Analysts and technology companies alike have been attempting to describe the totality of Cloud Computing in terms of technology and business application.  The problem to date is that there has not been a single company who is both actively creating applications as well as producing the infrastructure and delivery mechanisms to deliver applications in the Cloud.  I usually don't promote Citrix right up front in my blogs, but in this case, Citrix is the core of the discussion in that we are the only company in the world today that plays across the entire spectrum of the Cloud.  I'd like to start with a basic picture to depict this strength and then describe each area. 

The Cloud can be described in these vertical planes by generalizing between Services and Infrastructure.  Along the horizontal plane the spectrum of the Cloud stretches from the software companies producing the applications (Independent Software Vendors - ISV) to the ultimate utility infrastructure for architectures with a foundation of servers which are virtualized.  The core product families at Citrix not only fit this paradigm, but by definition are core to the way in which Cloud Computing is developed and delivered.

Note first of all that without applications the cloud has no purpose.  The spectrum starts with the ISV.  Citrix Online's core technology and business proposition is rooted firmly in the ISV and SaaS portions of the cloud (http://www.citrixonline.com/products.tmpl?SessionInfo=20196379:BC688DECBA73756).  In fact, Online is actually the 5^th largest SaaS supplier in the world.  This gives us a keen understanding of what it takes to produce applications and deliver them to millions of subscribers around the world through a subscription model.

Next, Citrix has designed an application delivery technology used by 98% of the Fortune 500 companies around the world, XenApp.  Huge companies like Bechtel looking for ways in which to change the way they do business are adopting a variant of SaaS through what they call the Project Services Network producing an "on demand environment for application and data access" (http://web.citrix.com/go/synergy_08/vote/). And because the base software has been designed to work in these complex environments it shouldn't be surprising that Citrix also is the world leader in the delivery of applications embedded with high end graphics. (http://community.citrix.com/blogs/citrite/derekt/2009/02/06/New+Multimedia+Capabilities+%28and+more+to+come%29).

Recognizing the need for entire desktop virtualization, XenDesktop is rapidly becoming the Desktop as a Service choice for many companies looking to augment their current application delivery approach.  Citrix leads the market in the flexibility of the DaaS through the latest release of the XenDesktop product.  My friend and colleague, Simon Crosby recently spoke on the topic and our future plans in this space in an interview with Doug Brown (http://www.dabcc.com/multimedia.aspx).

Moving to the far right of the spectrum we know that eventually the delivery of software will have to follow a utility model closely related to the Telco in order to be available to the mass market consumer.  So in an effort to begin to bridge that gap, Citrix has begun work in what is called the Elastic Compute Cloud or EC2 (http://community.citrix.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=58196960&showComments=true#comments).  In this environment, Citrix has demonstrated a future view of what will be Infrastructure as a Service using XenServer and the Xen Hypervisor as the core technology.

Finally, NetScaler has been a critical element of the Cloud for a number of years.  Providing web application acceleration and network optimization, this is a core technology to enable the infrastructure that delivers the applications through the Cloud.

I challenge anyone who thinks they know of a company better aligned with all aspects of Cloud Computing and has not only the vision for the future of application delivery, but a business model and technology today to actually deploy it and allow customers to produce revenues from it.  Look for an upcoming Podcast hosted by Doug Brown including discussion from Brad Pedersen and Kurt Moody to round out this discussion (http://www.dabcc.com/multimedia.aspx).

The following trademarks appear in this blog: Microsoft Office and Microsoft Windows are a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and other countries, SAP is a registered trademark of SAP Corporation in the U.S. and in other countries, Firefox is a registered trademark of Mozilla, an Internet Community, Safari is a registered trademark of Apple Inc in the U.S. and other countries. 

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Why is it that we become so polarized when it comes to Information Technology?  "I'm a Mac guy!-I'm a PC guy! Linux is the only way! iPhone vs. Blackberry, you must be kidding! Win Server 2003 vs. Win Server2008!  Web apps are the only way!"  I know it's good to have opposing views and diversity is the foundation of change, but polarizing to any extreme just doesn't map with reality, does it?

Ten years ago the polarization around web based applications began.  Adobe is probably the best example of how this technology has emerged.  There was a day when loading someone's client on your PC or laptop was seen as obtrusive and even a security risk.  But now we are constantly reminded to upgrade our Flash player or we won't be able to access the latest multimedia.  To be sure, web app technology including Flash have come a long way and have enhanced our ability to get the information we need more rapidly.  But when I sit down to put a spreadsheet together chances are I'm not going to launch IE or Firefox to get started.  There is a job for every tool and a tool for most every job.  That's what my grandfather used to tell me and I think it applies to the world of IT as well.  In that regard, if we postulate that Google Apps is going to take over the world of application delivery any time soon, I think time will tell a different story.  But just to round out the playing field I'd like to examine some of the misnomers around a web app only world.

First and foremost there is the issue of what works best for the job.  As I mentioned, like it or not, Microsoft Excel owns the lion's share of the spreadsheet market by leaps and bounds.  Even if there were another application with a more user friendly experience the typical consumer of this application would still adopt what he knows (learned behavior) over what is new. So if a "universal" web app emerged tomorrow it would take years to get mass market adoption.  And even if that were to happen, we would still have to the issues of file storage and file sharing to contend with.  The point is the information technology world we live and work in takes advantage of both O/S dependent applications and web/browser based applications. 

But what if overnight, we all just decided enough is enough and we want to simplify the world of IT by only using web based applications?  Are they universal enough that every application would run on every end point every time it was accessed?  Let's explore...

Leaving aside the problem of learned behavior for O/S dependant applications, web based apps have a myriad of obstacles to overcome.  First are the physical machine and the physical network limitations.  Have you ever tried to stream a high definition video on a 5 year old PC (or MAC) on a dial-up network?  Even if you increased the bandwidth to Business Class DSL/Cable Modem you'd have to shut down every other web app just to get the clip running.  So there is first the problem of embedded multi-media over low bandwidth/high latency networks.  Surely everyone has access to 100 mbps Ethernet, don't they?  No, in fact they don't.  Most of the SMB world still lives off of a connection of 3-6 mbps with no specified SLA and that bandwidth is shared for the entire office.According to Kurt Moody, Senior Technical Marketing Manager at Citrix, "The development of web-based applications has been perceived as a fundamental competitor to traditional Windows desktop applications and therefore to some extent is considered the largest competitive threat to Citrix XenApp.  The reality for many enterprises is that although the web based applications themselves present a form of Server-based computing from an application development perspective, from an application delivery perspective the critical potential point of failure is the web browser itself, which in many cases is a Windows desktop application that presents the same version and lifecycle maintenance challenges of other desktop applications.  Many businesses have determined that using Citrix XenApp to deliver the required Web Browser and application presents a much more predictable environment to the broadest set of users and use cases with a lower TCO."  Not that XenApp solves all of the problems listed above, but it still provides the best case user experience even over low bandwidth, high latency networks.

How about the browser environment itself?  According to David Wagner, Architect and Product Manager at Citrix, "While it is easy to make the argument that the complexity and headaches that exist across multiple browsers has diminished somewhat over that last few years, there are still plenty of pain points this creates for all of us.  Challenges such as a browser version or needed plug-ins still occur particularly when using shared or common devices.  Sure if it is your personal PC or your company's laptop or desktop it is often easy enough to add what you need but what if you are using a hotel device?  Or a public venue kiosk?  Or some mobile device?  Making any change or modification at all is just not going to happen.

From a developer's point of view, wouldn't it be nice to focus on one or two browsers?  And maybe just a handful of configurations?  It would be if you were sure all your users had access to that version and configuration setup.  Otherwise you will be developing, testing and validating for every combination you can expect a user to leverage which usually means picking as many as you can manage to test and validate with each release and thus we have our published 'supported list'.  E.g. if you are trying to use this app and are experiencing issues and you are not using a configuration on the supported list we can't help you."

So what exactly do the Cloud initiatives of 2009 present to mitigate these web application issues?  Nothing really.  The Cloud is a mechanism for providing utility in the mass delivery of applications, not the end-all, be-all.  Even when Cloud delivery infrastructure becomes a reality, we still have these fundamental issues to grapple with.  That's why Citrix is taking the more holistic approach to the entire eco system.  From the creation of web based apps (Citrix Online products) to the virtualization of workloads in the datacenter (XenServer) to the delivery of both web and non-web applications (XenApp/XenDesktop) we provide the architecture to economically and efficiently provide services (applications) to the end points.... And we've been doing it for years. 

Stay tuned for the next discussion on Managed Service Providers vs. Independent Software Vendors providing SaaS.

I'm kind of a stickler for simplification so I always like to set the stage by making sure terms are defined and understood before launching into a diatribe of alphabet soup over acronyms that mean ten different things to ten different people.  For instance, it seems today (much like the era of the dot-com) that if someone drops the suffix "aaS" at the end of a subject or object it immediately becomes newsworthy.  For instance a statement like MSPs who provide SaaS or DaaS must use either AIaaS or APaaS to achieve true IaaS, is in my opinion condescending.  It's kind of like using the word Grok.  If you don't know what it means, then you must not be educated enough to use it.  Do you grok SaaS?

These kinds of acronyms and esoteric terms only confuse the poor guy who is trying to make a decision about how to run his business more cost effectively.  The small business owner is still trying to figure out what an "XP Pro" is or why there is so much hype over Vista vs. OS 10 (PC Guy vs. Apple Guy).  And the more software/computer science literate business owner wants to know why he has to pay for an entire staff of guys to keep his PCs running when he could do it all himself if he only had the time.  In either case, especially in this economy, at the end of the day it's all about the bottom line in business. Techno jargon is meaningless if it has no bearing on profitability. For these business owners if it costs less to do business by outsourcing part of the business, that's exactly what they are going to do.  But the message better be simple as to how they go about it.  So whether or not the small or medium sized business (SMB) owner can decipher Managed Service Providers (MSPs) who provide Software as a Service (SaaS) or Desktops as a Service (DaaS) must use either Application Infrastructure as a Service (AIaaS) or Application Platforms as a Service (APaaS) to achieve true Integration as a Service (IaaS), doesn't mean a hill of beans if it doesn't help his bottom line.  What is really important is for the MSP to quickly articulate his value proposition to the SMB owner so that there is no question about the service provided and its relative value to the business.  To start, according to Wikipedia, Software as a Service "is a model of software deployment where an application is hosted as a service provided to customers across the Internet. By eliminating the need to install and run the application on the customer's own computer, SaaS alleviates the customer's burden of software maintenance, ongoing operation, and support."  Now that's pretty understandable even for the guy who doesn't know what an XP Pro is.

Even with this distinction however there are still different types of MSPs who provide services for a variety of different use cases.  For simplicity sake, I'll describe three variants of MSPs here but by no means does this exhaust the category.  First there is the purist MSP.  That is to say the service provider who sets up one application to be shared by hundreds or thousands of businesses for a one-to-many implementation.  On the other end of the spectrum, is the service provider who transfers an entire data center from an SMB and hosts the "custom" one-to-one environment.  The later obviously has a scaling issue in that each physical server farm must stand on its own for each individual SMB.  In between these extremes is the MSP who has a "generic" server farm (which may or may not be virtual) used to deliver applications, but not necessarily built to scale.  In this case, the SMB may have a set number of applications he wishes to have hosted, but not all applications.  Sometimes these applications are problematic and may be difficult to deliver to remote sites.  Or they may be cumbersome to manage and therefore cause an inordinate amount of time and energy for the local IT personnel.  In some cases this hybrid hoster may provide an entire environment for a specific niche.

One such hybrid is a company called AcXess Inc, http://www.acxess.com/AcXess_home.htm in Boca Raton, Florida.  AcXess is the developer of V-Works™ a new Platform for managing online Virtual Server Environments. Their services include Labs On-Demand™ for integration and consulting projects, Demos On-Demand™ for automated "live" software demonstrations and Desktops On-Demand™ for Hi-Performance remote access desktops and applications.  By focusing on the ability to host lab environments and demonstrations, this MSP has built a business with unique value to a variety of customers including Microsoft, AT&T and SAP.  Tom Elowson, CEO is no neophyte when it comes to hosted services.  He was actually one of the principals in an ASP company in 2000.  Learning from the rise and fall of that era, Tom started AcXess and a couple of other companies to take advantage of the emerging hosted services market.  His business is actually seeing growth even in these tough times, which is no surprise according to a recent article written by Scott Campbell at ChannelWeb, entitled "Study: MSPs Bucking Poor Economy", http://www.crn.com/managed-services/212902884.  The article states, "Managed service providers expect their revenue to increase by 20 percent over the next 12 months, according to a new study by research firm AMI-Partners. The study found that MSPs are being spared the impact of the downturn, and in fact may owe some success to the economy, as more businesses look to streamline IT costs through managed services."

So when it's all said and done, alphabet soup isn't where the money is... it's in the services that the SMBs are looking for.... And did I mention that AcXess uses Citrix products to power their hosted infrastructure.  Yep, they do!

The web apps are coming, the web apps are coming!  This has been the mantra in the Internet space for years now.  And the truth of the matter is that yes, the web apps are coming.  In fact, there are hundreds, if not thousands already deployed.  Many of which were designed specifically for browser based technology and are used by the masses every day.  YouTube, Facebook, and MySpace are entrenched as the debutants of social networking with applications like Twitter on the quick road to mass adoption.  In the business world, Saleforce.com is the clear leader in CRM while products like Microsoft Live, Cisco TelePresence and Citrix Online top the list for web conferencing and team collaboration.

And then there are those applications that have a dedicated connection to their original designs which are not browser based.  Intuit and SAP are two companies that come to mind. Giants in their own right, they have yet to cross the chasm from Operating System dependency to fully web enabled delivery.  To be sure, both of these companies have products in the browser space, but the bulk of their revenues still come from non web enabled applications.  The challenge for these companies (and hundreds like them) as well as the opportunity is in their ability to quickly expand their license penetration and hold the cost of doing business down.  Enter Virtualization and subscription services.

Citrix is the best kept secret in the web space from a software delivery perspective.  Many ISVs don't think to offer their products through Citrix server based computing technology mainly because there is no association between what SBC is and how an ISV sells to their customer.  Or at least that has been the problem in the past.  Now, Amazon is creating the Elastic Compute Cloud (or EC2) and the ability to offer data center functionality using the utility company model.  Pay as you go and only pay for as much (data center) as you use.  So imagine taking an existing model today for data centralization in the large enterprise, transfer the architecture to an uber-data center in the Cloud and offer software applications through a (virtually) secure, (virtually) redundant network.  And voila, a new age is born in which any here-to-for O/S dependant applications can be run on any desktop in any location by simply using a virtual environment to get it there.  Sounds pretty futuristic, huh?  Well, it is and it isn't.  It's futuristic in the sense that it hasn't been proven from a mass adoption perspective.  But then again, thirty years ago no one ever imagined driving down the road with a wireless connection to a head set which allowed voice communications (aka the cell phone) to emerge as a mass market delivery network either.

But what about today?  Is it possible to host applications that are not web based and serve them up to a mass market?  Wanna know another well kept secret?  The answer is YES.  If you don't believe me just take a look at the following web site, http://www.microsoft.com/hosting/findahostingprovider.mspx. In here you will see that Microsoft has not only embraced the concept of hosting applications that were not originally designed for web delivery, but support an entire network of hosting providers who generate income from these services.  What's even more surprising is they have been doing it for over 7 years... long before the term Software as a Service was dreamed up.

And are there really hosted service providers providing Software as a Service outside of the Salesforce.com hype?  Yep!  They are right in your backyard most of the time.  In fact several of them are already a part of the Citrix Partner Program and the focus of their business is in hosting applications.  One in particular, a company called Nasstar ( http://www.nasstar.com/) is taking the concept to the next level in the way in which they offer up an application delivery model to the SMB.  Charles Black, CEO of Nasstar had a vision that the mass market SMB would not only accept this paradigm of subscription based software applications, but would generate enough revenue to substantiate an ongoing business concern.  That was five years ago.  Now Nasstar is thriving and growing the business of subscription based software delivery (or SaaS) utilizing products like XenApp in their infrastructure.  I had a call with Charles today and he underscored the SaaS model saying, "Citrix is indeed a pioneer in this space.  [Our approach is] Citrix powered desktop and application delivery for the SMB and XenApp is the delivery platform." Futuristic?  Not anymore.

Software as a Service.  Sounds like it would be a pretty easy concept to understand.  But when we look under the hood we find that there are three differing perspectives. 

At a hundred thousand feet SaaS is a buzz word for Wall Street and investors to get excited over.  It is the intersection of off premise hardware managed by others at a location (either virtual or physical) with dedicated resources which may also be a part of the larger Internet Cloud which combines Web Hosting with shared applications.  Wow!  That's a mouthful.  No wonder so many tech savvy analysts are so excited about it.  There are enough "high hit" Google terms there to start a search engine frenzy.

The investment community represents the first of three perspectives for SaaS.  Trying to predict what the future will hold and which companies have the technology to capture more customer wallet share in the ever growing information age.  The view from this perspective is about the value of software.  Specifically will software continue to hold its value and thus hold up the value of those Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) who produce it?

The second perspective is that of the software industry itself.  The opportunity is with those software companies who are blessed with no legacy code and have built their product for a distribution that takes advantage of the open Internet.  From this perspective the sky is the limit and exposure or awareness of the product is the key to attracting revenues from the mass market.  On the other hand ISVs who have invested millions of dollars in their code base and it has evolved from dedicated operating systems are not so lucky.  From their perspective SaaS could be the next crushing blow that renders their code obsolete.

Lastly we have to look at the guy who pays the bill.  The end user and for the purpose of this article, I'm going to limit that to the small and medium business.  After all, if the SMB actually makes up 80% of the total number of end points in the world, one would think that this is the most important segment to address, right?  From their perspective, SaaS doesn't matter.  All they want to know is, "how am I going to get my software applications running without an IT staff or with limited IT capabilities".  In fact if Geek Squad could figure out a way to supply physical services to every small business in the universe and manage applications on-the-fly, this would be the definition an SMB would use for Software as a Service.

If we start from the guy who pays the bills, the world of SaaS looks something like this.  A simple, secure and cost effective way to access applications and data from any device in any location.  Some ISVs understand this definition and are becoming wildly successful, because they understand the first order of business is satisfying the end customer's needs.  After all, he is paying the bill.  In the world of communication and collaboration we see products such as GoToMeeting and Microsoft Live.  The hard truth is that these products sell the best by circumventing the current IT professionals.  They are completely end user focused, have a specific use and are easily accessed from any device in any location.  In the world of Customer Relationship Management, Salesforce.com is the 800 lb gorilla.  Once again, simple to use and accessible.

But what of the thousands of applications that were built specifically for the desktop or dedicated server Operating Systems?  Are these guys just out of luck?  Will the millions of users who currently use these products suddenly stop and go to their web application cousin created by these new and emerging software vendors?  Maybe.  Eventually.  But not tomorrow.  Not in a year and maybe not for the next 5-10 years.  There are a hundred reasons why this is true.  The most compelling is risk and reliability.  The mass market by definition is not a part of early adoption.  In fact, according to Geoffrey Moore, we have an entire chasm to cross before there is mass market adoption of something as disruptive as a web app only business model.  If this were not the case, Google would be the name on your phone bill today instead of AT&T, everyone would be driving a Prius and Cable TV would have been killed by IPTV.  But these things take time and what is needed is a way to bridge the gap.

Most people in the IT industry don't think of Citrix as a mass market product company.  And since SaaS is typically associated with the mass market, don't think of Citrix playing well in this space.  That's because we have spent the bulk of our sales expertise and adoption in the large enterprise market.  Why?  Because it has taken 20 years to cross the chasm of server based computing for the mass market.  But what most people don't realize is that Citrix started out by creating products designed for low bandwidth, high latency, and low power CPU environments.  These are the basic tenants of the mass market.  Our core product, XenApp has only been enhanced for these tenants over the past 20 years.  That's why we have deployments of up to 50,000 end points within our current customer base.  No one else in the world has this type of delivery system to match the needs of the end user in the mass market for the thousands of applications that are not web based.  So as ISVs continue to look at the mounting problem of servicing the end customer in the SMB segment, Citrix will provide a simple, elegant solution to the perspective of the guy who is paying the bill... A simple, secure and cost effective way to access applications and data from any device in any location.

I wouldn't be surprised if Citrix is seen in a new light over the next couple of years.  After all, we can bridge the gap that crosses the chasm.

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According to Wikipedia a Cloud is "A visible mass of droplets or frozen crystals floating in the atmosphere above the surface of the Earth". It is amorphous and very loosely structured. A Cloud has no specific strength, organization or output. A hurricane on the other hand is "a storm system characterized by a low pressure center and numerous thunderstorms that produce strong winds and flooding rain". A hurricane is organized, has form, purpose and an outcome. The center or eye of the hurricane is where the system is the most powerful and at the same time the calmest portion of the system.

Cloud Computing is interestingly fraught with the same issues of its vapor filled synonym. It is amorphous and lacks specific direction from a business perspective. It promises a world of flexibility and responsiveness, but little is said about its' form, organization, power and ability to generate an outcome, namely productivity and efficiency for revenue generation. Cloud Computing has been given an inordinate amount of power through press and hype, as though it were in fact a hurricane and not just a formless blob of vapor. But if it is truly a hurricane, what form does it have, what direction is it going and where is its power center? Who will pay for the "Cloud"? What is the model that produces enough inertia to keep it going and make money with it? The answer is simple. Applications!

What most experts neglect to write about in the dawning of this new age called Cloud Computing is its distant and ugly cousin, Applications Services. Why? Because it is so painful to recall the disastrous outcomes of the ASPs of 1999-2000. But if we don't scrutinize and learn from the past, how will we succeed by simply changing the taxonomy. The revenue generating end of the Cloud is applications and Software as a Service is the platform by which these applications will be delivered.

So much has changed since the Application Services model first came on the scene 10 years ago. Bandwidth is cheaper, web applications have evolved (or have they?), security is much better, and the virtualization of data centers is becoming common place. Hosting providers have become much savvier and have carved niches out to produce revenues. How? Through the efficient delivery of applications or Software as a Service. The golden child in this space is Salesforce.com for CRM, but what about the 2,000+ hosting providers in North America alone who service the SMB? In many cases these hosting providers supply the same applications that failed so miserably in 2000. What's changed? A model that now allows flexibility of application delivery to the end point in a secure, efficient way AND a mass of customers willing to pay for it.

So if SaaS is a growing market (most analysts believe it is now $3-5 Billion for the SMB with a CAGR of 20 %+), where is all of this money coming from? In this current economy Small and Mid-sized companies are looking for every possible way to save a buck. They are using SaaS to minimize operating expenses that used to be a part of their every day processes. But even in the best of economic times, using SaaS provides a huge amount of flexibility and is great for cash flow. In one survey, over 70% of the SMB respondents reported SaaS is helping them to lower overall costs and increasing their speed of implementation and delivery of applications. These are two killer assets especially given the current economic situation. No wonder this is a growth market in a declining economy.

Citrix is addressing the entire spectrum of the Cloud. From Infrastructure as a Service (XenServer) to Desktop as a Service (XenDesktop) through application delivery providing Software as a Service (XenApp). This approach goes beyond theory to the basic elements of revenue generation. The very core technology of XenApp, for instance, is based on the concept that software should be 'delivered' as a service, not deployed. As the market continues to evolve, Citrix will emerge as a leader in this space because we had it in mind twenty years ago when we began to evolve server based computing.

The hurricane is where Citrix is focused, not just the Cloud and we already have the technology to power a significant revenue generating engine for which service providers will gain efficiency and bottom line cost savings. Citrix XenApp provides the infrastructure for Hosting Service Providers to more efficiently generate revenues from the delivery of applications... in the eye of the "Cloud" storm.

This is the first in a series of topics regarding Software as a Service and the growing need to develop virtual application delivery platforms to meet the demand of this quickly growing market place. Topics include 'SaaS - What is it really?', 'Is there room for Virtualization of applications in the Cloud', 'Are all Hosting/Managed Services Providers the same?', 'Web Apps - Are they universal?', 'Is SaaS for Hosted/Managed Services Providers or for ISVs?', 'What is the role of an SI in SaaS', 'Where are the Telcos?', 'What is Citrix doing in SaaS?'

Key contributors to this series will include Brad Pedersen (Chief Architect and Senior Fellow), Juliano Maldaner (Senior Architect), David Wagner (Principal Product Manager) and Kurt Moody (Senior Manager).

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Wanting to eat our own dog food and wash it down with a big tumbler of kool-aid, my team recently held a meeting of nationally dispersed attendees and used the GoToMeeting VoIP features. I'm not kidding when I say I haven't heard that much reverb, distortion and echo since the last time I listened to "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn." As our first attempt, we spent quite a bit of time complaining to each other about the sound quality and asking each other to place our devices on mute. By the way, did you know that the default setting in the GoToMeeting preferences is to always save chat logs? The following is an extract of the recorded GoToMeeting chat that occurred. Names have been changed to protect the innocent.

B (to All - Entire Audience): the voice quality is terrible
K (to All - Entire Audience): you have a lot of reverb and I can't understand what you're saying
R (to All - Entire Audience): can someone mute their mic
R (to All - Entire Audience): massive echo
V (to All - Entire Audience): Click on the green mic icon and you can mute it
B (to All - Entire Audience): cant understand a word this other speaker is saying

I don't have specific stats yet as to how many people were on "regular" phones vs. using computer mics, but judging on the icons in the attendee list it was a nice enough mix of what one would probably reasonably encounter in this scenario at other companies.

Now, I'm used to using our stuff before it's released and dealing with the intricacies of things that don't quite work yet, but in this case it's not the application - it's the settings. In this case it's just a matter of understanding that one-size does not always fit all. Turns out if we had done a little pre-meeting training and all made some quick and easy settings adjustments to our individual GoToMeeting installations, we could have had a much more satisfactory experience.

When in doubt, read the friendly manual

If you've experienced similar issues or haven't tried this feature yet, there's a good article in the GoToMeeting online help to mitigate this -

GoToMeeting VoIP Audio Best Practices

First, what device are you planning to use? Check out the chart in the link above for recommendations. A USB headset connected to your computer will offer the best quality experience, while using your laptop's built-in microphone and speakers will give you a poor experience, especially if your mic is picking up what's coming out of your speakers - echo city.

And here's an additional excerpt that may help:
VoIP Audio Setup - PC

1. Right-click the GTM icon in the PC system tray and select Preferences.
2. Select Audio.
   Microphone Setup - It is recommended that you test your microphone. To test, select your microphone device from the drop-down menu and speak into your microphone; if it is connected correctly, the sound meter will light up green. If the green meter does not light up, select another device listed in the drop-down menu and repeat this test.
   Speakers Setup - It is recommended that you test your speakers. To test, select your speaker device from the drop-down menu and click Play Sound; if connected correctly, you will see the sound meter light up green and hear a soundtrack through your speaker device. If you do not hear sound after clicking Play Sound, select another device listed in the drop-down menu and repeat this test.
   Advanced - GoToMeeting automatically adjusts audio levels. We recommend you keep this checked. If you uncheck this selection, you must manually configure your audio settings through Windows Sounds and Audio Devices. If your attendees can't understand you because your voice is distorted, try unchecking "Microphone boost."
3. Click OK.
   
   

I strongly recommend that you read the rest of this article, consider using a USB headset and adjust your microphone and speakers settings before joining your next GoToMeeting VoIP call for a much better experience.

If all else fails, the meeting organizer can mute/unmute all participants by selecting *5

Have a happy meeting!

Citrix Online is going to host a series of three training webinars on GoToAssist Express, register to attend one of the following:

Tuesday, July 15 at 11 AM PDT
Click here to register

Wednesday, July 23 at 4 PM PDT
Click here to register

Thursday, July 31 at 9 AM PDT
Click here to register

During each of these Webinars, they will hold a drawing for a pocket camcorder, here are the details:
- 5.0 Megapixel Video Pocket Camcorder Value: $175
- DXG-567V HD
- 1280 x 720 Video Pocket Camcorder
- Flip USB Connector

Citrix Online is releasing updated versions of its popular GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar conferencing software with complete support for the Mac, and integrated VOIP and telephone audio capability.

Due to the sharp increase in Mac use among customers, Citrix Online decided the "time was right" to create OS X-native versions of both programs.

Kineon Walker, Citrix Online Product Marketing Manager said in an interview with MacNN that our main customers – smaller businesses – have been more willing to embrace the Mac than larger firms that have huge investments in other computing platforms. Although earlier versions of GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar allowed Mac users to participate in conferences, the new editions allow them host meetings and have the same features as their Windows counterparts.

The integration of VOIP and audio eliminates a major hassle for conferences where some users connect via the Web, while others dial in over traditional telephone lines. Until now, conference moderators had to come up with a way to patch both sets of users together, usually by trying to hold a telephone while using a computer headset at the same time. Kineon says that feature and others are part of a strategy to make both products simple to use, especially for smaller companies with limited IT budgets.

GoToMeeting is designed for smaller conferences and impromptu meetings while GoToWebinar supports presentations to audiences of up to 1000 people. Users can present information, demonstrate products or conduct training using Keynote, PowerPoint, text documents, pictures and other material. Although the company does not directly support it, Citrix says many users also use video in their presentations. GoToWebinar includes tools that allow presenters to monitor the audience, gather feedback and even help determine which participants are paying attention.

Web conferencing software is growing in popularity as business travel costs continue to rise. The product is also useful for "virtual companies" with telecommuting employees scattered across a wide area, and for schools that use the technology for online classes.

Citrix Online is continuing this popular free beta until later this year. However, beta users have asked Citrix how GoToAssist Express will be priced once the free beta ends.

After the free beta, GoToAssist Express will be priced as follows:
•Monthly Plan: $69 per month
•Annual Plan: $660 per year (Save 20% off the Monthly Plan!)
•Day Pass: $9.95 per 24-hour period

Plus, everyone (including beta testers) will be eligible for a 30-day free trial.

Beta users will receive a 30% discount - that's $48 a month or $462 a year.

Again, GoToAssist Express is still absolutely free for now, and these prices will not apply until the official launch of GoToAssist Express later this year. Citrix will give plenty of advance notice to users before ending the beta.

All plans will include:
•Unlimited product usage
•One-click session entry and remote diagnostics
•Live Chat and file transfer
•Session reporting (tracks billable hours)
•24/7 support and unlimited product upgrades

Monthly and Annual Plans will include the ability to set up Unattended Support on an unlimited number of client computers. Day Passes do not include Unattended Support capability.

If you have any questions you can also contact the GoToAssist Express team on: 1-888-521-0542 or customercare@gotoassistexpress.com

In the mean time check out: GoToAssistExpress.com and sign-up for the free beta.

cheers,
Gus

From: blog.gotoassist.com

Here is a video of Nat Kunes, Product Manager for GoToAssist Express, doing a product demo. If you would like to learn more about individual features, you can sign up for one of our GoToWebinar trainings - we usually send out email invites two weeks ahead of time.

If you would like to comment on this post, please log in to the Beta Forum at forums.gotoassist.com.

GoToAssist Express Beta was just updated to a new version, the current build is now 8.0, and there are some new features addded and bug fixes included in this release.

New features that were just added to the product are: 

Notes - You can now take notes during a session and have them saved for reporting purposes.

Reverse Screen Sharing - An expert can now share their screen with their customer.

Performance Improvements - We added a lot of performance improvements which should be noticeable right away.

Performace Settings - We added the ability to change your performance settings for optimal screen refresh rates.

Bug Fixes - As always, we fixed a lot of bugs. As beta testers, your feedback on these has been extremely valuable!

More features are coming soon and will posted on the blog, so keep checking back!

Continue at Source: GoToAssist Express Beta Blog

Here I am minding of my own business listening to some online radio while getting some work done, and BAM!

Leo Laporte starts "talking to me" about GoToMeeting.

    
 
 
Listen here to Leo's GoToMeeting Radio Comercial

Sing-up to GoToMeeting Free for 30-days!

Cheers,
Gus

You are invited to join us for a training Webinar on Wednesday, April 30, 2008. Come and learn how to use GoToAssist Express and see how it can benefit your business.

Attend this one-hour training session and find out how to:

• Quickly launch remote-support sessions with both PC and Mac users.
• Use key GoToAssist Express features such as Chat and File Transfer.
• Provide unattended remote support (work when your customers are away from their computers).

Title: GoToAssist Express New User Training

Date: Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Time: 10 AM PDT (1 PM EDT)

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www.gotomeeting.com/register/816176572

Here is great summary and videos on how to integrate with GoToAssist/GoToMeeting/GoToMyPC SDKs from Terry Holland (Sr. Manager of Integration Services, Citrix Online division).

GoToAssist Integration Presentation Available for Viewing:
The following recorded presentation describes all the techniques for integrating GoToAssist. Topics include how to automate the launch of a GoToAssist session for end users, how to streamline support agents' tasks and how to integrate and locally save session data. After the general overview (20 min), there is a section on how to approach integration with a CRM system (10 min) and a final section on the out-of-box Database Integration (10 min). Total viewing time is 40 min.
https://www.gotomeeting.com/register/334585120

GoToAssist Integration Services Website:
http://www.gotoassist.com/intServices.html

GoToMeeting Corporate Integration Presentation Available for Viewing:
The following recorded presentation describes all the techniques for integrating GoToMeeting Corporate. Topics include an overview of integration options, the Organizer API and the Administrator/Reporting API. The presentation also includes some examples. Total viewing time is 20 mins.
https://www.gotomeeting.com/register/605056742

GoToMeeting Corporate Integration Services Website:
https://www.gotomeeting.com/pre/corp/integration.tmpl

GoToMyPC Corporate Integration Presentation Available for Viewing:
The following recorded presentation describes all the techniques for integrating GoToMyPC Corporate. Topics include an overview of integration options, the out-of-box Provisioning Tool, the Administrator API and the Reporting API. Total viewing time is 20 mins.
https://www.gotomeeting.com/register/295522528

GoToMyPC Corporate Integration Services Website:
https://www.gotomypc.com/corp/integration.html

Please leave us feedback on our Citrix online SDKs.
Thanks

If you don't know, GoToAssist is Citrix's web-hosted solution for Remote Support and as they are getting ready to release the express version of the product, they have invited everyone to join their beta program.

Beta testers will get unlimited free use of GoToAssist Express Beta in exchange for tracking bugs, making feature requests and sharing their opinions on the product.I have taken a few screenshots to let you drool all over them...  

Now pick up your jaw off the floor and create an account to start using it today!

Sign-up here: https://express.gotoassist.com/

On a site note, I found out that the guys from GoToAssist have a slick blog separate from the official Citrix community site.  

Check it out: http://blog.gotoassist.com/

regards,
Gus Pinto - Technology Evangelist
Microsoft MVP | Gus.Pinto@citrix.com

I bet you think I'm going to talk about GoToMeeting or our old friend, Conferencing Manager. I could, but I won't. I'll leave that to others more experienced in that tech talk.

No, I'm talking about good old-fashioned people. People, people who need people,... OK, I digress (probably due to my need for lunch right now.). I think sometimes in our focus on getting our projects or software out the door, we forget how beneficial our networks can be. Yes, LinkedIn and other sites are great (Hey, I'm on LinkedIn myself), but face-to-face often wins out.

For example, I attended an industry conference in Q3 2006. When I transferred to Web Services in April 2007, I reached out to other attendees I had spoken to at that conference for help with one of my projects. Although the people I contacted hadn't heard from me in almost six months and didn't have the knowledge to help me, they took the time to ask their coworkers to help. Eventually I spoke to a peer I'd never met before who had a wealth of knowledge to share. She offered to present her team's approach to the issue and so I was able to share their perspectives and processes with my team (using GoToMeeting , of course). By the way, I have to say that team was from Microsoft , - so you won't catch me badmouthing them, even without our other "strategic partnerships".

Today I got the chance to do something similar. A past Citrite contacted me about a project she is working on. Since the technical details were outside my range of experience, I asked a member of the Web Services team if he could help. Lo and behold, we met today (again with GoToMeeting) - my coworker, myself, the past Citrite, and her manager. We greeted, we chatted, we outlined, we discussed, and when we were done, they thanked us very much for our help and offered to return the favor if needed. Now, our meeting today may not lead to earthshattering changes in technologies or wow anyone (although I have great hopes for their gift that's "in the mail"), but the time saved in a one-hour meeting vs. trying to figure it out on your own over weeks (or even months) can never be denied. And yes, I feel better. And I know my ex-Citrite friend feels a whole lot better.

So, in our world of technology, blogs and wikis nonwithstanding, we need to remember that networking and collaboration sometimes mean something different. And I hope all Citrites, past, present, and future are examples of that.