Insight, thoughts, and opinions from Citrix executives
If you have been following some of the recent blog posts about Nirvana Devices and Nirvana Phones, you can get a better idea of what we are talking about in this video clip. Conceptually the Nirvana Phone takes the Smartphone to the next level by solving the existing limitations of small screens and keyboards. There are now some new devices that are close to making this possible, especially in combination with a Virtualized Desktops and applications like XenDesktop and XenApp.
Stay tuned for more videos and demos of the state of the art in Nirvana Phones , or better yet register for Citrix Synergy and try them for yourself, you may even win one !
Great things happen over a beer at Citrix events. As many of you who attend can attest, you never know what you will learn or who you will meet. For me this year the highlight at Summit was having a beer with Gus Pinto and Rich Crusco. After being summoned by Barry Flanagan to join a conversation about what Citrix can do to better to connect with the community and provide the resources and web presence to leverage the growing opportunities. At Citrix we have been making some fairly recent concerted efforts to better engage with the community including the CTP program, the Citrix Blog, the new CDN site, and a few other activities. However we also recognize there is a long way to go to really utilize and grow the massive skills that exist around the Citrix Community.
It turns out we have been planning some specific projects like the ADI Best Practices site to help educate the industry around App Delivery methods and solutions, but we were also looking for more insight from experts in the community. It did not take much beer to have Gus and Rich exploding with ideas and passion about how Citrix can deliver on the ADI vision. And they are not just talk, many of you already know Gus and Rich as MVP's, a CTP, and huge contributors to the community. In their spare time they have been running the Fameworkx.com site that has helped literally millions of IT Pros and users. Their day job has been very significant as well, designing and implementing ADI solutions for Citrix ( and VMware ) award winning partner Entisys. So imagine if we could tap that energy and experience and make it a full time effort ( day and night... 
) supporting and growing the Citrix community and ecosystem. Well that's just what we are doing , starting next week Gus and Rich will be joining Citrix as full time Citrites and Technology Evangelists. To find out more about Gus and Rich and their plans to help the community checkout the latest posts at http://www.frameworkx.com/
Welcome aboard !
If you have not visited CDN lately, I suggest you give it a view. The team has made some significant usability enhancements as well as interesting content that is being contributed by employees as well as the larger Citrix community. For example, Vishal Ganeriwala has made a recent blog post that describes multiple ways to get a Client IP address from a Citrix session, in last few days the post has been viewed almost 3000 times ! , apparently lots of our users want to learn an easy way to do this. CDN provides a home for Developers and Citrix Pro's to learn and share ideas, code, and scripts for developing new products to integrate with Citrix or enabling and enhancing their Citrix implementations .
The new site also ranks the contributions by popularity, so a special thanks to Venkata Krishnan part of our Citrix Community who contributed a script providing printer driver information on a farm, this script now ranks at the top for popularity on our Script Exchange.
You will also find featured content, such as new pages and resources describing the exciting new Citrix Workflow Studio , stay tuned for more announcements around this product. The new site will also provide a location for sharing Workflow Templates and leveraging the power of the community.
Let us know what you think and more importantly make use of the resources and contribute so we all can benefit.
For years Citrix XenApp (the new name of Presentation Server http://www.Citrix.com/XenApp) customers have been using XenApp, as an application delivery solution, each year, getting more value as Citrix continually improves and adds more functionality as the needs of users increase. (To learn what Citrix is doing for the next release or XenApp, refer to project Delaware http://www.Citrix.com/Delaware).
These customers understand the relationship between XenApp and Terminal Services and how together they provide a powerful solution. A question I often get asked is; do I see a day when the functionality of TS will be enough that the need for XenApp will be lessened? Some customers expect this is just a matter of time and assume one day Terminal Services will be enough.
The simple answer in my view is that TS will never be enough, because the good enough bar continues to move up. The good enough bar is the level where a customer is comfortable with the functionality that they are prepared to accept that level of functionally, usability, security etc, is enough for their organization.
To correctly answer the question you need to ask what is good enough? It is a different answer for different organizations. It's not just a matter of size or even complexity but it's about what dependency the organization is putting on the overall solution and how does an organization see this changing over time.
Also if you asked what was good enough in 2003 and what is good enough today you will get a very different answer as organization's needs have changed in so many different ways.
This change in what is good enough, the changing levels of the good enough bar, is due to a number of factors:
IT has become more critical, and many would not survive today without their IT systems and for some, IT is extremely strategic and is a competitive weapon.
IT has also become much more complex, with all business processes now automated and each linked in some way. Security issues have also raised the good enough bar, organization are looking for the most secure way to provide application access to users.
Users needs have also become more complex, using many more applications; they are much more demanding, expecting to have access to their systems all the time.
Applications themselves are also more complex, and there are multiple generations of application types with organizations.
I'm sure there are a number of other factors you could add that continue to drive the good enough bar upwards.
Finally this is not a static environment, the good enough bar of tomorrow will be much higher than today.
Understanding that the good enough bar is always changing you can understand why I would say that TS is not good enough even with the new features of Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008 ( http://www.Microsoft.com/WindowsServer2008 ), because organizations are not prepared to take a risk and deploy a system that could be otherwise improved by adding more value.
Citrix XenApp uses the Terminal Services platform to provide the most complete application delivery solution with the best, centralized control, application compatibility, optimized user experience, comprehensive access and scalability.
As more customers realize the enormous benefits of this new model of computing; delivery all applications anywhere to their users; they will want the best possible solution, one that has the most complete set of features. A solution that has the best chance of being successful today and also adapt to their future needs. Whether an organization is deploying a few application or all their applications, they should look at the most complete solution knowing they will end up with the best end result.
Then there is the question of cost. What customers have found is it takes less time and resources to deliver a solution that is more complete, that works as a complete system, than try to piece bits together, this weighed with the risk factors shows it's always better to start with the most complete solution the 1st time rather than add functionality later. There are too many other things that need to get done, why take the risk?
Organizations that have been using XenApp for more than 6 years know this question has come up each time Microsoft releases a new version of Windows Server with added Terminal Services functionality. To date this has been with Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000 Server, Windows Server 2003, and now with the new Windows Server 2008. So for all of theses and for the next release of Windows Server the answer is 'no' TS is not good enough because the good enough bar continues to move up!
To understand more about XenApp and Terminal Services, I would refer you to another blog by Bryon Thomas on Terminal Services and XenApp, Bryon lists a number of tools available that list the enhanced value of XenApp and he is asking for suggestions on what other tools are needed. ( http://community.citrix.com/blogs/citrite/bryont )
I welcome your comments and views on the concept of the good enough bar, how is it rising in your organization?
Nabeel Youakim
VP & Product Line Executive,
Applications Virtualization Group, Citrix Systems
The Nirvana Smartphone as a PC , Thin Client , Desktop Appliance ...
As Smartphones become more capable, and fast networks pervasive, plus now with Virtual Desktops going mainstream ( like Citrix XenDesktop ) , the practicality of using a Smartphone as a laptop/desktop alternative is closer than ever. The use case's for this model are many fold. It's is not intended to replace a PC or laptop ( at least initially ), rather the early adopters of this "Nirvana" Smartphone would likely already have a laptop for work and a PC at home. The general use case's revolve around enhanced mobility with broader access to applications and desktops. So even though most users already have access to apps and desktops from PC's and laptops, most of us would prefer to travel locally ( including the inside the office ) or on selective trips without a laptop if it was practical.
So what is missing from today's Smartphone's in a single device ?
Video-out - A few Smartphones have video-out like the Nokia N95 but the resolution is limited and it has no pointing device support. Some PDA's ( HP and Dell Axim ) have better screens and resolution with Video-out but they are not phones and are still too big. The upcoming i-Mates promise this functionality... we'll see. The iPhone also has some video out capability but it's still too limited. The resolution needs to be capable of 1024 x 768 to satisfy most users.
Keyboard & Mouse - The Smartphone user input options continue to improve, however to do "real" work a full keyboard and mouse will continue to the requirement when stationary. Many Smartphone's today do have bluetooth which can work fine for this scenario. Some new portable keyboards are making this more realistic as well.
Docking Station - This scenario works best if there is also a Nirvana docking station that recharges the phone at the same time as providing the VGA video interface and USB hub. The " Nirvana " Smartphone ideally would provide USB host functionally vs. USB slave that many have today. Additional / alternative functionality for the docking station include VGA/USB passthrough - so the docking station can plug into a home PC and use the same monitor and peripherals, as well as audio in/out for headsets. This docking station would also need to come in a portable dongle version as well as stationary.
Industry trends that are also working in favor of this scenario
Free seating / Office hoteling is a growing trend for mobile workers that occasionally work in the office. Today many cubicles already have a monitor for a laptop hook up, they would just need the docking station and keyboard to provide a full desktop experience. Similarly "real" hotels have office facilities with printers and monitors, they just need a "Nirvana" docking station to complete the solution.
LCD TV's are now pervasive and many have VGA and multiple Video inputs. This opens up hotel rooms, kitchens, family rooms, etc.
LCD's in general are getting cheaper and pervasive. They are showing up everywhere; cars, picture frames, book readers.
Digital Projectors - most conference rooms are already equipped and portable projectors are getting smaller and cheaper.
Virtual Desktops - Like XenDesktop ... hosted centrally but available everywhere.
Remote Desktops - Like GoToMyPC ... remote desktop connections to home or office PC's.
Application Virtualization - like Presentation Server .. apps hosted centrally available from any device.
Web based; apps / storage / photos / social networks - more and more of digital life ( work and play ) is available from any device on the web.
Consumer driven use cases
Most device companies we speak to about this concept are interested in the idea, however many are clearly driven by the consumer use cases vs business ones due to the huge volume that the cell phone market drives today. The assumption is that Smartphone's will continue to improve and excel in handling voice, video, music and cameras, but here are some additional consumer use cases that could exploit the unique features of the Nirvana Smartphone;
Web enable all the TV's in your house - most new LCD TV's are VGA capable but normally are only connected to a cable box and DVD player. Simply adding the Nirvana docking station would provide web connectivity without all the other complexity required in today's configurations.
Video conference from your TV - add a camera to the front of the Smartphone and use the TV to view and communicate with others doing the same.
Photo / Video Playback - many cameras already offer viewing from a TV, the Nirvana Smartphone will carry your photos and videos that could be viewed full size from the Smartphone Video-out to any LCD monitor or TV through the Nirvana docking station.
So how long is this going to take ? Why has this failed so far.
It's easy to project everything is going to be possible in the far future; wireless video, virtual keyboards, rollup video screens, etc. However, I am more interested in the next 12-18 months, the technologies to build this Nirvana Smartphone and use it as a Desktop Appliance are all available now, it just needs a leading device vendor to put together all the parts ( and embed some Citrix SW.. ).
So far there have been a few attempts to build full PC functionality into a Smartphone/PDA however they all come up short ( too big, too slow, too expensive ) because they try to replicate a full PC in a small device. Instead, if device makers can assume that a remote virtual desktop is accessible with all the apps you need and full size keyboard+mouse+monitors are readily available and connectible, then the Nirvana device could be built at a reasonable price, fit in your pocket, and provide the freedom to leave your PC or laptop at home.
| Who will build the Nirvana Smartphone ? | Choose |
|---|---|
| Apple |  |
| HP | |
| Motorola | |
| Nokia | |
| I-Mate | |
| BlackBerry | |
| HTC | |
| Would you buy the Nirvana Smartphone ? | Choose |
|---|---|
| Yes, even if it's $400-$800 | |
| Yes, only if its less than $400 | |
| Not interested | |
Related links
Update : What is a Nirvana Phone video post
Adam Marano's search for the Nirvana Device posts from CTIA 2008
The Viewsonic ViewDock with an iPod looks like a perfect combination, unfortunately it still needs a PC to run and view.
John Dvorak's PC week article from 2003..
Nokia N95 TV-out feature review.
i-Mate 8150 with VGA out on youtube.
The RedFly Mobile companion announced at CES.
