SpeedScreen Progressive Display, introduced in XenApp PS 4.5 and also included in XenDesktop 2.0, has really "moved the needle" when it comes to remote delivery of 2D and lightweight 3D graphics. I just saw the results of a recent Citrix Customer Satisfaction Survey and was impressed to learn that 37% of our XenApp Platinum Edition customers are now using this technology! 

Compared to PS 4.0, SpeedScreen Progressive Display speeds up graphics performance by up to 15 times (see the Tolly Group's report). You've probably seen the demo on our web site which illustrates the user experience. And SpeedScreen Progressive Display lowers the cost of delivering graphics applications by dramatically reducing bandwidth consumption (up to 93%) and allowing access from low cost endpoints.   

If you're using this new graphics technology, please send me an email and let me know which applications you use with it and how big an impact you are seeing. Also, let me know if you have any suggestions for future enhancements. Based on customer input, we recently introduced an enhancement to allow users to control the compression level by means of a toolbar (see picture below); this is available as hotfix PSE450R02W2K3037 (32-bit) or PSE450R02W2K3X64012 (64-bit) for XenApp PS 4.5 HRP02. Now the Apollo multimedia virtualization team is looking at other potential enhancements to SpeedScreen Progressive Display as we integrate this feature into Apollo Accelerated Bitmap Remoting for 3D professional graphics, so we welcome your feedback and suggestions.

 
 
Derek Thorslund
Product Strategist, Multimedia Virtualization

In a previous post I posed the question "If you could wave a magic wand and have any one single feature in the next release of Citrix XenApp, what would it be?".
It is clear many of you would like to wave that magic wand. There have been just over 650 votes and 26 comments so far. This post has been in the Top 5 in total post views since it was posted. Clearly there is a lot of interest in this topic.
I guaranteed you in that post I would share the results with the XenApp product team and I have done that. I also promised to follow up on the feature requests.
I am still working on getting a high level developer or software architect to talk about "live migration of individual sessions". I do have some further info on "Speed Screen Multimedia across all client platforms", the second most popular option in our poll.

Derek Thorslund, our Multimedia Virtualization Strategist, has written numerous posts about SpeedScreen Multimedia and related technologies. According to Derek, support for SpeedScreen Multimedia Acceleration on the Linux client is currently being developed. Derek was not able to give me a definitive time line for the general release of this capability, but I think they can see the light at the end of the tunnel. In fact, our Technology Licensing Partners now have access to a Technology Preview of SpeedScreen MultiMedia Acceleration for the Linux client. I will keep prodding Derek to provide more info as this project reaches completion.

In case you are not aware, SpeedScreen Multimedia Acceleration is currently available for the Win32 Client and the Windows CE WBT client (according to the client matrix). You can see in that document that Image Acceleration, Flash Acceleration and Browser acceleration are all support on multiple clients beyond Win32 and Win CE CBT.

Here are a few relevant blog posts on this topic in case you have not seen them -

SpeedScreenMultiMedaiAcceleration and Rave Video

How Do I Know if RAVE is Working?

What is SpeedScreen Image Acceleration?

Secrets of Optimizing Flash Part 1

Secrets of Optimizing Flash Part 2

Secrets for Optimizing Flash Part 3

Secrets for Optimizing Flash Part 4

Secrets for Optimizing Flash Part 5

New HRP Enhances Flash Support

SpeedScreen Progressive Display Delivers PACS Images



For deeper background technical information, here are some Knowledgebase articles on this topic

Troubleshooting the SpeedScreen Multimedia Acceleration Feature

Windows Media Player Cannot Play the file\


And finally, here is a technical video (narrated by Brian Madden) I found on the SpeedScreen topic -

Deep Dive into Citrix XenApp SpeedScreen Technologies

(47 minute video)

I'm running my Sony on a WWAN connection (cellphone connection) in Florida and connecting to our engineering XenDesktop server and virtual machine all the way out in the UK and I was stunned by the amazing performance! "Oh Hail SpeedScreen!"

regards,
Gus Pinto - Technology Evangelist
Microsoft MVP | Gus.Pinto@citrix.com
http://www.frameworkx.com

One of the half dozen SpeedScreen technologies from Citrix is SpeedScreen Image Acceleration. Since I've been reviewing these technologies as part of my multimedia virtualization strategy work, I thought I'd briefly share some highlights of this valuable feature.

SpeedScreen Image Acceleration was introduced in Presentation Server 3.0 back in 2004 and is included in all product editions. It is one of the new features in last month's Mac client release (along with SpeedScreen Progressive Display and various other enhancements), and it is an important capability of XenDesktop, too.

Image Acceleration improves the delivery of photographic bitmaps and high detail synthetic images. If a bitmap looks as if it is probably photographic or highly detailed, SpeedScreen Image Acceleration can add an extra level of lossy JPEG compression to speed up the transmission of the image to the client device. Lossy JPEG compression is quite CPU intensive, but since it is applied only when there is enough image detail that the probability of payoff is high, server CPU is not consumed needlessly.

With modern applications, even a background image can have considerable detail. For example, there may be subtle color changes from left to right or top-down. Even icons these days are often high detail images with gentle graduation in color. JPEG is very good at handling pictures with many different shades of color.

Under most circumstances, the compression scheme is able to remove redundant data with minimal loss of information, and the image still looks good to the user. So SpeedScreen Image Acceleration is enabled by default. But sometimes, applying a high level of lossy compression to a high detail, synthetic (non-photographic) image will produce noticeable artifacts or smudging. So there's a trade-off between image quality and throughput. Since lossy compression isn't always desired, the settings for Image Acceleration are fully controllable by policies. The system administrator can choose the preferred compression level (high, medium or low) and may restrict the use of lossy compression to network connections below a specified bandwidth threshold. Lossy compression is not appropriate for certain applications where image fidelity is critical, such as Picture Archival & Communications Systems (PACS) used in Healthcare to view X-rays and other scans, except to improve responsiveness while an image is being scrolled on the screen; but that's a topic we can cover another time when we take a look at SpeedScreen Progressive Display.

Derek Thorslund
Product Strategist, Multimedia Virtualization

The Tech Lab is always one of the highlights of iForum. It provides a tremendous opportunity for customers, partners and industry analysts to speak directly with Citrix engineers who know the ins and outs of our technologies. This year, in support of the Citrix Multimedia Virtualization Initiative, we are planning to showcase a wide range of multimedia virtualization technologies, many of which are still baking in our R&D ovens. This blog post provides a sneak peek at what you'll be able to see (and hear) if you're attending the iForum 07 App Delivery Expo in Las Vegas, October 22-25, 2007. There may be last-minute adjustments so I won't make any guarantees but here's a brief preview that I'm sure will whet your appetite if you're interested in the delivery of multimedia applications and desktops.

SpeedScreen Progressive Display
The latest in a series of half a dozen SpeedScreen technologies, SpeedScreen Progressive Display optimizes the user experience for graphics-intensive applications like PACS and GIS. When the user scrolls an application window or moves a graphical object, SpeedScreen Progressive Display first sends lower resolution images. Then it sends the full resolution image once the motion stops. The result is a very responsive user experience, even over a WAN connection. As a side benefit, this approach also reduces network bandwidth consumption by up to 93%.

SpeedScreen Multimedia Acceleration on Windows Server 2008
The upcoming release of Windows Server 2008 introduces Media Foundation -- Microsoft's next generation multimedia platform -- to Windows Server. SpeedScreen Multimedia Acceleration, which provides high quality synchronized audio-video delivery by leveraging client-side resources, will be ready for this technology evolution.

OpenGL acceleration
Project Pictor is tackling the challenge of delivering high-end CAD applications built on the OpenGL 3D graphics API by leveraging server-side graphics processing hardware.

Vista Aero theme support
Running Vista Aero on your PC? This new technology will ensure that applications delivered by Presentation Server blend seamlessly onto your Aero desktop.

Vista Aero desktop remoting
This could be one of the most attention-grabbing demos in this year's Tech Lab. Even if your organization's move to Vista is still a ways off, you'll be impressed that Citrix engineers are developing technologies to deliver virtual Vista desktops that include the full Aero experience ('glass' effects, Windows Flip 3D animations, etc.). Even more exciting is the ability to deliver Vista Aero to end points that are not Vista Premium Ready, including thin clients and PCs running Windows XP.

WPF and DirectX application remoting
Not just your typical business applications . . . You'll be surprised at what our engineers can remote with this new technology, still under development.

"Ulysses" audio codec
You'll want to put on the headphones so you can hear this one. The new "Ulysses" codec delivers excellent sound quality at a fraction of the bandwidth of the current ICA audio codec. More on this in my next blog post.

Cisco VoIP softphone on Presentation Server
Cisco and Citrix have been working together to achieve compatibility of the Cisco voice-over-IP softphone, IP Communicator, with Presentation Server. This demo will show you how it works. If you're interested in the virtualization of softphones, you'll also want to visit HP's booth to check out streaming of the Cisco softphone to an HP thin client.

So give yourself plenty of time . . . There's a lot to see at this year's iForum Tech Lab!

Derek Thorslund
Product Strategist, Multimedia Virtualization

If you are interested in getting an overview of Citrix product and see a quick demo, I would highly recommend the citrix demo site. http://www.citrix.com/English/ps2/demo.asp
You can get here by clicking Demo link on top of http://www.citrix.com/ hompage.

can find both flash based demo and live demos. I recommend you take a look at Flash based demos first if you are new to Citrix products. The on line live demo allows you to try the products yourself and try out features not covered by the flash based demos. You also find examples of third party applications running on citrix platforms.

especially like the demos that have side by side comparison such as Presentation Server Feature Spotlight: Speed Screen Progressive Display demo.

can also download a virtual appliance here. This is a new feature. I will try to talk more about virtual appliance in a separate post.