As many of you have already seen, Citrix's annual Global User Conference has had some major changes this year.  The first major change is that the event has been up-leveled to cover much more than the user conference but to be an industry conference around Virtualization, Networking and Application Delivery.  The second major change is that the event is just around the corner - May 20 - 23 in Houston (moved from the usual October timeframe).

Synergy will be sub-divided into 4 sub-conferences including:

iForum User Conference - The latest information on Citrix products from A-Xen.  This is similar to the classic iForum that we are all used to taking place in the fall.  The focus here will be on technical content, customer case studies, demos, hands-on and much more.  If you liked the standalone iForum in the past you'll love the iForum portion of Synergy.

App Delivery Industry Expo - No one vendor can solve all your app delivery problems.  This conference will feature more than 50 vendors showcasing multi-product solutions, demos, architectural best practices and technical sessions on all kinds of topics covering the broader industry. 

Geek Speak Live! - The "un-conference" intended for technical experts to share their ideas on virtualization, networking, green computing, automation, app delivery and many more topics. 

IT 2.0 Business Symposium - A conference aimed at the busy executive on key topics that he is faced with in today's wild world of IT. 

So what's in store for XenApp at iForum 2008?  Only the best lineup of technical sessions ever!   Keep in mind that it's still early and things could still be tweaked slightly but the current working titles and descriptions for the XenApp related session are:

Citrix XenApp, Windows Server 2008 and Your Environment

Learn the best practices for implementing Citrix XenApp on Windows Server 2008, gathered from early adopters like Citrix IT and Beta customers.  Also hear a special guest speaker from Microsoft describe the benefits of Windows Server 2008 and XenApp together!  This session will cover:

• What's new in the upcoming "Delaware" release - our first release that supports Windows Server 2008
• How Windows Server 2008 will enable Delaware to be the best Windows application delivery solution we have ever produced
• Best practices for migrating to XenApp on Windows Server 2008
• How to manage a mixed Windows Server 2003 and 2008 environment
• What's new in the upcoming update to our Windows Server 2003 version

Unlocking the Value of XenApp Platinum through Enhanced User Experience

Come and see the future look and feel of Citrix XenApp.  This session will explore all the tools necessary to craft a world-class user experience that is intuitive, seamless, consistent and adaptable.  This session will cover:

• The End User Experience Initiative at Citrix.  Find out what products are involved, what changes are being planned and when you can expect to see them.
• See the new look of XenApp Platinum.  Learn about the project to create a consistent look and feel across all of the Platinum components and learn how these changes will affect your organization.
• See the new XenApp Web User Experience.  Learn the new features and functionality planned for the upcoming release of XenApp. Learn ways to customize the new experience to fit best in your environment.
• See the future of the Citrix User Experience.  Learn what's coming next!

Tuning XenApp Farms for Optimal Performance and System Health

Join Citrix XenApp product tuning experts for an in-depth view of the tools and tips that you need to keep your farm running in tip-top condition.  In this session we will cover:

• Application Performance Monitoring - a cornerstone component of XenApp Platinum edition built on the industry's top monitoring solution, Citrix EdgeSight.
• Health Assistant - XenApp's built-in capability for monitoring the health of critical system services that allows you to take steps to address issues and mitigate system down time.
• Other important tuning parameters around IMA, ICA and printing.

An In-Depth Look at Citrix XenApp Platinum from Use Cases to Implementation

Join us for an in-depth tour of the industry's most comprehensive end-to-end application delivery solution - Citrix XenApp Platinum.  XenApp Platinum includes everything that the expanding or established business needs to deliver applications to users in a single secure, easily managed, easy-to-use and low cost solution.  This session will cover all aspects of XenApp Platinum including use cases and implementation highlights for client-side app virtualization, end-user application performance monitoring, SmartAccess, SmartAuditor, Single Sign-on, EasyCall and WAN Optimization.

Application Virtualization: Deliver all Windows Applications with Isolation and Streaming

Application Virtualization packages applications and streams them into an isolation environment on the servers in your datacenter and now directly to end user (client) machines.  This eliminates application conflicts and simplifies app updates.  This session will cover:

• Best technical practices to exploit applications streaming benefits
• Guidelines for successful application delivery implementations
• How to combine Microsoft App Virtualization sequences with Citrix XenApp
• A case study illustrating the how to and the business value

XenApp - Advanced Design and Configuration

Back by popular demand, and always an iForum favorite, this in-depth technical session will cover critical design considerations for any XenApp environment from architecture and networks to servers and farm scalability.  Whether you're planning an upgrade or a new implementation of XenApp, Platinum Edition, you'll want to have a full understanding of these advanced concepts and best practices.  This session will cover:

• Methodically approach the network-related aspects of XenApp
• Address WAN or other network issues to ensure successful implementation
• Plan and design your server farm zones for high scalability
• Optimize the server farm for maximum stability and high performance

Building Green Citrix XenApp Farms by Maximizing Server Scalability

Server consolidation has both economic and environmental importance, and businesses and government agencies alike face increasing pressure to reduce space, as well as electrical and cooling costs within the datacenter. This session will discuss per-server capacity planning and provide methodologies and techniques for maximizing and measuring per-server user scalability. We'll also discuss how Citrix XenApp adds capabilities for pinpointing and resolving scalability bottlenecks.  In this session you will learn:

• How to configure XenApp for higher user density through memory management features and technology
• Techniques for monitoring application performance and alleviating server bottlenecks
• How to leverage 64-bit Windows server platforms for dramatic increases in server capacity

Solving Security and Compliance Headaches with Citrix XenApp

Painful and becoming more painful: security and regulatory compliance!  This technical session will explain how XenApp and its end-to-end application delivery elements address these security and regulatory challenges. In this session you will learn:

• How to protect user data
• How to address regulatory compliance and risk management challenges including Sarbanes Oxley, HIPAA, FDIC, HSPD-12 and more
• How XenApp mitigates risk and makes compliance easier

Flash!  Got Media? - Exciting Solutions for Multimedia Application Delivery

How are virtualization technologies evolving to address the new generation of rich media applications? Supporting Flash Applications, 3D graphics, animation, VoIP and video are increasingly important in the enterprise. Find out about the Citrix Multimedia Virtualization Initiative and the latest capabilities from Citrix and our ecosystem partners. Learn how to optimize video playback and deliver high-resolution images.  Get a glimpse at new technologies under development to handle the most advanced multimedia requirements and emerging RIA platforms 

Printing Virtualization with XenApp and XenDesktop - Roadmap and Best Practices

Enterprise printing infrastructures are complex and getting more so. As if the day-to-day management of print servers, printer drivers, application compatibility issues, and print performance issues wasn't hard enough, the additional moving parts needed for application and desktop virtualization can exacerbate these issues. Printing virtualization is a strategy that can help. In the same way that application and desktop virtualization decouple and facilitate centralized management, virtualized printing infrastructures can help tame your printing challenges. This session will explore the concept of printing virtualization and some of the key technologies that Citrix is developing to enable it. We'll also have a look at the product roadmaps and discuss best practices for today and the future. In this session you will learn:

• Printing virtualization strategy
• Key printing technologies:  XML Paper Specification (XPS) and Universal Print Server (UPS)
• XenApp & XenDesktop printing feature roadmaps
• Printing best practices for today and tomorrow 

In addition to those sessions, there are others planned that include a lot of helpful information on XenApp and its interaction with other Citrix products.  These include:

Citrix XenDesktop: How and When to Add XenDesktop to XenApp Implementations

Provide Global Availability for XenApp using Citrix NetScaler Global Load Balancing

XenApp and XenServer - Better Together

Technical best practices for integrating Provisioning Server for Datacenters with XenApp to deliver the Dynamic Datacenter

Citrix XenApp delivery to branches: Architectural Choices

Citrix Solutions for the Optimized Branch

Utilizing EdgeSight to Ensure the Best Application Experience in XenApp Infrastructures

Testing 1-2-3, Testing 1-2-3: Ensuring reliable, scalable XenApp infrastructures through automated load and regression testing

So book your ticket for Houston today and get set for the best iForum ever which will be part of the even broader and more content rich Citrix Synergy!  To register, go to http://community.citrix.com/synergy-registration

This has not been a very well kept secret as rumors have been posted on other blogs since Citrix Summit08 began on January 29th.  But by now, it is official, the product name has changed from Citrix Presentation Server to Citrix XenApp.  This is intended to better align the name with the use cases that it addresses today.  "Presentation Server" was a good name for the product when all it did was server-side application virtualization (i.e. host Terminal Server sessions for users connecting over ICA or RDP).   However, when we added client-side application virtualization in the form of application streaming and isolation, the product changed fundamentally to support all Windows applications running on both servers and desktops, not just those that are hosted on TS itself.  We have been saying for about a year that the product is an end-to-end application delivery solution for all Windows applications. 

So, painful as it might seem initially, the time is right for the product to take on a new name.  The benefits to doing this include:

1.       Moving away from the "Presentation" moniker which today is associated only with server-side app virtualization.

2.       Moving towards a new name that aligns around our world-class virtualization brand - Xen.

3.       Giving customers and partners a clear indication that the product is now completely new and different from what they are used to ("this is not your father's MetaFrame") and that they need to learn more about client-side app virtualization and how it can fulfill more of their app delivery and centralized application management needs.

So why use Xen?  Citrix has taken the Xen name and transformed it into a powerful over-arching brand that has come to mean "virtualization done right" or "the best virtualization solutions for the dynamic datacenter".  Presentation Server has been the most successful application virtualization product in history and today it includes multiple ways to deliver virtualized applications.  It logically follows then that the product that provides the best way to deliver virtualized apps from the dynamic datacenter to the users who need them, either on central servers or distributed to client desktops, should be called XenApp.

That is the question! Warning: Really quick reflexes required to dodge stones and arrows flung by ticked-off end-users at IT staff! Seriously though, recently we have received more and more people asking us to support VoIP (and even video) communications over ICA and we are researching the area aggressively as I type this. Stick with me on this blog; at the end I will ask that you interact and provide answers to some questions to help us hone in on a spot for a Presentation Server solution in this problem space.

The attraction of combining voice and video communications over ICA is clear. Ease of firewall traversal, performance on lower bandwidth and higher latency networks and the use of a universal client for applications, data, voice and video sound very appealing. It the promise that the recent buzz around promises - a single integrated solution for all services needed by your end-users, neatly packaged and delivered securely with good performance to any end point. The entire office follows the user; not just his Presentation Server hosted applications. If the user wishes to place a call, why not do it over the same system that allows secure access to his applications from any location? Why not include peer-to-peer video communications in the mix as well?

Sounds good in theory, but there are several obstacles associated with remoting voice and video over ICA. They are not insurmountable but they are challenging due to the very nature of the protocol itself. There are several characteristics that need to be addressed in a VoIP solution that are not quite there today. For one thing, voice quality may be an issue. In an environment where telephony is mission critical such as a call center, voice quality must be commercial grade and it must be nearly as reliable as the regular PSTN quality we are so accustomed to today. The only way to get this type of service is to have a very good network in place with QoS mechanisms deployed to ensure a high level of voice quality or at least an alerting system that signals when quality degrades. This is at odds with one of the key use cases that some customers talk about when wanting to deploy VoIP Softphones over ICA. What they are sometimes asking for is WAN or internet connectivity to a back end VoIP infrastructure without having to deploy Softphones to unmanaged client devices in users homes or across the internet. In this case, the Softphone would be published on Presentation Server and the audio input and output would be remoted to the ICA client. The situation is less than ideal for commercial grade quality. The best quality that users would hope to expect in this scenario is something akin to Skype which is hit or miss depending on the connection. So, firewall traversal and WAN/internet connectivity are really in conflict with the requirement for excellent voice quality in commercial grade operations. We may be able to reach commercial grade quality on a LAN with some work but the applicability may be limited.

What else could we do? Well, we could take an approach similar to what we did with SpeedScreen Multimedia Acceleration. With this feature we leveraged ICA by sending compressed video streams to the client over the protocol and leveraged client-side processing by using client-resident codecs. The results were a of both worlds scenario where server side processing was nearly zero, network bandwidth usage was minimized and the CPU intensive video decoding and playback was relegated to the client. We could do something similar whereby a Softphone would reside on the client side (rather than on Presentation Server) and the VoIP packets would be routed either over ICA or a separate SIP connection (ICA would provide degraded quality when a SIP connection is not possible). The Softphone would either be included in the ICA Client or deployed alongside. Using a client-side Softphone along with a separate SIP connection would provide the best possible quality but may not be the best way to get a connection every time. Using ICA allows for connections in more scenarios but may result in degraded voice quality.

Why is this? For two basic reasons - first, ICA is TCP based and VoIP is UDP based. The implication is that as the network conditions degrade, TCP will force more re-transmissions as compared to what would happen on a high quality, low latency LAN and the voice quality becomes choppy to unusable. Furthermore, visibility into VoIP streams and packets is lost in a TCP based protocol like ICA. The result is that network voice monitoring and QoS equipment designed to control and maximize voice quality and guarantee commercial grade service cannot perform their functions properly. Secondly, in a remote deployment scenario, the published Softphone is separated from the user (and his microphone and speakers) by a potentially significant network segment. This could wreak havoc on the Softphone critical silence detection and echo cancellation algorithms that assume that the audio devices are collocated with the software itself not separated as in the case of a published scenario.

The bottom line is that there are some enticing use cases dealing with voice and ICA and there may be some solutions to real business problems within our reach, but there are some challenges and inherent limitations as well. The key to a workable solution lies in the customers expectations. Helping us narrow down the answers to some key questions will accelerate our ability to bring a solution to market. Here are some of the questions to start the discussion flowing:

• What are the use cases that you have in mind for or video over ICA Is this for delivery of the services to remote users or for use on the LAN or both?
• What types of networks do you expect this to work over?
• What type of voice or video quality do you expect over ICA? Does the expectation change depending on whether the solution is deployed on a LAN, WAN or over the internet?
• Are you strictly interested in publishing the Softphone or would you be open to having the Softphone deployed alongside the ICA client? Would you be open to having Citrix build a Softphone into the ICA client?
• Would you be open to a solution that required a separate network protocol (outside ICA) to deliver either voice or video services to the end-user device?
• Would you be OK with a solution that required a headset at the user end (as opposed to speakers and microphone)?

Feel free to post replies to the questions that apply to your scenarios or add any comments to help us better understand your needs. With this information we will be better equipped to build a solution that meets your needs.

Hi, my name is Orestes Melgarejo. I am a Sr. Manager at Citrix in the Virtualization Systems Group (VSG - say that three times fast) and I lead the Presentation Server Product Management team. I just got back from iForum, our annual customer conference in Orlando and I am proud to announce that the reports of my product demise have been grossly exaggerated!

Throughout the event I got the distinct feeling from loyal Presentation Server customers and enthusiasts that there was not enough focus anymore on the company flagship product. This is understandable considering that just 2-3 years ago Presentation Server was just about all we had to talk about as a company. Sure there was the Suite, but this after all is essentially Presentation Server all blinged out with a few shiny accessories. Turn the calendar to iForum 2006 and we have 14 products to talk about. Presentation Server is still the flagship but there are several hot products that are growing fast like the Access Gateway and the hugely popular Goto products from our Online division. Hence the need to strike some balance between the VSG products and the newer products from our other business groups within Citrix.

While there were several sessions devoted to Presentation Server there was only one general breakout session of futures. We do this for obvious reasons - we tend to mostly talk about product versions that are available today and stick to the old motto of what on the truck The one futures session that we usually deliver goes into future technologies that we are working to deliver in the product. This year, I gave the only breakout session on Presentation Server futures and I was floored by the overwhelming response.

My session was titled Release of Citrix Presentation Server - Technology Preview It began at 10:00 on Tuesday morning and I did not see the size of the crowd right away. I was working with the recording specialist to set everything up. Citrix recorded most sessions using our own GotoMeeting product so that others could later view the content. When I looked up after the setup was complete, I was amazed by the overflow crowd at the back of one of the larger rooms at the conference center. I looked towards the front of the room to point folks to open seats only to find that all of them were taken and there were people actually sitting on the floor in between the 2 main sections. In my 5 iForums (or is it iFora? I have to check with the marketing guys) I have never seen a breakout session room like this. It was a standing-and-floor-sitting-room only crowd and I was pumped to see that even after all the diversification within Citrix products, customers and partners were still extremely interested in Presentation Server. There was a palpable energy in the room and I just hoped I would not disappoint while presenting the details of our upcoming release. I later found out that this was the highest attended breakout session this year with 586 people swiping their badges before shoe-horning themselves into the room.

The session went well and I noticed that I had everyone attention throughout which is difficult to do at iForum where there are so many distractions and so much with which to compete. I covered the major changes coming in the product. A few of the highlights were:

• Integration with the Citrix Streaming Technology codenamed - with this feature, customers will be able to stream applications to Presentation Server rather than install them. The key benefits are in reduced complexity for Presentation Server setup and in simplified application management. With application streaming to Presentation Server, customers will be able to deploy a basic image of OS plus Citrix components and have the applications delivered on-demand as users need them. Application updates are as simple as updating a single, central application install which is then accessed from each Presentation Server at application launch. With this combination, updates are done once for the entire farm and only application deltas are delivered to the servers as needed.
• SpeedScreen Progressive Display - a new technology that allows customers to deploy applications that allow users to view and manipulate 2D images and image slices as in CAD viewers or medical imaging applications. With this technology we dynamically trade-off image quality for improved image motion and interactivity during zooming, rotation or transition from image to image. The result is a near desktop like feel for the application performance even over lower bandwidth connections. I did a demo of this functionality showing the differences in performance for a PACS (medical images) viewer on 4.0 versus the latest Tech Preview and there were audible gasps from the audience.
• Configuration Logging - all administrative changes to the farm will be logged in a separate config logging database. This will be great for customers who need to keep track of these changes for compliance and audit logging purposes. You say someone made a change that broke your farm? Citrix now provides you with the tool to find which throat to choke!
• Non-Admin Client Install - You no longer need to be an administrator to install the ICA client. This one actually got a round of applause!

We concluded the session with a guest speaker, Dan Dillman from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He presented on his experiences with the Tech Preview and how he plans to take advantage of SpeedScreen Progressive Display and the Application Streaming features within his environment.

we were done we got great immediate feedback from the audience saying that the content was exactly what they were looking for. It felt great to see that we had delivered on high expectations and even better to see that Presentation Server was still top of mind for many attendees at Citrix annual user event.

By the way, the latest Tech Preview for Citrix Presentation Server is available right now. Customers who are current on Subscription Advantage can go to their mycitrix portal and download the media and licenses today. Let me know what you thought about the news around Presentation Server and when you run the Tech Preview let us all know what you liked and what you didn like.