In case you missed it, there's a brief video up on Citrix TV in which Thomas Nikl of our Advanced Solutions Group shows the latest iteration of project Prism (which you may remember as the 3D Accelerated Bitmap Remoting subproject of Apollo/HDX). Prism is an enhancement to HDX 3D for XenDesktop focused on delivering high-end professional graphics applications (e.g. CAD, CAM, GIS) to remote users. Prism leverages GPU hardware on the host (typically a blade or rack mount workstation) to render the OpenGL or DirectX graphics, then uses advanced compression technology to deliver the resulting images over a standard DSL or equivalent Internet connection. Look closely and you'll notice that this recent build supports Windows XP virtual desktops (whereas my previous post on this topic showed a Vista desktop).

 
Derek Thorslund
Product Strategist, HDX Multimedia Virtualization

In this 4-minute video I interview Nitin Desai, team lead for the 3D professional graphics subproject of our Apollo multimedia virtualization initiative, and he demonstrates a high-end CAD application - CATIA V5.19 from Dassault - running on XenDesktop with graphics hardware acceleration. This technology, available as a Tech Preview, enables organizations to deliver DirectX and OpenGL applications and large 3D models over DSL-like network connections while keeping their intellectual property safe within the data center.

Derek Thorslund
Product Strategist, Multimedia Virtualization

Remember the great demo video of OpenGL graphics acceleration that Lee Laborczfalvi did for us at the iForum App Delivery Expo? Project Pictor has come a long way since. The Pictor technology has been incorporated into a new Citrix product called Virtual Design Studio. And the beta program for Virtual Design Studio has now been announced. Citrix is now inviting customers in the Manufacturing sector who use Dassault CATIA v5 to participate in our White Glove Beta Program, scheduled to run from April 15 through June 30, 2008. For details, check out the beta invitation on our corporate web site.

Derek Thorslund
Product Strategist, Multimedia Virtualization