Blog posts tagged with 'mobility'
You may have seen my previous posts on the really cool Celio Redfly Mobile Compaion, or as I like to call it, the XenDesktop mobile companion.
We'll they just became a member of the Citrix Ready family. They will be at Synergy in the Expo hall, so stop by and check them out. Also, we will have a unit or 2 at the Geek Speak Louge for you to check out connected to XenApp and XenDesktop.
Wanted to do a quick post on some of the cool gadgets we will be demoing in the Geek Speak Lounge at Synergy 2008 sponsored by Intel. Alot of the devices are the ones you may have seem me blog on earlier, and a few are potential candidates to add into the mix down the road. Here's your chance to get hands on with some of these next generation access devices, and BYOG (Bring Your Own Gadget) that you think would make a good Nirvana Device candidate for use with Citrix:
If you look close you'll see 4 of these devices actively connected to a XenDesktop, and 2 of them remoting that desktop from the device out to a larger screen in true Nirvana Device fashion!
Devices shown starting in the front and moving counter clockwise:
- i-Mate 9502
- Impatica Showmate
- Nokia 810N
- HP iPAQ 210 - accessing a XenDesktop
- i-Mate 6150 (behind the iPAQ) - accessing a XenDesktop connected to the 22" Dell Monitor
- Celio Redfly Mobile Companion
- Sprint Treo 700wx (on the Redfly) - accessing a XenDesktop connected to the Redfly
- Nokia E90 - accessing a XenDesktop
- Nokia E61i
All of the devices shown currently work with XenApp and XenDesktop except for the Nokia 810N. Intel will also be providing some prototype devices to show off as well.
We'll also be following up to this post with a full rundown of all of the cool stuff that you can see and use in the GS Lounge early next week!
Look forward to seeing you and hearing your comments in the Geek Speak Lounge at Synergy 2008
PS: You might even have a chance to one of these cool devices home with you from the show to use with your own XenApp and soon XenDesktop environment!!!
Use of the Citrix ICA client on mobile devices that have VGA resolution or larger, or companion devices such as the Celio Redfly changes the game a bit when using the Citrix ICA client to connect to full Win32 applications delivered by Citrix Xenapp. The increased resolution can leverage some configuration changes on the ICA client to get more optimal usage. Below are some tweaks that you can do to get a more "Nirvana" like experience with such devices. This setting was used in the demo blog entries previously posted.
Most Win32 applications are usable at a VGA 640x480 resolution, so I recommend running ICA in full screen mode on mobile devices that support VGA resolution. This allows the user to get rid of the program bar at the top of the screen and the navigation tool bar at the bottom of the ICA client. Comparison pictures below (Note: screen clarity is degraded in the below screen shots, native screen is clear). Caution, when you run in full screen mode, you will not have access to the local keyboard button, thus if you device does not have a QWERTY keyboard, you should have a Bluetooth keyboard connected.
HP iPaq 210 running ICA connection to SAP Enterprise Portal without the Full Screen option set. Notice the screen space that is lost at the top and bottom of the screen.
HP iPaq 210 running ICA connection to SAP Enterprise Portal with the Full Screen option set. This allows you to leverage the full resolution of the device.
To set the Full Screen option, simply follow the steps below. Note that this is a global option and all of the apps you launch will come up in Full Screen mode.
In the Programs area, start "ICA Client":
This should launch the ICA Client UI into your browser.
Select "Edit Global Settings" from this screen:
Select "Edit Preferences" on the next page:
Scroll down to the "Enable Full Screen" check box and select it:
Scroll down to the bottom and select the "Save" button:
So if you have a mobile device that supports VGA 640x480 resolution or higher, you might try the above settings to get a better user experience. Also, if you need to access another application on the mobile device while running a XenApp or XenDesktop session in Full Screen mode, you can always hit the Windows button on your device to pull up the devices start menu as shown below.
So our search for the Nirvana Smartphone, or companion device at CTIA 2008 comes to an end with this post. Our friends at i-mate have gotten us another device to put through the Hotel Acid Test. In this case an i-mate Ultimate 9502. I'll let you check out the full specs on their website, but this device packs VGA 640x480 resolution onto a 2.8" screen. The clarity of the screen is very good, allowing you to clearly read the text, but again, some may need to pull out the reading glasses when not connected to an external monitor. Stand-alone pics below:
Pic 1: 9502's browser connected to Web Interface.
Pic 2: 9502 connected to a published desktop.
So how did it do in our Hotel Acid Test, not bad. While the VGA resolution is a little tight on the native screen, it works well when output to a larger monitor. As with the 6150, there is no noticeable latency when outputting the video to the TV. The 9502 uses a RCA audo video cable to output to the external monitor, and it's not quite as clear as the 6150 which uses a VGA cable, but still very usable. The icons are a little fuzzy, but I'm having not problem using this setup. You also get a fade-in effect of the letters when typing, but again, not a big deal IMO. Again, the network connection is 3G WWAN on ATT, and latency while using Word is not an issue at all, very responsive.
Pic 3: 9502 connected to hotel TV using RCA audo/video cable.
You are currently limited to the 640x480 resolution even when attached to an external monitor, which is fine for most Win32 apps, or desktops. But it sure would be nice to have 1024x768 or larger functionality down the road. The VGA 640x480 resolution could also be less than optimal if connecting to an overhead projector while giving a presentation.
But in general, I'm liking this device as well. Seems to have a good mix features that's making using it with XenApp for this post rather comfortable. Very quick and responsive as I'm typing this post. Maybe not the ultimate Nirvana Smartphone, but definitely a potential contender in today's market. I can definitely see certain road warriors leaving their laptop at home if they have this in their pocket.
Being this is my last post, I had to try my favorite test on a mobile device, viewing a 3D AutoDesk design from XenApp on a mobile device over ICA, you gotta love SpeedScreen! We gotta get another video of this demo out, but this time running to an external monitor! A still shot shown below.
Pic 4: AutoDesk Design Review delivered by XenApp to the 9502 output to the hotel TV. I cut the flash on this pic so the screen didn't wash out as much.
Unfortunatley, you get not sense of the performance with a still pic.
Got some comments on this use case, give us your feedback.
As I stated in my previous post, there is no one Nirvana devicethat will fit everyone's tastes, so here's another twist on the topic.
Impatica Showmate is a device, call it a "puck", that you make a Bluetooth connection to from your smartphone using its Screen Projector software that you install on your smartphone. A VGA cable is connected between the Showmate and the monitor you want to use. You must register your mobile device with the Showmate. Simply start the installed client on mobile device, enter in a few numbers from the bottom of the Showmate to register. Then you just choose what registered Showmate device you want to connect to and hit select. Your screen then pops up on the monitor the Showmate is connected to.
Pic 1: Picture of the Showmate "puck", and VGA and USB power ports.
Impatica was in the BlackBerry booth at CTIA showing their Showmate working with BlackBerry phones. As part of the demo environment, they had the Rove Mobile Citrix Client on demo BB, and showed how they can remote the ICA presentation to an external monitor. As you can see from the show pics below, they have some novel ideas about using this type of setup on portable LCD screens and such that you would find in police squad cars or utility trucks. Great idea, especially when matched with the Rove Mobile Citrix Client to get access to all kinds of data from the secured data center.
Pic 3: Michael Doyle, Impatica Director, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer showing the Impatica Showmate at CTIA 2008.
Pic 4: Showmate displaying a BlackBerry screen onto a portable LCD monitor inside a customer UI, mock of a law enforcement unit. You can see the ICA session imbedded in the customer UI.
To stay consistent, I put the Impatica Showmate through the same hotel acid test I did with the other vendors. I must note that the Windows Mobile Impatica ScreenProjector client that I'm using as I type this is still in Beta. I used the Showmate with 2 devices, a Dell Axim X51v and an ATT 8525. Latency on the X51v was very noticeable at times on the X51v, but response was good when using the 8525. Note sure if this is related to old .vs. newer hardware/Bluetooth stacks, or the fact that the X51v has a larger resolution. In general basic text entry like I'm doing now is pretty good. Again, thanks to the Impatica team for getting us this beta to try. I'm sure they still have some tuning tweaks up their sleeves before GA.
The script is the same, in this case I'm using the Dell Axim X51v connected to the Showmate via Bluetooth to VGA out to the hotel's flat screen TV. This picture below is an actual picture of the creation of the text for this blog using a XenApp connection to a published desktop, and running MS Word on that desktop over ICA. This is where I stop and take the picture 
Pic 5: Show mate connecting the Axim X51v running the ICA cleint to the hotel TV, and bluetooth mouse and keyboard.
The Showmate form factor is interesting in that you can see the device, or derivative of this device being imbedded in other devices to meet different goals, as shown in there show demo pciture above with a custom UI on the mountable LCD screen. Imagine the use case of a utility working or law enforcement office having a mobile device that when in there car or truck is having applications and data delivered to them via XenApp or XenDesktop. But once they exit their vehicle, they take the mobile device with them and continue to have the same apps and data delivered to them, just on the native screen of the mobile device. Whether it be a policeman on foot, or a utility working working on a transformer in the bucket of his boom truck. A very interesting modular device approach IMO. But at the same time, I can see road warriors carrying the Showmate with them to do presentations from their mobile phone, or use in the hotel as I am. You can read more on their website, but they already have a lot of road warriors using their Showmate today. They also have a product that compresses PowerPoint presentations, and then an optimized viewer to run the presentation from the mobile device. You can get more details on this from their website.
So does the Showmate pass the Hotel acid test? Yes, I've been able to create this post using the Showmate, and my mobile device, and it does provide benefits described around a Nirvana Deviceuse case. So it's definitely another option, with it's own twist on the Nirvana Device seach.
Like this twist, tell us why or why not. As always, we are looking for your input on defining the Nirvana Devicefor use with XenApp and XenDesktop.
The next find on our quest for the Nirvana Smartphoneis the i-mate Ultimate 6150 (i-mate 6150 web site) shown below. The 6150's native screen resolution is VGA 640x480, making it natively more suitable for displaying Win32 apps via XenApp than most QVGA screens.
Pic 1: 6150's browser connected to Web Interface ready to authenticate.
Pic 2: 6150 running a full published desktop at 640x480. I probably should have cleaned the screen before taking the picture
So what makes the 6150 a Nirvana Devicecandidate (Original Nirvana Device Post), it's got video output natively built into the device. The 6150 comes with a VGA adapter cable that connects into the side of the device, so you can then connect it to a monitor that accepts VGA input. The 6150 comes with software that when activated changes the device resolution to 1024x768, turns the 6150's screen into a touchpad mouse and displays the 1024x768 output to the connected monitor. Unfortunately, the cable that I have with my demo device is only about 4ft long and did not reach to the table that was working from, so I'm using my Bluetooth mouse and keyboard instead. Might be something for the i-mate team to look at.
Pic 3: 6150 External output software.
Pic 4: 6150 connected to the hotel's flatscreen TV, running a published desktop from XenApp. MS Word is open and I'm working on this text using this setup. The 6150 is the at the base of the TV in this pic.
All of the work to create this post will be using the 6150 connected to a published desktop in my hotel room using the flat screen TV as an external monitor (except for photo resizing which I will do with my OQO, being I don't have photo shop installed on our XenApp demo server). Seems like a real world use case to me.
In general, I like the 6150, and it is the closest device I've gotten my hands on to date to hit Chris Fleck's Nirvana deviceconcept. Personally, I like devices to have a QWERTY keyboard on the native device as well, and I hope to get a chance to try the i-mate 8150 down the road, which does have a QWERTY and VGA out capability. I also like the fact that the VGA feature is native to the device, so I don't need to carry anything extra but the VGA cable. Flip side is that unlike the Redfly (Celio Redfly post), if I don't have a monitor handy, let's say in the airport, I'm restricted to the native screen of the 6150. Hey, if i-mate gives me a really long cable, maybe I can plug into one the TVs in the airport that always running CNN
So how do I rate the 6150 as a Nirvana device candidate, again I give it an "I like it". I think I'd like the 8150 even better with the QWERTY keyboard, but in terms of it being a smartphone that I can run XenApp applications natively and then attach it an external monitor to extend the usability, it passes my initial hotel acid test. At the end of the day, a Nirvana SmartPhoneis a personal choice. So if you're interested in the concept, I'd say that the i-mate 6105 is one to have a look at.
As always, give us your feed back on this topic. I've got a few more entries on more devices from the show to come. Hopefully one will be the Nirvana Smartphone you're looking for to use with XenApp or soon XenDesktop, and you can leave the laptop at home on that next business trip. As with all of the devices being tried, we will get some more hands on time with them when I get back to FTL. We'll try and update if we find anything new.
Day 2 of my search for the Nirvana Deviceat CTIA 2008 ended a few hours ago, and we have some cool products to talk about. Let's see how they do when we replace my OQO Model 2 with Nirvana Device candidates from the show.
This entry focuses on one of our newest Citrix Alliance partners, Celio Corp and their recent product launch of the Redfly Mobile Companion (http://celiocorp.com).
Pic 1: Celio Corp booth at CTIA, including Citrix collateral at the booth.
Pic 2: Redfly demo at the booth connecting to XenApp 4.5.
The Redfly is a definitely a device cut from the cloth of Chris Fleck's original Nirvana Devicepost. The Redfly is a portable docking station for Windows Mobile devices, thus a Mobile Companion, and has a built in mouse, keyboard and monitor. So you wanna run those BIG win32 apps from you WinMo device, but want a bigger screen, checkout the Redfly. It doesn't have a CPU, memory or an OS. You connect your WinMo device to the Redfly by either USB or Bluetooth. If connected via USB, the battery in the Redfly will also charge your WinMo Device (8 hours of battery life), if it allow USB charging. Once the Redfly software is installed on your WinMo device, it will detect when it is attached to the Redfly, change the effective screen resolution to 800x480 and enable the Redfly's mouse and keyboard transforming the user experience similar to that of a lot of UMPCs.
Pic 3: Redfly attached to an ATT Tilt in my hotel room at the Today screen.
In this scenario, the ICA client is installed on the ATT Tilt, and all processing involved and required storage is provided by the Tilt. Again, think of the Redfly as a docking station with a built in mouse, keyboard and monitor that you carry on trips as a companion.
The 800x480 resolution of the Redfly easily enables me to connect to a virtualized Citrix desktop or published application, in this case a published Microsoft Server 2003 desktop with the Luna interface enabled. As you can see from the picture below, this device has very good potential for use with both published applications as well as XenDesktop connections when using a WinMo device.
Pic 4: Picture taken as I was working on the text for this entry.
The Redfly has a number of other very useful features that really enhance its usability in my opinion.
First off, there is a VGA out port on the back of the Redfly that enables you to output the screen to a larger monitor, overhead projector or hotel TV as shown in the picture below.
Pic 5: Redfly using its VGA output to the hotel's flat screen TV.
You'll notice that the entire screen of the TV is not used and that the 800x480 resolution is maintained even when output to a larger monitor. Basically, you can use the Redfly as a VGA output device for you WinMo device if you like, very cool. But I would like to see the Celio guys enable you to change the resolution being displayed when VGAing out to a larger monitor. Well see what happens in subsequent releases.
So you can use the Redfly's native screen or output to a larger screen, what about upping to a bigger keyboard and external mouse? Well, they've thought of this as well. There are also 2 USB ports on the back of the Redfly that you can plug in USB mice and keyboard. Even cooler IMO is that I can plug a USB stick into this slot and the device will associate this new storage as "remote storage" on the WinMo device. And you may have guessed it, ICA will now have access to this USB drive as part of its client drive mapping. For those concerned about security of such a use case, you can always disable this virtual drive mapping from the XenApp admin console.
Pic 6: Shot of the USB Flash card reader files maped into the XenApp desktop session via virtual client drive mapping. This is the actual flash card that contains the pics in this post plugged into the back of the Redfly with a USB flash card reader.
There are a number of other cool features on the Redfly, such as special function keys that are mapped to normal phone functions like Send and End calls, but I'll
let you check out their site for these. As I stated in my initial post on my blog, when I look at devices in this space, my first thoughts are how Citrix customers can leverage such technology to enhance their use of Citrix products. So how to I rate this one, I like it. I see it as a true enabling technology when used with mobile devices to access XenApp or XenDesktop. IMO, the Redfly Mobile Companion enables a lot of the concepts that we discuss in the Nirvana Device concept. While it's not a Nirvana smartphone, IMO it takes a lot of today's WinMo devices and gets them a lot closer to the Nirvana use paradigm. Having the option to use the Redfly as a companion to provide a bigger screen with its mouse and keyboard, or use it as a VGA output device with an even larger external mouse and keyboard is an interesting advantage if this is what you are looking for.
Reality check: note that this entire post was produced using the ATT Tilt phone, 3G WWAN network, from the Redfly's mouse, keyboard and native monitor connected to a XenApp published desktop. And it worked really well! Albiet, I'm used to using UMPC devices with smaller screens and keyboards, it will take some getting used to for some. So if you looking to lighten your load when traveling, and would like an ICA companion to go with you mobile phone so you can leave your laptop behind, you might want to check out the Redfly from Celio Corp.
We'd appreciate your thoughts on the use of these types of devices with XenApp and soon XenDesktop. I'm sure the Celio guys will also be interested in your input, pro or con. At the end of the day, there is no one Nirvana solution for everyone, but is the Redfly going down the right path for Citrix users looking to further leverage ICA on mobile devices?
Our search for the Nirvana Device has led me to Las Vegas and CTIA 2008. Citrix has been working with a number of partners around the concept of the Nirvana Device, and a lot of them are here this week. The plan is to try and get as many demo devices that I can and report my findings in my blog as related to their use from my hotel room at the show. So let's start off with my current baseline config of my remote office in my hotel room in Vegas.
Device: OQO, maker of the Model 2 UMPC (www.oqo.com), and a Citrix Alliance partner. You may have seen them at iForum or Citrix Summit over the last year.
I've actually been using OQO Model 2 as my primary device over a year now, and UMPCs such as the Model 2 used with Citrix App Delivery work great. In the FTL office, I dock the Model 2 and the doc has 2 VGA outputs, so I run a dual monitor setup and drive a 21" and 19" monitor from my desk. I also have a doc at home connected to my home office monitor via a KVM switch. So when working from home, I simply KVM from my home PC and use the same device that I use from work. At the CTIA show, I'm docked and connected to the Philips flatscreen TV in my hotel room. Of course, the form factor of the Model 2 is also great when attending meetings at the office, or working from home on the couch (note: I'm over 40 and have no problem seeing text on the OQO's native screen, but some will have issues clearly seeing text on a device this small, reading glasses may be required by some J). The Model 2 I have has built in EVDO Rev A from Verizon, which works great when on the road or at home (using it from my hotel room as I type this entry). I can see this type of devices being used by others like myself that just prefer a small form factor UMPC, as well as some good tactical usages with Citrix customers, where a standard sized laptop is just to big. Some pics of the baseline remote office setup below:
As you can see, several of the Nirvana Device concepts that Chris Fleck mentioned in his original post (Original Nirvana Device Post) are already in play. Being the Model 2 is a UMPC and not a smart phone, I'm cheating a little, but:
- I am docked and using the hotel's flat screen TV as a larger monitor
- I am using an external Bluetooth mouse and keyboard
- I am using a WWAN connection for my network
- I am using Citrix App Delivery to do my work
While I don't plan on giving up my OQO any time soon, I am going to see what I can find at the show that I could use in the same basic configuration that I'm using the OQO in.
Off to my 2nd meeting of the day, and hopefully will return tonight with some more Nirvana Device candidates to try out.
Citrix has partnered with Nokia on ICA clients for their Symbian devices for years. I recently did an interview with the Nokia team on use of the Citrix ICA client for Series 60 3rd Edition devices such as E61, E70 and E90 devices for their Nokia Forum Pro. These ICA clients can be downloaded from http://www.citrix.com/English/SS/downloads/details.asp?dID=2755&downloadID=165587&pID=186.
Snippet from the interview below:
Helping enterprise IT departments
The Citrix XenApp Client for S60 3rd Edition devices offers some very clear benefits to IT departments as well, Marano adds. "From an IT perspective, the flexibility of mobile devices can be scary," he says. "How do you encourage people to use them, but also make sure that they are used properly and securely? With this solution, the same infrastructure being used today for external laptops and desktops can be used to deliver applications to the Series 60 3rd Edition devices. Minimizing the number of technologies used to deliver business-critical data to end users regardless of device type, by standardizing on a single platform, is a key factor to consider."
The interview gives a good overview of use Nokia S60 devices, but also provides a pretty good overview on the use of mobile devices as a whole with XenApp.
The full PDF interview can be found at: http://www.nokia.com/NOKIA_COM_1/Developers/Success_Stories/Enterprise_&_productivity/Dev_succ_Citrix_SC_v1.0.pdf
My first blog on Mobile Devices and The App Delivery Center seemed to get enough hits that I thought I would follow up with a video demo to give a better view of XenApp applications actually being delivered to a mobile device. Also felt that it would be good to describe the setup used to create the video, so details follow below. The demo was intended to show a "real world" use case that a lot of us have been through. The script for the video is that your boss sends you an email asking you to perform a number of tasks in preparation for an upcoming meeting:
- update a Word document
- update an Excel spreadsheet
- verify a CAD document is up to date
- join a GoToMeeting
All of these tasks are performed in the below video. Details on the setup:
- A real ATT 8525 device with the 10.0 WinMo ICA client was used to connect to a XenApp 4.5 server
- The server is hosted on the internet, outside of the Citrix network.
- The Web Interface changes referred to in my Mobile Devices and The App Delivery Center blog post are in use on this demo server, thus you get the better app sizing described in the aforementioned post (http://support.citrix.com/forums/thread.jspa?forumID=136&threadID=91629&tstart=0).
- Soti Pocket Controller was used to display the screen of the 8525 on my laptop
- When connected to Soti, an active sync connection is used, which actually provides the network connection for the 8525. So the native 3G data connection of the 8525 was not used, BUT.
- I used the EVDO Rev A connection on my laptop to connect to the internet, so even though the device has ATT 3G connection, a Verizon EVDO Rev A connection was actually used in this case, thus a WWAN connection is being used.
- Camtasia was used to capture the Soti output on my laptop
So now that you know the gory setup to get this capture, the video is below. Hope this give a better picture of use of the Citrix Mobile ICA clients.
Obviously some clarity of the video was lost during conversion and upload to YouTube. But I thing you'll get the idea!
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