Award nominations for Citrix

Citrix wanted to let you know that some of our products have been nominated for the SYS-CON Virtualization Reader's Choice Award and the Cloud Computing Readers' Choice Awards. These awards recognize excellence in the virtualization and cloud-based software, solutions or services provided by the industry's top vendors.

We wanted to let community members know about this nomination, since the final award winners will be determined through a public voting process. The voting period for these awards is now open and will end on Oct. 23 .

If you feel inclined to vote for a Citrix product for one of these awards, we would appreciate your support! To vote, please visit the Virtualization Readers' Choice Awards and the Cloud Computing Readers' Choice Awards voting pages. You will need to include your e-mail address and select one product in each category. Then, place your vote by clicking "vote now" on the bottom of the Web page. Award winners will be announced the week of Nov. 2.

Thank you for your consideration!

We are proud to announce that several Citrix virtualization solutions have been nominated for both the SYS-CON Virtualization Reader's Choice Award and the Cloud Computing Readers' Choice Awards. We have been nominated in many categories and we are honored to be nominated for these awards. Citrix XenDesktop and XenServer have been nominated for two awards each. Thus, proving that Citrix has the best-in-class end-to-end solution for the enterprise (but you already knew that).

Casting your vote and voicing your opinion is easy, simply click on the links below and cast your vote for Citrix!

Virtualization Readers' Choice Awards

-Best Application Virtualization - Citrix XenApp
-Best Desktop Virtualization Platforms - Citrix XenDesktop
-Best Device Virtualization - Citrix Receiver
-Best Network Virtualization - Citrix NetScaler
-Best Server Virtualization Platforms - Citrix XenServer
-Best VDI - Virtual Desktop Infrastructure - Citrix XenDesktop
-Best Virtualization Management Tools - Citrix Essentials

Cloud Computing Readers' Choice Awards

-Best Cloud Infrastructure Solution - Citrix XenServer
-Best Cloud Services - Citrix C3 Product Line

About the SYS-CON Virtualization Reader's Choice Award:

SYS-CON Virtualization Readers' Choice Awards and Cloud Computing Readers' Choice Awards recognize excellence in the virtualization and cloud-based software, solutions or services provided by the industry's top vendors. To determine these top vendors and products, SYS-CON is asking readers to vote on nominated products.
The voting period for these awards is now open and will end on Oct. 23. To vote, please visit the Virtualization Readers' Choice Awards and the http://cloudcomputing.sys-con.com/general/rcawardsvote.htm voting pages. You will need to include your e-mail address and select one product in each category. Then, place your vote by clicking "vote now" on the bottom of the Web page. Award winners will be announced the week of Nov. 2.

( Citrix employees our vote --@Citrix.com has already been counted )

Thank you for your support!

We are proud to announce the *NEW* Citrix User Group - Fort Lauderdale! We will be holding monthly meetings at Citrix HQ geared towards people who administer and use Citrix products. This is not just geared towards XenApp, but towards EVERY product Citrix offers! We will have discussions, demonstrations, and other information. Everyone is encouraged to get on the agenda to share information.

In addition to the physical meeting, we will have a GoToMeeting posted for remote attendees. If you are remote and want to present, you can! We would love to have your input and information!

Here are some things you will encounter at a CUG meeting:

PIZZA!!!
Citrix gear as prizes and give aways!
What to expect from a CUG.
How someone can get involved in CUG.
Upcoming product information.
Product Presentations.
Q&A with the Engineers.
New Citrix User Information.
Demonstrations.
New Product Information.

We are open to topic and speaker suggestions!

What:
Citrix User Group - Fort Lauderdale (CUGFTL)

When:
October 29, 2009
7-9PM ET

Where:
Citrix Worldwide Headquarters.
851 West Cypress Creek Road
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309
Room 1007-1009

Agenda
Derek Thorslund Speaking on XenDesktop 4 (our newest release)
Pizza!
Marathon Technologies - Tom Reed
Q&A / Mobility session

Webinar information for remote attendees:

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/290730136

Follow us on Twitter @cugftl

Want to form your own CUG? If you are interested in forming your own local user group, please stay tuned for more information.

Sponsoring CUGFTL If you or your company would like to sponsor CUGFTL, please contact Tedd Fox tedd[at]citrix[dot]com for more information.

Part - 3

In this entry of the series, I am going to answer a few questions we asked ourselves while planning our BYOC program at Citrix.

In the Citrix BYOC program (I named it Citrix Choice), I was on the steering commitee and we had a few questions to ask ourselves.

Here were some of the questions we asked:

"How much of a stipend should we pay per user?"
We chose $2100 because we asked the users to get a new computer with a 3 year warranty. Of course this amount varies from company to company depending on budgets, etc.

"Should we have system requirements?"
We went with the fact that most of the computers coming out had respectable performance. We also mandated that the users with a BYOC computer have an anti-virus solution, the Citrix Receiver and related plug-ins. We set up an AWESOME internal website that had guides on configuring the wireless connections, Citrix Access Gateway, Citrix Receiver, and other settings the user might want. We leveraged our partnerships to get discounts on Microsoft Office, anti-virus, and other hardware and software needs.

"What OS's should we allow?"
We had clients and software for Windows Vista, XP, and Mac OS. We might do Linux later, but we wanted to go with the three mainstream operating systems with our initial roll-out.

"Why should we do this?"
Users wanted the latest a greatest hardware and wished IT could keep up with the curve. On a standards scale, it is hard to do that, but if you are a self-supported user then that makes it feasible. If you are a Hardware geek (like me), you like to change out your equipment quicker than the IT timeline for refresh. BYOC gives that flexibility to do this. We also wanted to leverage our own solutions

"Are there HR concerns?"
This was a big question for us. We debated on this for a few meetings and took a few weeks on this part of the process. We wanted to make sure we were compliant with regulatory items. We leveraged our current policies for much of answers. Most of our policies already addressed most of our concerns. Most companies already have these types of policies in place. Check out your company's data, email, and technology policies and you will find out that most of your concerns are already covered. Legal departments usually cover all possible bases when they make these policies.

"Should there be a term?"
Of course every company, country, and department has different requirements and wants/needs for this area. It is a very difficult question to answer , but we chose 3 years at Citrix. So when the warranty is up, the term is up. This way the user does not have to pay premium prices for any repairs or parts after the warranty has expired. The user can then "opt in/out" for the next three years.

"How can we do this and maintain compliance?"
We leveraged our own products (XenServer, XenDesktop, Access Gateway) to keep in compliance. With Citrix solutions, we are able to keep data secure and encapsulated within our secure corporate environment. All of the users work related documents are stored in a home folder on the network.

"How much freedom do we give the users?"
We give the users the freedom they have been demanding while keeping compliance. We give them the freedom to use any computer they want. We also give them the freedom to have one computer for work and play. With the company data secure on our internal network and documents stored in network home drives, the user has carte blanche to do whatever they want on their computer.

Hopefully, this helps answer some of your questions and can help you in implementing your own BYOC programs. If you have any other questions, please feel free to email me at tedd<at>citrix<dot>com and I will try to address them in future posts.

More later...

Part 2

In our last installment of this series, I touched on the paradigm of the BYOC (Bring Your Own Computer) concept. In many cases, this concept can scare the IT departments of the world because it is giving some very important control back to the user because the user decides on the equipment and the software they will use.

In the old realm of IT:

The technicians and/or the respective departments owned the actual hardware and software. Hardware ownership can be a double-edged sword. Yes, the department has the control of standardization to help with supporting the machines, but the company is now responsible for the actual financial asset, , spare parts, book keeping, and "end-of-life-ing" the machines when they are old or fail. Some may see this as a small item and I may agree there, but there is a disadvantage to this scenario.

Support costs money:

Each time a user submits a trouble ticket for hardware issues, it has a fee attached to it. Every time a technician attends to hardware troubleshooting, it has a fee attached to it. Service agreements with hardware vendors has a big fee attached to it.

We (IT) are in the business of saving the company money, right? If IT is busy supporting the hardware, when will IT get cycles to innovate, optimize, and simplify other processes and procedures (a.k.a. save money)?

In the BYOC world:

Users OWN the laptop and the support agreements for the hardware and OS's themselves. When the user obtains the laptop, they would get the three year support agreement (like AppleCare). When a user has an issue, they call the vendor to troubleshoot the hardware and/or OS. If there is a problem, the user sends the laptop off to the manufacture for repair (or brings it to a local repair depot). If the customer has to send in or leave the laptop, IT can help in this case with a loaner pool during the down time. IT would only need a small loaner pool for this support. This saves IT cycles and IT money over the spectrum of a whole company because they are not being billed for service calls, contracts for support, or personnel hours. Saving support dollars and support time is a major part of the BYOC concept. Thus, making the bean counters happier

What IT would own:

IT would own the corporate software (MicroSoft Office, SAP, etc.). IT would own the security of those applications and any data that is being accessed and stored via those applications. With Citrix XenApp, all of the company software resides on the XenApp servers. This ensures the license compliance is in IT's control and the updates, patches, and administration is under IT's control. XenApp does not care about hardware vendor, OS (Macintosh, Windows, Linux), or connection. If the user wants software locally installed (not via XenApp), the user would purchase the software, install it, and support themselves without IT support. Some users may want this option, but the number is not large. The users usually like having the software support that IT provides.

It is all about having a choice for today's tech-savvy workers!

At Citrix, we leverage our partnerships and vendors to offer employee discounts on certain software, but this method is not imperative for a BYOC program to work since the user still has access to these applications via XenApp.

Of course there are a couple of other AWESOME Citrix solutions that can be implemented in the BYOC world and we will talk about those in future installments of this series.

Today, most of the "new workforce" has grown up with computers, TiVo(tm), social networking, instant messaging, blogging, texting, Twitter, and the Internet. In most cases, these people are tech-savvy and they have an understanding of newer technologies. They all carry a cell phone and use it as a main point-of-contact. They have, and will, leverage new technology just to see "what it does."

When new workers join the workforce, they expect a similar computing experience. If the "Echo-Boomers" have a company computer, they expect it to behave and be comparable to the laptop they use for personal computing needs. They expect a choice of computers based on merit, aesthetics,and function, but do not see the reason for standard issue laptops that are not as advanced as the personal computer they use at home. They want a small selection to choose from and want to customize it to make it "their own."

IT, on the other hand, looks at the standardization of equipment as a "must have" to support the hardware. What if IT did not have to support the hardware and just the digital assets? What if the user took care of the hardware?

There is a "middle-ground" in this battle between IT and "new generation." It is called Bring Your Own Computer (BYOC). Citrix has been in the news over the last year with this concept and I have received many emails asking me to explain this "new school of thought." In this series of blog posts I will demystify the BYOC paradigm and show you how users can have a choice of computers and devices whilst IT retains control over digital assets that are paramount to company success. Stay tuned...

For those who want an unscripted and behind the scenes look at Citrix Synergy 2009 we have made the Citrix Synergy Underground 2009 website! In the Synergy Underground, you will find pictures, Twitter feeds, and videos shot by the Synergy Underground team! During Synergy, the Underground team will be providing interviews, demos, and backstage footage and pictures for everyone to view.

We already have pictures of the construction of Synergy along with the ever growing Twitterati community around #citrixsynergy.

Join the fun and see the "other side" of Citrix Synergy 2009!

Join the fun here.

Want to look at the "other" side of the coin?

Citrix Synergy Underground 2008 was a monumental success last year! The Underground has been a great way to get a "behind the scenes" look at the happenings of Citrix Synergy. You can see interviews, vendor product demos, backstage videos, and many other items you normally would not see at the event. Citrix Synergy Underground has been revived with the 2008 videos to get a look at what the Underground is all about. In the coming weeks, we will be updating the site with a new look and feel to ring in Citrix Synergy 2009!