I was away for a couple of week, but I'm back and very excited to tell you about the HDX Plug-n-Play for USB storage device. HDX Plug-n-Play for USB storage is another HDX/High Definition eXperience feature introduced in XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2. I believe this new feature will really eliminate many headaches for XenApp administrators and end users alike. So imagine, users now have the ability to plug-in their USB thumb drive/USB stick and use it with their XenApp delivered application at any time; before launching the application or while they are in the middle of working with the application. Effectively, users now have a local-like experience when interacting with a USB stick or USB disk drive.

For those not familiar with how USB storage worked prior to Feature Pack 2, let me explain... Let's say you are working with Microsoft Powerpoint delivered to you via XenApp. A co-worker stops by, hands you a USB stick and asks for a copy of the Powerpoint. Naturally, your instinct tells you to plug in that USB stick, go to Powerpoint - File - Save As... <bzzzz - wrong!>. Prior to Feature Pack 2, users must first plug in the USB stick before starting the Powerpoint. Otherwise, XenApp would not recognize and map the thumb drive in the session. Needless to say, it's not very natural, and couldn't be any less instinctive.
Many customers & admins I talked to are raving about this new feature in XenApp! They are excited because they no longer need to "re-train" users how to use USB drives with XenApp. IT no longer have to field support calls on why they don't see the USB stick in the application. Applications delivered with XenApp become ever more transparent to the end users...and that's a great thing!

How do I enable this feature? This feature is enabled by default. So, if you have policies to not allow use of USB sticks, you'll need to disable this feature in the registry by following the instructions below or in eDocs.

On XenApp 32-bit edition
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Citrix\Policies\DisableUSBRedirection
On XenApp 64-bit edition
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\Citrix\Policies\DisableUSBRedirection

Type: DWORD
Values:
1 = redirection disabled
0 = redirection enabled

Now, I also want to point out that this feature, like the HDX MediaStream for Flash is currently available on XenApp 5 for Windows Server 2003. Support on Windows Server 2008 is forth-coming and I'll be sharing more information on this site in the near future.

So, there you go... XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 makes life easier for admins and end users, again! And if you missed my first post on how XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 delivers a local-like experience with Adobe Flash content, take a look at HDX MediaStream for Flash
But wait! Tomorrow, Ola Nordstrom from our Security team will post our HDX Easter-egg feature called Secure Clipboard Control. Very cool feature for customers who require better control of information flow in an XenApp session. So, stop back tomorrow!

Learn more about Citrix XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2

• Official Press Release - http://citrix.com/English/NE/news/news.asp?newsID=1857726
• XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 release Web Site - http://citrix.com/xenapp/featurepack2
• XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 Executive Video - http://citrix.com/xenapp/fp2/video
• XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 Release Webinar - http://citrix.com/xenapp/fp2/techtalk
• XenApp feature matrix by platform, version and edition - http://citrix.com/xenapp/comparativematrix
• XenApp Expert Series videos for this release - http://citrix.com/xenapp/fp2/expertseries
• XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 Blogs- http://community.citrix.com/blogs/tag/xa5fp2
• Download XenApp technology previews - http://citrix.com/xenapp/techpreviews
• XenApp Product Page - http://citrix.com/xenapp/

Follow XenApp on | | | [|http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2130967&trk=hb_side_g|Follow XenApp application

In case you missed it, on September 16, 2009, Citrix announced our much anticipated release of XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2. My colleague, Vinny Sosa, did an awesome job detailing the three categories of focus for the release in his blog post. Over the next few days, I will be sharing more of my thoughts about the HDX (High Definition Experience) features that will lay to rest any fears you have about performance and user experience with regards to hosted application delivery! I'll talk about the why these features are important to our customers, and more importantly, what you need to enable and configure these features for your XenApp infrastructure.

The first topic I want to cover is HDX MediaStream for Flash. So, what is it and why is it important? Well, instead of using your XenApp server to process and render the Flash application or video (impacts your server scalability - bad), HDX MediaStream for Flash leverages resources available on the user's Windows device. Thus, resulting in two key benefits: 1) users are happy (good) because they have a local like experience with the Flash content (no more A/V sync issues or video jitter), and 2) administrators can free up server resources to do more important things or accommodate more users. Needless to say, I'm very excited about this feature in Feature Pack 2. And hopefully by now, I've piqued your interest as well.

Ok, so... here is the even more exciting part - enabling HDX MediaStream for Flash for XenApp.

First, let's look at the system requirements:

On your XenApp server,

• XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 for Windows Server 2003
• Internet Explorer (7 & 8) with ActiveX support

On the user's Windows client device, you'll need:

• Adobe Flash Player 10 installed
• Citrix online plug-in 11.2

Second: enabling HDX MediaStream for Flash.

Well, once you've install XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2, HDX MediaStream for Flash is enabled on your XenApp server by default. That's it - very simple! Now, if you need to disable this feature, you can do so through the Group Policy Object Editor.

And what happens if the user doesn't have sufficient resources to render the Flash content locally? In that case, XenApp will intelligently fall-back to the server-side rendering that exists in XenApp prior to Feature Pack 2.

See? Short, sweet and simple. My next blog will cover HDX Plug-n-Play for USB storage, and a bit of an Easter-egg feature called Secure Clipboard control! So, stay tuned!

Learn more about Citrix XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2

• Official Press Release - http://citrix.com/English/NE/news/news.asp?newsID=1857726
• XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 release Web Site - http://citrix.com/xenapp/featurepack2
• XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 Executive Video - http://citrix.com/xenapp/fp2/video
• XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 Release Webinar - http://citrix.com/xenapp/fp2/techtalk
• XenApp feature matrix by platform, version and edition - http://citrix.com/xenapp/comparativematrix
• XenApp Expert Series videos for this release - http://citrix.com/xenapp/fp2/expertseries
• XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 Blogs- http://community.citrix.com/blogs/tag/xa5fp2
• Download XenApp technology previews - http://citrix.com/xenapp/techpreviews
• XenApp Product Page - http://citrix.com/xenapp/

Follow XenApp on | | |

For those familiar with XenApp, you already know a key capability of XenApp is delivering Windows applications to many different client devices. Most of us probably don't think about it much, but this capability translate into a couple of really important benefits for our customers, especially in today's economic climate:

1. You easily can deliver Windows applications to endpoints running variety of OS'es (Windows, Linux, netbooks like the eeePC and of course, the iPhone - coming soon). One example is companies are implementing work-from-home programs to eliminate commute time, reduce electric consumption and consolidate office real estate. Users can work from home, using their own computer. They have a Windows PC - no problem. Mac - sure, we've got a client for that too. eeePC? check out the link above.
2. You can also extend the life of those equipment & extend your hardware refresh cycle - imagine having the ability to run a Office 2007 or your favorite business critical apps on a legacy Pentium II desktop.

That said, I'd like to take a poll on what OS you're using to access XenApp. Please login to vote!

What OS is your XenApp plugin (new name for ICA client) running on?	Choose
Windows XP
Windows Vista
Windows Server 2003/2008
Windows 2000/98/ME
Mac OS
Linux
UNIX
Java
Windows CE/PPC
EPOC/Symbian
Other (IBM OS/2, Windows 16-bit, DOS)

I have two very exciting announcement to make here: 1) Access Essentials 3.0 for Windows Server 2008 reached RTM, and 2) the launch of Access Essentials at Microsoft Virtual Launch Event for Essential Server Solutions on Nov 12.

Citrix Access Essentials 3.0 for Windows Server 2008 has achieved Release To Manufacturing (RTM). This is a major milestone for this remote access solution targeted at small businesses. Earlier this year, I posted about a number of features/enhancements that will be available in this release on Windows Server 2008, including support for Windows Server 2008, SpeedScreen technologies, as well as integration with Microsoft's new mid-size business offering - Windows  Essentials Business Servers (EBS). I want to focus on our integration with EBS - see a screenshot below. Notice Citrix Servers, Sessions, Applications and Licenses tab - they enable IT generalists to manage their day-to-day Access Essentials operations (add/remove users to applications deliver by CAE, shadow users to help expedite helpdesk support, and more) right from the Essential Business Server management console. 

This integration is especially critical for mid-size businesses, where you have maybe 1 or 2 IT generalists covering a wide range of IT task. That means IT generalists at small and mid-size organization will have a single, seamless management experience for application delivery (via CAE), and their email, system, security (via EBS).

For small to mid-size business looking for a secure, remote access solution, I would encourage you to sign up for the Microsoft Virtual Launch Event for Essential Server Solutions on November 12! The Access Essentials team will be on-hand, virtually, to answer your questions. Register now for Windows Essentials Server Solutions Virtual Launch Event!

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

A couple months back I posted a blog on running OCS 2007 on XenApp. In it I highlighted a couple of known issues (doesn't support voice or video at this time), but I also posted a feedback received from customers that the user status changes intermittently. E.g., Communicator will change your status to "Away" even if you are online and available. If you have experienced this annoyance, it appears this issue (sporadic presence change) has been addressed in Microsoft's April 30^th update for OCS 2007. You can find more information about this update here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/951662/

Last week, I wrote about the challenges related to the on-coming waves of Windows in the next few years. This week, I thought I would ask my readers about 16-bit apps - many of us have them, though many can't say we love them. Supporting 16-bit apps has become exponentially challenging with each hardware cycle and new release of the Windows OS. As an example, if you have 16-bit apps running on one or two year old servers, chances are you are running your 16-bit app on Windows 2003 (32-bit OS & WOW) and probably on a 64-bit processor. There are simply too many layers for things to go wrong.

So, my question to you this week...

What are you plans for 16-bit applications?	Choose
Definitely keeping 16-bit apps as long as we can - even if without vendor support
Already have migration plan on the roadmap for 16-bit apps
Not sure – haven't thought about it
We've thought about it and decided to revisit at a later time
Don't have any 16-bit apps

I'll post the results in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, please don't hesitate to contact me with questions.

I've been spending a bit of time thinking about the relationship of Windows servers and the datacenter. In my role as a product manager, I often hear customer talk about their challenges and pains balancing applications, OS'es and hardware refresh cycles. And once a while, I catch myself recalling the simpler times of the past; when Windows NT, 3.51, 4.0 and even Windows 2000 were more manageable (Ok, relatively speaking). Today, IT organizations have to manage exponentially more apps, more users, and more flavors of servers than you can keep count of. 32-bit apps has been around for a l-o-n-g time. When Windows Server 2003 introduced 64-bit, only a limited number of apps were able to realize the benefits of better scalability, faster performance. Even today (5+ years later), customers still tell me they can't take their apps on a 64-bit OS because of driver compatibility. This has IT organizations painting themselves into the corner of supporting a complex matrix of 32-bit and 64-bit apps and OS'es. When you toss in legacy 16-bit application into the mix, you end up with a fairly complex mix of... spaghetti.

The next wave of Windows is coming. I'm not talking about Windows 2008, which was just released in Feb 2008. There are already talks about Windows "7" or Windows 2008 R2 - the codename for the next release of Windows (server and client). And in case you haven't heard... Windows "7" server will be 64-bit only. What will you do with your 16-bit and 32-bit apps? How will IT be able to catch up, or will this downward spiral continues? Or do you have everything under control?

Thoughts?

Ok, I think this would be an interesting one for the community. Audio (voice & sound) content is becoming more important to customers - day-to-day applications that require clear audio (e.g., listening to a voicemail attached in your email), VoIP/softphone calls, dictation applications, etc. If you have applications or use cases that require audio (voice or sound) over XenApp, please read on...
Take a listen to the recorded audio clip (no video) below - the clip was recorded over XenApp to an ICA client. As you listen to the clip, think about whether the audio quality is, in your opinion, good enough for you day-to-day use? After listening to the audio clip, please vote in our poll below. By the way, it's recommended that you watch/listen to the clip from a locally installed browser.

Oh, and if you cannot see the voting buttons (green checks).... you'll need to login to vote. And if you don't have a login, you can easily create one here.

What's your impression of the audio quality in the sample audio clip?	Choose
Poor – if it's my only option, then I cannot use it with my voice/audio application
Bearable – I can use it to communicate with others, but only if I have to
Acceptable – I can use this on a daily basis
Great – When can I have this?

If you have questions, please click on my name and feel free to contact me!

In the last couple of months, there have been a number of blogs added on this site covering the progress of Project Delaware -- the next release of XenApp (new name for Presentation Server) for Windows Server 2008. At the same time, another team of talented engineers has also been working on the next release of Citrix Access Essentials (CAE), codename Project Eden. Like its bigger XenApp sibling, Access Essentials projects are also named after rivers; however, in our case, Access Essentials projects are named after rivers "across the pond" - that is, in the U.K.  Project Eden has three main objectives:

1. Support Windows Server 2008 - Microsoft has introduced a number of enhancements in Windows Server 2008, including improved management, security and printing. As the adoption of Windows Server 2008 ramps up for the small to mid-size business (usually more rapidly because they have more flexibility to change), let's make sure customers can continue to leverage AE on this new OS platform. 
2. Integrate with Microsoft's new mid-size business offering, Essential Business Server (EBS) or codename "Centro". If you follow the SMB space, undoubtedly you've heard of "Centro" or Essential Business Server. You've probably also seen Citrix mentioned in one of the many EBS industry write-ups or the Citrix logo on a Microsoft EBS' blog post.
3. Deliver features to improve usability and enhance end-user experience. As an example, CAE 2.0 introduced SpeedScreen technology of Browser and Image Acceleration. Project Eden will deliver the additional SpeedScreen technology currently available in XenApp product for CAE customers.

Obviously there are more features and details not mentioned here, but, as you can see already, there are many exciting things going on with Access Essentials. So, even though the last CAE blog was posted some time ago, don't despair. You can expect to see more CAE coverage in the up-coming months! As the new Product Manager of CAE, I am very excited about this product and its future! If you are currently a CAE customer, I would love to hear about your experience with CAE. You can reach me by clicking on my name/profile above. If you are new to CAE, you can learn more about it here.

If you are familiar with Microsoft Office Communication Server (OCS) 2007, you probably know OCS 2007 introduces communication and collaborative integration with Microsoft Office and Exchange.  What you may not know is that between 60 - 80% of customers surveyed said they use Presentation Server to deliver Microsoft Outlook and Office apps to their users. And with increasing number of customers putting focus on user communication and collaboration, we needed to see whether we can run OCS 2007 with PS. With help from the Microsoft Unified Communications team late last year, we were actually able to get some good results from our preliminary testing.
The Setup:
Our test bed was quite simple - 3 servers and 3 clients configured as diagramed below. Obviously, your environment probably looks different, but you get the point.

 
  
The Results:
With our setup, we were able to get the following OCS2007 features to work on PS:

• Office Communicator 2007 - the IM client running in PS 
• IM (instant message) - IM'ing with other users on your IM list
• IM Presence - see in real time whether the user is available (online, offline, etc.)
• Microsoft Office integration - IM and presence of a colleague... say, you want to see in Outlook if Jane is online before sending her the email

And while we didn't test the Remote Call Control (RCC) features in OCS 2007 (couldn't get permission to connect to the corp PBX), we believe this feature should work without issues. After all, Presentation Server is simply "rendering" the remote call control interface over ICA (just like any other app) and the calls are handled by the OCS2007, Mediation Gateway and PBX. If anyone out there can try RCC over Presentation Server, and I'd love to get your feedback on this!

More Work Underway:
Of course, it's clear there is more work to do - notice voice and video are missing  from the above list. We tried voice, but that didn't work. We need to figure that one out. Video conferencing is yet another hurdle at this point. Some customers have told me the wider adoption voice and video is still 12 - 18 months out. Do you agree?

In the coming weeks, I'll follow up with more information on the configurations and setup. Hopefully, I'll have time to do a video demo'ing the OCS 2007 features we test with Presentation Server as well. Meanwhile, I'd love to hear about your plans for bringing communication and collaboration to your organization! Submit your comments or shoot me an email!

May 14: Sporadic presence status with OCS and XenApp? Please see my blog on Microsoft's update to address this problem.