Alessandro over at virtualization.info commented that we need to do a better job communicating the value and capabilities of Workflow Studio:
http://www.virtualization.info/2009/09/release-citrix-workflow-studio-20.html

I have to admit, I have been focused on talking about the new version and features (I'm excited about them.) There are lots of places though where we do talk about the capabilities that Workflow Studio enables for our customers:

On the main product page for Workflow Studio we cover the 5 use cases that customers typically use Workflow Studio for:

1. Power management - Reduce power consumption in the datacenter.
2. User provisioning - Automate the process of provisioning users.
3. Dynamic resource allocation - Detect changes in user traffic patterns and automatically re-configure server resources for on-demand access.
4. Disaster recovery - Automate failover and recovery procedures.
5. Product automation - Automate repetitive tasks and ensure best practices are followed.

I am also taking each of the bullets from the original post announcing the availability of Workflow Studio 2.0 and going into more detail. I just posted Automate XenApp with Workflow Studio where I talk about some of the use cases that we based the new XenApp libraries on. I will have some sample workflows posted with video tutorials as well.

I wrote The Three Audiences of Workflow Studio back in February, but it is still just as relevant with the current version of Workflow Studio. 'Scripting guys' and developers will find a lot to like in Workflow Studio, but you don't need to be one to benefit from Workflow Studio. The drag-and-drop interface and standard way of accessing all the Citrix product APIs (as well as PowerShell, Windows, WMI, etc.) opens up access to a much broader range of people.

The Workflow Studio 2.0 Video Tutorial Series provides an introduction, an architectural overview, and an installation/configuration guide for getting started and should help save you time as you consider how to deploy Workflow Studio.

Also, I want to clarify the availability of Workflow Studio as an anonymous comment left there indicates there may be some confusion. Workflow Studio is included as part of ALL editions of the Citrix Delivery Center products - not just Platinum. Workflow Studio comes with all of the below:

• XenApp Advanced, Enterprise, or Platinum edition
• XenDesktop Standard, Advanced, Enterprise, or Platinum edition
• NetScaler Standard, Enterprise, or Platinum edition
• Essentials for XenServer Enterprise and Platinum editions
• Essentials for Hyper-V Enterprise and Platinum editions

As always leave me your feedback in the comments or email me directly...

Ever got frustrated with how long it takes to email a large report or presentation after incorporating your manager's feedback? Or found yourself in a plane wishing the email downloaded faster when the flight attendant asks you to turn off your 3G-equipped laptop? Or wished for a solution that could deliver email 50 times faster?

Did you know our WAN optimization solution, Citrix Branch Repeater, delivers superior user experience and application performance not only for branch office users but also for remote and teleworkers?

No one feels the need for speed more than a remote user or a teleworker with a low-bandwidth or a high- latency network connection. These users typically use an SSL VPN, such as Citrix Access Gateway, to connect to their corporate network and access email, intranet portals, other applications and data. When your IT augments secure remote access (Access Gateway) infrastructure with Branch Repeater, you can benefit from both secure and accelerated remote access.

Well, now we have two reports that demonstrate ways to use Branch Repeater to augment your Access Gateway infrastructure and the resulting benefits of accelerating secure remote access.

You can download the Turbocharge Access Gateway Performance Report - CTX121034 from the Citrix Knowledge Center. The report explores the benefits of using Access Gateway and Repeater plug-ins for Citrix Receiver together:
• 50x faster Microsoft Outlook and Exchange (MAPI) workflows
• 50x faster Microsoft SharePoint (HTTP) workflows
• 30x faster Windows File Shares (CIFS) workflows

I think you will want to try out the benefits of turbocharged remote access. Check out the Turbocharge Access Gateway Deployment Guide and Reference Architecture - CTX121035 if you want to conduct a POC (proof of concept) or a demo to convince your IT or other decision makers. You will be your end-users hero for providing them with an accelerated yet secure remote access.

Citrix recently opend up the public beta of the next XenServer release (read more about it [here]). 

One of the new features in this release is a simplified way of backing up and restoring the Virtual Machine metadata for Disaster Recovery. Check out the video below to find out how simple this is.

Citrix XenServer provides the capability of not only server consolidation but also disaster recover in case one of the virtual server becomes unresponsive. The technology behind this DR solution is called XenMotion.

Xenmotion is a feature of XenServer 4.0 that can move running virtual machine from one XenServer to another without downtime. This means during the process of migrating the virtual machine, the virtual machine is not being shutdown at any moment.

Being engineers in the company, we, the folks at the Citrix eLab, are dying to see how it will play out in a real situation, meaning what will happen if we migrate a XenApp server from one XenServer to another while live client sessions are connecting to it.

In order showcase this, we grab some servers in the lab and set up a test environment. We installed XenServers on couple Quad-Core servers. We also install Linux on a Quad-Core server to build up a makeshift NFS storage because central  storage is the requirement for the Xenmotion to work.

We create one virtual Windows 2008 server on one of the XenServer and install latest Delaware build on it. In order to simulate a real environment, we publish an application on XenApp for Windows 2008 (Delaware) and launch an ICA connection to the XenApp Server.  This ICA session is simulating a user is tying constantly in Excel spread sheet to create a movie library.

While the session is live, we use a script to start the XenMotion process. XenMotion of course can be started via the XenCenter UI, but we wanted to develop the script to achieve the goal. We think this script can potential be used, for example, in conjunction with Health Monitoring and Recovery (a feature of XenApp), to automatically move the XenApp server that running on the XenServer from one host to another in case the XenApp becomes unresponsive.

In our test, the whole XenMotion process took about couple minutes. During most of the process, the user was able to continually typing the words into Excel without any interruption. The only "hick up" the user will feel, which only takes about couple seconds, is at the end of the process while the actual switching of the XenServer virtual server takes place. But the session windows stay on and no actual data is lost! From the user's perspective, it is just a very short period of network connection interruption.

From our experience, we can say that XenMotion can provides some DR solution for the XenApp deployment with minimum interruption of user sessions.

The following is the link to the video we shot showcasing the XenMotion in Action with XenApp.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3278707108165960985&hl=en