experiences and needs.

The workshop will be held October 20-21, 2009, at Citrix Silicon Valley Headquarters in Santa Clara, CA.  The workshop will have the following objectives:

• Discuss/review key new product features
• Brainstorm topics to be taught and tested
• Identify topics and scenarios for hands-on practice exercises
• Discuss and document best practices

If you are an experienced XenServer administrator and would like to participate in this workshop, then please respond to:

• Mark Carter
• Courseware Development Lead
• Citrix Education
• Email: mark.carter@citrix.com

Someone from Citrix Education team will then reach out to you to discuss next steps.

As an incentive for participating in the workshop, customers and partners will receive:

• Preview of upcoming features for Essentials for XenServer, Platinum Edition
• A voucher for a Citrix Certified Administrator exam of their choice
• A Citrix courseware manual of their choice
• A guaranteed spot in a 2010 beta class

Don't miss out on this great networking opportunity and a chance to help shape new Citrix training offerings!

Courtesy of the Citrix Project Kensho work over the past 18 months we have spent a good deal of time looking at the interoperability of virtual machines between hypervisors.

If you didn't already know: Kensho uses the still evoloving OVF Standard from the DMTF and has given rise to the Citrix OVF Tool; that can export multi-vm workloads from XenServer and/or Hyper-V, as well as import OVF content from VMware into XenServer or Hyper-V. Kensho has also added the OVF capabilities into XenConvert.

Before we outline the steps below, Hyper-V was chosen for this first example because the publically available tools are Hyper-V specific, and because Citrix is using VHD as its OVF package standard. There will be more later about taking this same VM to ESX.

The Tools:
We need to obtain (download) a few things and a couple need to be installed.

• The Citrix Merchandising Server Virtual Appliance
• The Hyper-V Linux Integration Components ISO(v1, not R2)
• Citrix Project Kensho OVF Tool
• Citrix XenConvert
• Some Linux distribution "Live CD" - Debian Lenny Live
• A Hyper-V Host

Explanation of the Tools:
The Merchandising Server is the appliance used for the example. XenConvert is to convert the XVA (XenServer export format) into an OVF based appliance. The Kensho OVF Tool is to import the OVF into Hyper-V. The Linux distribution "Live CD" is to mount the virtual disk of the appliance to modify the Grub boot loader and copy some files. And the v1 Linux Integration Components have the magic PV kernel shim that is needed.

The process:

1. Expand the Merchandising Server bz2 zip archive. (WinRAR can do this, and others as well)
2. Use Citrix XenConvert 2.x to convert from "Xen Virtual Appliance" to "Open Virtualization Format (OVF) Package"
   • Do not create an OVA, just an OVF.
3. Use Citrix Kensho OVF Tool to Import the OVF Package from step 2 to a Hyper-V host.
   • Do not boot the VM at this time.
4. Attach the Live CD ISO to the VM
5. Set the boot order to boot from DVD first
6. Remove the default Network Adapter and add a Legacy Network Adapter
7. Add a second DVD drive
8. attach the Hyper-V (v1) Linux IC ISO to the second DVD drive of the VM
9. Boot the VM into the Live CD and log in to its console
   • Debian will auto logon as 'user'.
10. switch to root: sudo -i
    • This command is specific to Debian Live
11. Discover the IDE disks:
    1. cd /dev
    2. ls hd*
12. Mount the virtual disk (the vhd)
    1. make a mount point folder: mkdir /mnt/mine
    2. mount the disk to the folder: mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/mine
13. explore the volume
    1. cd /mnt/mine
    2. ls
14. /mine looks like a common Linux /boot volume:
    
15. Mount the Linux IC DVD drive (mine is the second dvd on controller 2):
    1. mkdir /mnt/cdrom
    2. mount /dev/hdd /mnt/cdrom
16. Copy the kernel shims from the ISO to the virtual disk
    1. cd /mnt/cdrom/shim
    2. cp . /mnt/mine
17. Edit the device.map
    1. cd /mnt/mine/grub
    2. nano device.map
       
       
18. Edit the GRUB bootloader to load the shim and the kernel.
    1. nano menu.lst
19. Comment the 'hiddenmenu' option and increase the timeout so I can test.
    
20. Create a new entry specific to the shim and the distribution kernel-xen
    • Notice that the kernel is the shim file copied from the previous step and the existing kernel and initrd load as modules of the shim.
      
21. Modify the default selection to point to my new entry.
    • The default entry begins counting at "0"
      
22. Unmount the virtual disk and the cdrom
    1. cd /
    2. umount /dev/hda1
    3. umount /dev/hdd
23. Shutdown the virtual machine and remove the ISOs from the DVD drive (also remove the second virtual dvd drive).
24. Boot the virtual machine, note the new menu selection that was created - this is the kernel that should boot. Select it if you did not set it as the default.
    

Time to rethink your desktops

Months of planning, hours/weeks of discussions with customers, listening to the community and years of R&D effort leads to something big - and that right now is XenDesktop 4. Something that unlocks the potential of desktop virtualization that the world has been waiting for. With the new FlexCast delivery and enhanced HDX - now it is easy for anyone to look at desktop virtualization and start building plans to put their traditional desktop computing to rest for ever. Harry lists out why he would consider the change now and Raj talks about how this revolution will play out. Traditional desktop computing has clearly had its day - so long - hope to never see you again!

Looking at the responses within the community and several conversations with customers and partners have me convinced that XenDesktop 4 hits the mark. It offers exactly what customers need to serve different types of users with high def. user experience using one solution.

The only question I get is how do they get to it in the best possible way? What's the right license path to take? Every time I hear this question I think that the most important part of the job is done - getting the right product built for the customers that serves their needs and helps them solve their problems!

Three ways to get to XenDesktop 4

Now - let me walk through some scenarios that you may be faced with - it will help you decide how to pick the right path towards the bright future of desktop virtualization in your organization.

Scenario #1 - Not a Citrix customer today, but evaluating XenDesktop for virtual desktops

This is the most straight forward one. If you are considering desktop virtualization, XenDesktop 4 makes it simple. With FlexCast delivery - you have any type of virtual desktop solution you need, all with HDX user experience. You use it with Hyper-V, XenServer, ESX or vSphere - we will leave it up to you - I am sure you will pick the one that is most cost effective to you! Case closed!

Scenario #2 - Existing XenDesktop 2/3 customers, looking to XenDesktop 4

All XenDesktop customers get entitlements to XenDesktop 4 for no additional charge, as long as you are current on your soft assurance (which you likely will be because we offer 1 full year of SA with the product purchase). Most of you are already using the product based on 1:1 concurrency since virtual desktop means getting a license per user in most cases - Brian summarizes this quite well. So, this means more value for all of you at no additional cost. For example, if you are using XenDesktop 2 or 3 Advanced Edition - you get free entitlement to XenDesktop 4 Enterprise. All of the FlexCast delivery and full power of on-demand apps by XenApp at no additional charge. Wham! Similarly, Platinum Edition customers get the full capabilities of XenApp Platinum as part of XenDesktop 4 Platinum. In few cases I understand that there may be a concurrency delta from 1:1; adding new user based licenses of XenDesktop 4 with all additional capabilities as you expand to a larger number of users can be quite easy to justify with the new pricing and value of XenDesktop 4. Finally, if you are in an industry that has high concurrency ratios - stay tuned - we are working on offering you the right options to address your requirements.

Scenario #3 - All existing XenApp customers

Existing XenApp customers have three options now:

Interested in expanding to desktop virtualization now or in the near future for your XenApp users?

If you are interested in desktop virtualization, you should take advantage of the new Trade-up to XenDesktop 4 Program. This program is unbelievable value for anyone considering desktop virtualization. Here is how it works - you can trade-up all your XenApp licenses that you own for up to 2x the number of XenDesktop 4 licenses. Here is how you calculate savings. This might be enough for you to get your desktop virtualization going. You don't even have to start implementing virtual desktops day 1 - adopt it when you are ready and leverage the power of app virtualization as you get all the capabilities of XenApp with XenDesktop. Don't miss the opportunity - this program is only valid for a limited time.

Interested in XenDesktop 4 for new users that do not use XenApp today?

As part of the Trade-up program that I described, we also offer the flexibility to trade-up selective XenApp licenses and convert them to XenDesktop licenses. This program gives you the ability to use any XenApp licenses that you have own but do not use on a regular basis to deliver apps to your users. In fact, they may not even be current on Software Assurance. This program gives you the ability to leverage your existing investmet with Citrix - both license costs as well as your skill-sets and adopt XenDesktop 4 with lower risk and cost. Again, I encourage you to look at the Trade-up calculator.

Not interested in desktop virtualization?

If you are using XenApp to deliver apps with high concurrency requiements, keep using XenApp the way you are. Citrix is committed on XenApp product roadmap and support. We recently delivered powerful new capabilities in XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2. And, you will continue to see similar innovations in XenApp going forward.

Bottom line

This value with XenDesktop 4 is hard to beat, and time is now to look at desktop virtualization as you adopt your plans for windows 7 migration.

For all XenApp customers, look at the Trade-up program. If it doesn't work for you, no worries - XenApp is still the #1 strategic product with the biggest R&D and you will continue to see some solid product roadmap and support from Citrix.

For XenDesktop customers, most of you will have a solid upgrade with more value at no additional cost. I encourage you to look at the licensing differences as you go through the upgrade to XenDesktop 4.

For new customers, the choice is now easy. If you were thinking of how you can get one solution to serve all your users overtime. The solution is now here - Citrix XenDesktop 4

To learn more and uncover all the secrets, join our live event - Secrets, Lies & VDI