Latest News from Chris Fleck

Michael Dell Endorses Citrix Desktop Virtualization Play

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:00:00 EDT

Last week Citrix announced a sweeping product launch aimed at Virtualizing Desktops for any type of user or device. More than 70 new features are included in the new XenDesktop 4, including the ability to host Desktop VM's on Servers or PC's and access them from devices ranging from PC's to NetBooks, to Thin Clients to even iPhones. Another significant component of the announcement is the inclusion of Citrix XenApp application Virtualization so IT shops now have the flexibility to deliver apps and desktops optimized for the user and use case. Dell’s Flexible Computing vision aligns well with Citrix’s desktop virtualization strategy. Citrix XenDesktop 4, as part of Dell’s Flexible Computing offering, gives our customers the flexibility to pick the best type of virtual desktop solution for their needs,” said Michael Dell, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Dell. “Given the upcoming Windows 7 refresh cycle, we’re expecting many of our customers to begin assessing desktop virtualization as the industry moves to anytime, anywhere desktop access.”

Citrix Receiver for iPhone Clears 200,000 Downloads

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 10:50:00 EDT

Since its introduction less than six months ago, there has been more than 200,000 downloads of Citrix Receiver for iPhone. Users have ranged from Doctor's to Lawyer's to Systems Admin's, all with a common desire to get their job done whenever and wherever they are.

Citrix Seeking Tech Trailblazers

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 11:45:00 EDT

Citrix Systems has announced the Citrix Synergy Spring 2010 call for topics. Taking place May 11 to 14, 2010 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, Synergy Spring is focused on the growing convergence between virtualization, networking and cloud computing. Interoperability and openness are central to this theme, and Citrix encourages technical experts and industry thought leaders to contribute proposals focusing on topics related to real world challenges. Vendor neutral submissions that address trends, technologies and solutions are now being accepted for consideration:

Cloud Computing Economics - Amazon EC2 vs Terremark v Cloud Express

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 05:30:00 EDT

The recent announcement of the Terremark Cloud offering has raised significant attention especially because of the competitive pricing and EC2 like features of elastic capacity and hourly charges with no commitment. On the surface the [Terremark entry price of $0.036 per hour|http://vcloudexpress.terremark.com/pricing.aspx] seems very low compared to [Amazon EC2 at $0.10|http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/#pricing] but it's worth picking a few examples to provide a more apples to apples comparison.

Amazon Virtual Private Cloud Opens Doors for Citrix Customers

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 07:45:00 EDT

The Amazon Web Services ( AWS ) announcement of the Virtual Private Cloud ( VPC ) offering has just made Cloud Computing more attractive to the enterprise. Most companies I talk with are interested in the “Cloud”, but beyond a few SaaS apps and perhaps some dev/test they are not ready for any big change to their corporate IT infrastructure. On the other hand many of those same companies are currently or projected to be capacity limited in their own data center based on space or power limitations. Many companies will opt to move or expand into a Co-lo ( Co-location ) facility which provides dedicated space, power and bandwidth. This solves the space and power problem but most of the same costs of computing are just moved to a remote facility. The expensive data center facility cost is shared among other companies but the Server, Storage and Networking are all dedicated. The promise of the Cloud and particularly IaaS ( Infrastructure as a Service ) like Amazon EC2 is sharing computing and facility costs, having capacity available on demand, and only paying for what is used.

Citrix XenServer Virtualization & Fortune 500 Companies

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 07:30:00 EDT

A big reason for the recent surge among large enterprise organizations has been the release of XenServer 5.5 in June, adding a wide range of new enterprise-class capabilities. The Burton Group, in fact, recently certified Citrix XenServer 5.5 and its Citrix Essentials™ 5.5 management add-on as one of only two hypervisor platforms in the industry to meet 100 percent of the analyst firm’s required features for enterprise production. To be certified as enterprise production-ready under Burton Group’s comprehensive evaluation criteria, a server virtualization platform must pass a rigorous examination of virtualization, computing, storage, networking, security, and management capabilities.

HDX Connect: Do You Want HDX - ICA Alone?

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 18:03:00 EDT

The question of VDI use cases, customer awareness, and Desktop Virtualization has been a hot topic lately at Citrix. Harry Labana's blog post did a great job describing the differences in Desktop Virtualization and Server Virtualization. In addition to the positive reviews a few commenter's have also brought up some scenarios we have been considering but have not made available to date. Specifically we have been discussing ways to make HDX more pervasive and useful to IT Pro's and users. HDX has significant benefits and we want the broader industry to try it out and get a taste of XenDesktop.

Limos and Laptops: Why and How to Provide Safe Access from Untrusted PCs

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 10:30:00 EDT

The perceived security risk of granting access from untrusted PCs such as airport kiosks,hotels or even home computers has outweighed the benefits of broad remote access for many enterprises. As a result, those companies typically have IT security policies that dictate only a corporate laptop with the IT supported corporate image plus a VPN can gain access from outside the corporate network. While this policy does provide a certain level of security, it also contributes to many hidden costs both tangible and intangible.

DevonIT Wins Citrix Ready XenDesktop Challenge - Best Video

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 12:45:00 EDT

Citrix announced the winners of the Citrix Ready XenDesktop challenge. Multiple Thin Client vendors recently submited videos representing the best Thin Client to use with XenDesktop. The videos were posted to CitrixTV and viewed by thosands in the community. The winners were decided by Industry expert Doug Brown, plus Citrix Executives Sumit Dhawan and Chris Fleck. In addition, the community got to vote on the best overall video.

What To Do About iPhone Security Concerns

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 23:15:00 EDT

Two recent security scares regarding the iPhone have brought renewed attention to the iPhone readiness for business use. In one case Forbes.com author Andy Greenburg garnered a lot of attention with his " How to Hijack Every iPhone In the World " story. This describes an SMS exploit that will be exposed at the Black Hat CyberSecurity event in Las Vegas this week. "Researchers say they'll demonstrate how to send a series of mostly invisible SMS bursts that can give a hacker complete power over any of the smart phone's functions. That includes dialing the phone, visiting Web sites, turning on the device's camera and microphone and, most importantly, sending more text messages to further propagate a mass-gadget hijacking."

What is the Nirvana Mobile App?

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 19:45:00 EDT

With the release of Citrix Receiver for iPhone 1.02 including AG and RSA support, the ability to securely deliver any app, anywhere, is closer than ever to reality ( we already cover WinMo, Symbian and close to BlackBerry and Android ). One question I have been pondering with Martin Duursma and few others on the team is what is next ? It's great we can get to all these other Windows and RIA apps, but the app many of us use most is email. The question is, what is missing from native iPhone email or Outlook ? What features would be most useful for a mobile app that we would use all the time from any device?

Build Once, Deliver Anywhere, No Objective C Required

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:15:00 EDT

XenApp Fundamentals for SMB Now in Amazon EC2 Cloud

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 14:30:00 EDT

Citrix has released a public AMI ( Amazon Machine Image ) in the EC2 Cloud recently as part of the C3 Lab initiative with Amazon Web Services. XenApp Fundamentals is the new name for Access Essentials which is an ideal solution for SMB's looking for a simple way to administer and deliver Windows apps to office PC's, Thin Clients, Desktop Appliances, home PC's, Mac's, Laptops or mobile devices. Only a Receiver client is required on the endpoint, the applications get installed on a single XenApp server and are simply published to the users you want to access the app. The Admin console is wizard driven and easy to use, with the option for advanced features only if required.

What Do We Want for the iPhone?

Thu, 28 May 2009 22:00:00 EDT

A lot of buzz is in the air about what Apple is going to release (or not) at WWDC next month. As usual Apple has done a great job of keeping people guessing about what will be announced and when it will be available. Since the release of the Citrix Receiver for iPhone there has also been an increased interest in the iPhone for business use and how it can be utilized to be more productive (and have a little fun).

Citrix Receiver For the iPhone Closes the Gap on Enterprise Adoption

Mon, 11 May 2009 14:45:00 EDT

Citrix announced the formal release of the Citrix Receiver for iPhone 1.0, now available in the App Store. The new app allows instant access to company resources behind the firewall including apps, documents, and internal web sites.

You Won't Get Fired for Buying VMware, But ...

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 04:15:00 EDT

Many of us in the IT industry recall the old adage "you'll never get fired for buying IBM" this held true for quite some time while IBM provided a comprehensive albeit expensive set of products that got the job done and provided the safe bet vendor selection. As the PC era took hold and the introduction of credible alternatives became available, the pendulum began to swing the other way. IT started being challenged about the "safe bet" choice and in many cases the assumption became if you were only buying IBM you were probably paying too much. This phenomena also translated into many purchasing processes that forced spec & price comparisons, in other cases it came about by users inside and outside of IT making departmental decisions to purchase PC's and other IT solutions from alternative vendors.

Amazon EC2 Reserved Pricing Changes the Equation

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 02:15:00 EDT

Things are changing fast in the world of Cloud Computing, however one question remains the same. Will it save me money and how much? To follow up on a previous post on Cloud Economics Part One, I looked at a fairly simple example of 5 Servers for a dev/test environment and identified the incremental costs of buying 5 servers and running them on premise or a Colo and then compared that to Amazon EC2. The analysis did not include many variables such as real estate costs and labor savings which may or may not apply to the particular situation. The results indicated that a Premise based deployment could provide the lowest "incremental" cost when compared to EC2 if the servers were running continuously. On the other hand EC2 provided significant savings for short term workloads with no upfront costs.

Citrix Receiver For the iPhone Hits the App Store

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 07:45:00 EDT

There are some restrictions in this Tech Preview so be sure to check out the iPhone Community pages we have set up for requirements, tips and forum discussions. If you want to set up a separate test environment to test your apps over 3G we have a preconfigured XenApp Virtual Appliance in Amazon EC2 that you can copy and set up in 15 minutes.

What Will Be the Impact of Free XenServer?

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 09:19:00 EDT

Ever since the Citrix announcement of making Enterprise XenServer free last month there has been a lot of speculation regarding the impact of the move. Based on an informal Poll on Linkedin and the comments it's generating it does appear that there will be an impact especially with new adopters to Virtualization.

Virtual Missile Hits VMWorld!

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:30:00 EST

Despite the early warnings Citrix has made a direct hit at VMWorld 2009, announcing Enterprise-proven XenServer will now be free. The news seems to have been well received by IT shops looking for ways to save in the tough economic climate as well as by virtualization consultants expanding the options they can offer customers. Michael Goldstein, VP at LAN Associates, a VMware, Microsoft and Citrix Reseller that specializes in IT solutions for the legal industry said. "This move by Citrix is going to really shake things up."

HP Strengthens Client Virtualization Portfolio with Bundled Blade PC and Citrix XenDesktop Offering

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 09:30:00 EST

At the core of the solution are the new HP BladeSystem bc2800 Blade PC and HP BladeSystem bc2200 Blade PC, which offer advanced infrastructure control and scalability. These products are combined with Citrix XenDesktop 3 to provide a high-definition user experience and centralized desktop management. The combined offering leverages the power of both the data center and endpoint devices to significantly reduce desktop total cost of ownership.

iMoan, uMoan, Doctors Moan for the iPhone

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:30:00 EST

Blogger Radiologist "Dr Dalai", provides a good summary of native PAC's viewers available for the iPhone. However, his real intent appears to be encouraging the industry to provide better support of the iPhone. It seems he is not alone in this request. Doctors have been flooding the internet with requests and the industry is responding. For example, Epocrates has also recently released it's premium Epocrates Essentials for the iPhone, to the delight of thousands of users.

iPhone in the Enterprise Webinar

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 15:38:00 EST

Chris Hazelton from the 451 Group: "The iPhone has so effectively whetted the appetite of corporate mobility users wanting more feature-rich products that executives are smuggling the device into the enterprise without authorization. No single vendor - as cool as Apple may be - can possibly develop sufficient applications to sate this appetite, so third-party software developers have an immense opportunity to add value. The question is, will Apple decide this is the road it wants to travel? Will it cede the control it so famously exerts over every stage of its products development? Or will it choose for the sake of increased financial opportunity to compete in the enterprise?"

Citrix XenApp Now Runs in the EC2 Cloud

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 13:00:00 EST

Apps from the Cloud frequently means limited function browser based web apps that may be OK for personal use but don’t cut it in the business world. Citrix as an industry leader delivering full featured enterprise windows apps to business has now enabled the Cloud to provide the delivery system. As a public demonstration Citrix has posted a pre-built XenApp Server in Amazon’s Xen based EC2 offering.

How to Cut & Paste from a PowerPoint Doc to Word on an iPhone

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:05:00 EST

... Since there was not many new exciting iPhone demos at the MacWorld Keynote, we decided to release some of our own. Check out Cut & Paste from a real PowerPoint doc to Word. It works with Citrix! Let us know what you think of the file navigation application as well. Nothing to announce regarding release date...but we are making good progress.

Is Nick Carr Right About Cloud Computing?

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 01:45:00 EST

There is a lot of hype and reality in the world of Cloud computing today. On the hype side there are numerous data points; VC investments, M&A, data centers under construction, new conferences and events. On the other hand there are now many examples of reality as well. SaaS offerings like Salesforce.com and many HR applications plus web site hosting have established themselves as a legitimate part of the IT portfolio of many corporations large and small.

Cloud Computing Economics, Part Two

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 10:00:00 EST

As described in Part One of this series, the cloud is not the answer for every enterprise or every workload. This is true based on the current economics even without considering additional factors like security, control and SLA's. On the other hand the economics do point out a major cloud advantage when it comes to short term or variable workloads.

Cloud Computing Economics, Part One

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 08:55:00 EST

The economics of Cloud Computing do point out a major Cloud advantage when it comes to short term or variable workloads. On the surface though it's apparent that Amazon's EC2, for example, is significantly more expensive if the set up is utilized 24x7x365, even a 40 hour week yields a slightly higher cost.