In the spirit of "keepin it simple", so simple that even a caveman can do it, I engaged the help of a few of our best CTPs (Child Technology Protégés),actually technology savvy elementary school kids to help produce a small video showing off some Citrix technology with mobile devices. So those of us that aren't smarter than a 5th grader should still be able to follow along We had a lot of fun making this video, but the interesting part was that the kids actually GOT IT! The video features Citrix Ready products from partners Sprint and Celio. Three use cases are expressed in the video:

• Mobile Health Care Users
• Traveling Road Warriors
• Mobile Field Technicians

Hope the video helps generate some ideas on how you can use Citrix to simplify you mobile deployments.

We will dive deeper into some of these use cases as part of a video series on Citrix TV so you can get a little more familiar with each, and some of the products used. If the kid thing works, we may need to have a sequel

Ever wanted to quickly update a document without having to pull out your laptop?  The video below shows updating a contract using Citrix XenApp and a Sprint HTC Touch Pro. Cut and pasting data between different documents is easy given the Touch Pro has a CTRL key, allowing quick cut and past via CTRL C/CTRL V across documents.

The file navigation is a new very early concept we are looking at , and was first shown off is Chris Fleck's blog about the upcoming Citrix Reciever for iPhone http://community.citrix.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=52298806. I've used a slightly modified version in this video, more news on this later

Interested in trying out the App Reciever on your Windows Mobile Professional device (must have a touch screen), go to the Citrix download page to get it for free, point your phones web browser to your your Citrix farm's Web Interface and give it a try (Windows Mobile Download Site).  You most likely want the ARM Processor Version 10.00 for you Windows Mobile Professional device.

I've been using the Sprint HTC Touch Pro for a few months now, and I feel that it is a very compelling mobile device for use with Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop, maybe even for few of the folks I've been hearing from that are looking to move away from the iPhone.  So what I've done in this blog is to video what I feel are some of the compelling use cases for mobile devices with Citrix and let the Sprint HTC Touch Pro take top billing in this post.  I'm sure you can find a few posts about Citrix and the iPhone if you try, and we'll have it out "Sooner than later"!

HTC Touch Pro w/Web Interface

HTC Touch Flo interface does a good job of bringing most of the tasks I want on my mobile device right to my finger tips.  One of the areas that HTC's Touch Flo interface comes into play with Citrix is when connected to Web Interface via the Opera browser.  The Opera browser allows the user to quickly zoom in and out on the Web interface, and move the viewable portion of the page using your finger to quickly find the application you want to launch (no stylus required).  The built in accelerometer will also automatically change the view from portrait to landscape when you tilt the Touch Pro.  If the keyboard is pulled out, the orientation will also switch to landscape mode.  The below video shows the new Web Interface, which has a mobile device mode built in, easily navigated with HTC's Touch Flo integration into Opera.

Mobile Access to Corporate Documents

Being able to quickly and securely access documents on corporate file shares from your mobile device can be a real advantage.  Imaging a lawyer or sales person not having to boot up their laptop to get quick access to a document when they simply want to look up some data in a document or quickly review a file.  Using their mobile device instead they can just launch File Explorer via XenApp from their mobile phone to gain secure access to that any file they have access to in the data center, regardless of its size or type.  They can find the data they were looking for and be done quicker than it takes to boot most laptops.  The HTC Touch Pro's full VGA resolution really shines here, you are able to view a lot more data on its VGA screen than most devices with lesser resolution.  The screen is small (2.7"), but its clarity helps to overcome its size. 

NOTE: in order to make the following videos more viewable, the Touch Pro was controlled from my PC using Soti's Pocket Controller Pro so my fingers weren't in the way!  Like the keyboard is when typing on an iPhone

Mobile Access to ERP, CRM and Other Database Applications

Being able to access to ERP, CRM and other corporate database data while mobile is another key use case.  While I wouldn't recommend that users do a ton of data entry into these systems from any mobile device, there are a lot of cases where a user in the field needs quick access to customer information, sales and program data, payment or purchase approvals, and inventory information for example.  The general use case when using mobile devices is about quick consumption of data, and they can securely gain access to such data from their mobile device using XenApp.

The below video shows the HTC Touch Pro accessing the Citrix corporate SAP system to quickly approve an event, and look up some travel expense report data.

Mobile Access to Technical Documents

Citrix has optimized its ICA protocol for over a decade to deliver some of the most demanding types of data to remote users.  Imagine the technical field worker that needs to look up the proper connectivity of electrical wiring on an expensive piece of equipment.  They could try and carry every possible paper manual in their truck, OR all of the technical drawings could be kept online in the data center for the worker to access via their mobile device, and again, having a device with a full VGA resolution like the HTC Touch Pro makes a big difference.

The below video shows the HTC Touch Pro accessing a 3D AutoDesk drawing, allowing the worker to rotate the drawing on the Touch Pro and zoom in and get whatever level of detail they require to get the job done.

So you wanna full desktop to?

Are you standardizing your desktop deployments on XenDesktop?  Not a problem for mobile users.  The HTC Touch Pro's full VGA screen is one of the few devices I've seen that can easily fit a full desktop on the screen without requiring panning and scaling. 

The below video shows use of the Touch Pro with XenDesktop.  It also shows the ability of the solution to detect a change from landscape to portrait mode and have the application or desktop being run on XenApp/XenDesktop automatically adapt to this change. 

So is a 2.7" screen a bit small to run a full desktop on, probably.  But I find the Touch Pro very usable for quick access to applications and data, even with XenDesktop. I can only hope for HTC to come out with an HTC HD Pro version with an external keyboard which would really make this solution pop.  Give it full SVGA output via a VGA connector (Sprint HTC Touch Pro has VGA output today) and you may just have the first real Nirvana Device along with my Celio Redfly to complete the package.

I know there are a lot of other differences between the Touch Pro and the iPhone, iPhone pinch .vs. Touch Flo swirl, Opera browser .vs. Safari, iPhone has a cool Star Wars light saber application and Touch Pro does not   Overall, the Touch Pro has been an excellent device, very stable, phone works great, Touch Flo interface makes it very easy to get to the most common features I use on a phone, and it works with XenApp today!   So what's the "right" business device for you and your employees, that's for you to decide.  But hopefully this post helps you look at some of the use cases that can add value to your mobile workforce, and another great device for you to consider.

Sprint HTC Touch Pro Keyboard TIP!!!!! 

I did initially have an issue with the external keyboard with XenApp applications and have seen a number of posts on the web about this.  I quickly found a few settings in the ICA Client that quickly resolved this issue.  To make these changes, open the "ICA Client" from the Programs folder and navigate to the "Edit Preferences" page:

"Edit Global Settings" -> "Edit Preferences" then make the changes highlighted below:

You may also be interested in Full Screen Mode for Your Nirvana Device 

I hope by now a lot of you know about the new "unconference" portion of Synergy 2008, Geek Speak Live.  Part of Geek Speak Live is the Geek Speak Lounge (GSL).  Basically is an area to meet at during the Live event and meet with other members of the Citrix community and discuss and share new ideas and topics.  It's also where you can see some demos with a twist, more on this later! 

First, here's the proposed GSL layout:
 
There are 4 main demo areas.  The twist is that the demos are intended to let you experience future Citrix technology  more interactively, possibly using some applications and devices that aren't what you'd usually see us demo.

So here's the rundown:

Cool Devices - This section of  the GSL features gadgets that can be today, or may be enabled tomorrow with the ICA client to become your XenApp or XenDesktop ICA end points.  Customers are using cell phones and PDAs today to do this, but we have some new devices that are starting to change the game and starting to reach Nirvana Device status as described in Chris Flecks post.  You'll get to try them out in the GSL, in exchange for you opinion and comments on how use of such devices can add value to your business, or not!  Hopefully this demo area makes you think about app and desktop delivery in some new ways.  For a quick preview of some of the devices that will be present, check out the Nirvana Devices Invade Synergy Geek Speak Lounge post.  (Note: we originally had a BarCamp session on this topic, but due to the great response we've gotten from others willing to present, we've removed this from BarCamp.  But you can still get the hands on experience and knowledge in the GSL on this subject).

Project Alice Demo - Haven't heard about project Alice, also referred to as Reverse seamless?  It fits in very nicely with our XenDesktop story and is a sneak peak at some new technology we are working on to allow the user to leverage local applications running on the end point device in the context of their XenDesktop seamlessly.  Image having those favorite apps you have on your laptop seamlessly showing up as part of your Corporate XenDesktop environment with out needing to switch between the local desktop and XenDesktop. 

Project Apollo Games - You've probably seen some of the blogs on project Apollo.  Apollo does a great job of enabling the new graphics intensive features of next generation applications in a Citrix environment (preview at Derek Thorslund's blog).  Well this is the GSL twisted version of those demos.  We're going to have 8 Dell XPS 710 gaming systems running an early version of Apollo, remoting an action game to Wyse Thin Clients.  You've seen the CAD demos, now it's your turn to actually sit down and give the power of project Apollo some hands on time, in true Geek Speak fashion.  While you probably won't be publishing games to your end user's any time soon, you should be able translate the power of this demo into how project Apollo can help you move to the next generation of graphic intensive applications in your Citrix deployment in the future.   We'll have some of the apps Derek has blogged on with Apollo as well, for those non-gamers like myself

Apollo Media Center - To further show off some of the new video capabilities the Apollo team is working on, we will also have an Alienware Area 51 system running Media Center in the GSL.  And you guessed it, the Alienware system will be "Apollo-ized" and remoting videos out to a large screen monitor via a Wyse thin client.  Again, maybe not what you'd do in production, but you should be able to translate this demo with a twist into better ideas on how to deliver some of those training videos and other multi-media out to your users in the future.

The GSL should be a great place for you to meet with other members of the Citrix Community, discuss new ideas and hopefully come up with some new ones!

Thanks to Intel for sponoring the event, and the list of other partners supporting the GSL effort:

Alienware, Dell, Wyse, Nokia, Sprint, Celio, i-Mate, Impatica, Icuiti

We look forwared to meeting you there!

Adam