One of the many great speakers at Geek Speak Live! (see James Rabey's post for the lineup) is Russ Daniels, HP CTO for Cloud Services Strategy. Russ Daniels was previously the CTO for HP Software, before moving into this new role last year.

In 2006, Infoworld named Russ Daniels a part of its Infoworld CTO 25.

According to his bio, "Daniels speaks widely at conferences and works closely with key HP partners and its largest and most demanding enterprise customers. Daniels has more than 25 years of industry experience specializing in software architecture, enterprise management, and software development methodologies. Prior to joining HP, he spent 15 years at Apple Computer. He has a bachelor's degree from Ohio University."

Daniels is a highly sought after speaker at technology conferences. Russ Daniels participated in a "fireside chat" at Mobile 2.0 in San Francisco last year. You can read the transcript here. He also participated in MIT's CIO Symposium in 2006 in a discussion of Software as a service. You can listen to a podcast of this discussion here

If you have not yet registered for Citrix Synergy, you can click here to to complete your registration. I look forward to seeing you at Synergy and Geek Speak Live!.

It is time to start taking votes for the best XenDesktop Video Tip. The creators of the top three video tips will receive prizes including an Apple iPod Touch 16 G, an Apple iPod Touch 8 GB, and a Apple iPod Nano.

Here are the XenDesktop Video Tips -

XenDesktop User Experience Comparison

VDI Made as Easy as Pie

XenDesktop User Personalization with AppSense

20 Desktops Delivered in 2 Minutes

XenDesktop with SC VMM and Hyper V

XenDesktop from Germany

Voting Now Closed

Voting will remain open until next Friday, May 16th.

We now have fourteen of the twenty sessions at the Geek Speak BarCamp filled (read background on Geek Speak BarCamp here, here and here).

I have put together a tentative schedule of the sessions we have to date. The sessions, title, and schedule could still change, but the overall schedule is coming together.

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We are still working to fill the final six slots. Please submit your session topic now. You can use the comments in this thread, or you can email me at citrixblogger @citrix.com . You can also IM questions to citrixblogger on MSN, Yahoo and Google Talk.

If you have not yet registered for Synergy, you can click here to to complete your registration. I look forward to seeing you at Synergy and the Geek Speak BarCamp.

We now have twelve of the twenty sessions at the Geek Speak BarCamp filled (read background on Geek Speak BarCamp here, here and here).

1. Virtualization Defined - Joe Shonk

2. The Stress of IT - Jim Kenzig

3. Virtualization Oriented Architecture over VDI - Jaymes Davis

4. What is High Availability - Michael Bilancieri

5. Ultra Mobile Gadget Tech - Adam Marano

6. HP Print Drivers in a Citrix Environment - Robert Tuft

7. Citrix WorkFlow Studio Examples - Vishal Ganeriwala

8. Fifteen Years with Citrix - Steve Greenberg

9. Web Interface Internals - Jason Conger

10. Provisioning Best Practices - Pete Downing

11. Performance Matters on the Edge - Tim Mackey

12. Server Virtualization Best Practices - Peter Blum

Geek Speak BarCamp has twelve tech sessions so far to go along with the nine industry experts speaking at GeekSpeak Live. There is also the long list of technical sessions in the iForum and Application Delivery tracks.

We are still working to fill the final eight slots. Please submit your session topic now. You can use the comments in this thread, or you can email me at citrixblogger @citrix.com . You can also IM questions to citrixblogger on MSN, Yahoo and Google Talk.

If you have not yet registered for Synergy, you can click here to to complete your registration. I look forward to seeing you at Synergy and the Geek Speak BarCamp.

I think this is the most useful post ever for Citrix admins!

Seriously it has always been hard for me to find where and what are the latest hotfixes for the Citrix products... but this picture has changed.

With the new revision of Citrix's Support site (support.citrix.com), now it's easier to find  the latest fixes and patchs for your Citrix products.

Here's the list:

Presentation Server 4.5 for Windows Server 2003 - x86

Presentation Server 4.5 for Windows Server 2003 - x64

Presentation Server 4.0 for Windows Server 2003 - x86

Presentation Server 4.0 for Windows Server 2000 - x86

Access Gateway 4.5 Advanced Edition

Access Gateway 4.5 Standard Edition

Access Gateway 8.0 Enterprise Edition

Provisioning Server 4.5

Citrix NetScaler 8.0

Citrix NetScaler 7.0

Citrix WANScaler 4.x


Select the products you have, subcribe to its RSS feed and stay in-sync with all later patches and fixes for it.
This is wicked useful!

Cheers,
Gus Pinto

ADI stands for Application Delivery Infrastructure, the category of technologies used to deliver applications. Here you can find best practices, architectures, implementation guides, tools, tips and techniques not only for using Citrix products but for any technology and vendor involved in ADI.

The architecture of application delivery infrastructure centers on virtualization, optimization and management, and security technologies that interoperate and work with other IT infrastructure components to deliver the application from its inception in the datacenter to its consumption at the endpoint.

Continue to the ADI Community

Citrix AppExpert  is an online community dedicated to NetScaler users. This moderated community is the best place for conversations on how to get the most from your NetScaler deployment, including creative AppExpert policies, innovative configurations, integration with other infrastructure technologies and more

AppExpert represents a breakthrough in ease-of-use, developers occasionally need more programmatic ways to invoke policies or system settings as well. For these scenarios, AppExpert also provides powerful APIs that use industry-standard WSDL (web services description language). Using AppExpert APIs, external applications and systems can automatically modify any NetScaler system setting and any AppExpert policy.

Continue to the AppExpert Community

I have written previously on the great lineup keynote speakers for Synergy that includes best selling technology author Nicholas Carr, the versatile comedian Dana Carvey and the Senior Vice President from Microsoft Bob Muglia, along with an impressive line up of tech industry execs.

There is one keynote speaker I forgot to mention - Mark Templeton. Apparently he is the CEO of some software company .

Here is an video invite to Citrix Synergy from Mark Templeton, CEO of Citrix.

You can click here to register for Citrix Synergy.

Check out this video excerpt from Citrix Summit 08 of Citrix Delivery Center and its amazingly fast and easy provisioning of application workloads to virtual and physical servers. Presented by Pete Downing and Brad Peterson.

The lineup of technical session content as part of the Citrix Synergy conference in Houston is starting to come together. If you are a technical person looking to put together a business justification for your trip to Synergy, this post should help.

Below is the technical breakout session lineup for Synergy

On top of these 65 technical breakout sessions, there will be nine discussion sessions in GeekSpeak Live with session leaders including Citrix Technology Professionals like Doug Brown, Rick Dehlinger, Shawn Bass, and Jason Conger.
If that isn't enough, the Chief Software Architect from Citrix, Brad Petersen, popular virtualization blogger Tarry Singh, an HP CTO and a high level technical speaker from Intel will join us as well.

Pile on 20 more community led technical sessions as part of the GeekSpeak BarCamp(and you can still sign up to lead your own session at GeekSpeak BarCamp). That all adds up to 94 technical sessions at Synergy. This should go a long way towards helping you justify attending this year's event.

On top of all this technical content, there will be an IT 2.0 Business Symposium and multiple business sessions in the Application Delivery track. When combined with the industry heavyweight keynote speakers this should be the best Citrix conference yet.

You can click here to register for Citrix Synergy. I look forward to seeing you in Houston.

One of the new tracks at Citrix Synergy this year is Geek Speak. James Rabey blogged recently about the format of GeekSpeak Live at Synergy. A second part of the Geek Speak track is GeekSpeak BarCamp. I have blogged about this event at Synergy here and here.

This event is designed to allow any attendee to sign up to speak for 30 minutes on any technical topic. Geek Speak BarCamp will give the attendees at Citrix Synergy a new opportunity to contribute to the discussion and provide a much wider array of technical content. Pizza and drinks will be provided for those who attend. The Geek Speak Gadget Gear Lounge will be open during both Geek Speak Live! and the BarCamp as well.

This BarCamp event will follow immediately after Geek Speak Live on Wednesday, May 21st. We will have access to four sections of the Geek Speak room to host these sessions. Two of the rooms will have large LCD's screen (if you would like to show something from your laptop) and two of the rooms will be white board only. The only rules are no sales and marketing pitches or feature and benefits.

We are now taking submissions for topics. We have four speaking areas and five thirty minute blocks, for a total of twenty sessions. We have confirmed a few sessions speakers already, including Joe Shonk,Jim Kenzig and Jaymes Davis
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Please submit your session topic now. You can use the comments in this thread, or you can email me at citrixblogger @citrix.com . You can also IM questions to citrixblogger on MSN, Yahoo and Google Talk.

If you have not yet registered for Synergy, you can click here to to complete your registration. I look forward to seeing you at Synergy and the Geek Speak BarCamp.

The heavy hitters in technology are lining up to join the conversation at Citrix Synergy. You already heard about the best selling technology author Nicholas Carr, the versatile comedian Dana Carvey and the Senior Vice President from Microsoft Bob Muglia. The line up of intriguing keynote speakers does not stop there.

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Vishal Sikka Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
SAP

Scott Farrand Vice-President, ISS Software
HP

Roberto Moctezuma Vice President and GM, Desktop Solutions Global Business Unit
HP

Patrick P. Gelsinger Vice President and Co-General Manager, Digital Enterprise Group
INTEL Corporation

David Booth, President, Sales and Marketing
CSC
\

George Kurian VP/GM, Application Delivery Business
Cisco Systems, Inc.

The keynote lineup includes the CTO of SAP, a Senior Vice President of Microsoft, TWO VP's from HP, a VP from Intel, a VP from Cisco, a President from CSC AND a best selling IT author and a great comedian. This promises to be the best lineup of keynote speakers we have ever had at a Citrix event.

You can click here to register for Citrix Synergy. I look forward to seeing you in Houston next month.

Bob Muglia and Nicholas Carr are not the only headliners at Citrix Synergy this year. Dana Carveywill provide the entertainment on the final night.

(Pictures from DanaCarvey.net)

Dana Carvey is most well known for his work on Saturday Night Live and Wayne's World. After a botched open heart surgery in the late 90's, Carvey took some time off from his career and started a family.
Here are some great clips I found of Carvey on the web.

Garth Algar Highlights from Wayne's World

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You can find many more Dana Carvey videos on YouTube
. Some language on these videos is not safe for work or children.

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The SNL site on NBC.com has archives of some of Dana Carvey skits, including the hilarious "Hans and Franz".

SNL Videos - Dana Carvey
 

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You can click here to register for Citrix Synergy. I look forward to seeing many of you in Houston.

In an earlier post, I covered some of the background on one of the keynote speakers at Citrix Synergy, Nicholas Carr. Another major keynote speaker at Citrix Synergy is Bob Muglia, Senior Vice Preseident of Server and Tools Business at Microsoft.

Here is a bit about Bob Muglia from his official Bio on Microsoft.com -

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Here is a link to an interview I found with Bob Muglia on Technet Edge. In this interview, Bob admits to having NINE servers at his house.
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VP by Day - IT Pro by Night
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Steven Bink posted an interview with Bob Muglia last month on his site. Here are a few snippets -

Last year Bob Muglia did a video with Citrix in regards to the Windows 2008 Launch and our aquisistion of XenSource.

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(If you cannot see the video embedded, follow this link_._)

If you would like to see past examples of Bob Muglia keynote sessions, the Microsoft TechNet Spotlight site has three for you to watch
.

You can click here to register for Citrix Synergy. We look forward to seeing you in Houston.

One of the most intriguing keynote speakers at Citrix Synergy is Nicholas Carr. Carr became very well know in 2003 for his article "IT Doesn't Matter".

DOES IT MATTER?

Nicholas Carr poses this question in his 2004 book "Does IT Matter" , a follow up to his very controversial 2003 Harvard Business Review article - "IT Doesn't Matter". In this very controversial article and book, Carr argues that technology itself does not give you a competitive advantage and that IT should focus on risk management and cost management. Carr does admits in interviews that failure to keep up in the use of technology can put a company at a significant competitive disadvantage.

Carr's original article created alot of controversy within the IT industry. He has posted a thorough article that links to those who agree and strongly disagree with his thoughts on his website. You can find links to both sides of the discussion on this page. You can find an interview he did with ZDNet on this controversy below -

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(If you cannot view the video, you can see it at ZDnet's website)

Carr's most recent book is called "The Big Switch:Rewiring the World from Edison to Google". Carr's description of
"The Big Switch" is below -

Here is a short video interview Carr recently did for the Search Engine Strategies conference (in London) on this new book -

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Carr blogs about these topics and many more at is personal blog site - The Rough Type.
Finally, Carr created a short little video regarding his keynote at Citrix Synergy.

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Nicholas Carr provides a unique insight in the current state and future of IT. You can hear more from Nicholas Carr at Synergy.

I will be posting about other keynote speakers and sessions speakers later.

You can click here to register for Citrix Synergy.

In a previous post, I wrote about putting together a barcamp-like event after the GeekSpeak Live session on the second day of Citrix Synergy. We have approval now to extend GeekSpeak Live with these additional sessions. It looks like we will have one large space (up to 80 people) and five or so other small spaces for small discussions. We plan to have food (likely pizza, soft drinks and beer) and shirts for all attendees. We hope to have at least four 30-40 minute blocks for sessions, which means 20 or more sessions.

Now, we need session speakers. Anyone can sign up who is attending the Synergy event. You can speak about any IT topic you would like. The only rules are it must be an in depth technical topic (not a product or marketing pitch). This is open to attendees, customers, alliances partners, resellers, Citrix Technology Professionals and Citrix employees. Any one attending the Citrix Synergy event is eligible to speak and attend.

I am working with Vishal Ganeriwala (who runs the CDN) to create a wiki page for session sign up. Once we have the schedule finalized, we will post the new wiki page and the speaker sign up. If you have an idea for a topic but do not feel comfortable presenting it yourself, please post it in the comments or email me at citrixblogger @ citrix.com . We will post any topics ideas we receive on the wiki (once it is up) and here on the Official Citrix Blog.

The goal for GeekSpeak Live is to get a wider range of technical topics and to give you the chance to participate in creating the content for the event. Share your experiences and lessons learned with everyone at GeekSpeak, and we can all learn something new and useful.

You can click here to register for Citrix Synergy.

This page contains links to all current Citrix products documentation, you can literaly get to it with 1 or 2 clicks!

Forget about searching, bookmark this address:

http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX116089

Find and meet up with other Citrix Technology Professionals like yourself who are interested in personal collaboration, creating a Citrix Community, or hosting a Citrix User Group.

MeetUp is a site dedicated to getting people to meet. How does it work? You have an interest, Citrix, find a local group, and meet up with people who share in your interest of Citrix. You can either start a meet up or you can find people who have started a meet up in your area or the world if you wish.

You can also go to http://citrix.meetup.com to Find Citrix Users and Citrix MeetUps near you...

Here is a map showing meet up possibilities for Citrix

Here is a list of areas to choose meet up possibilities from by City for Citrix

Here is a user in Bedford, MA, USA who is looking for a Citrix MeetUp

I would love for everyone to be able to attend Citrix Synergy, Citrix Geek Speak, and Citrix BarCamp, but I also know that this is not always possible for many reasons. If you are one who cannot attend, don't think that because you can't go that you can't be a part of it all. It is you and the many other great Citrix Technology Professionals who make this industry the greatest one to be a part of. You can now find other Citrix Technology Professionals wishing to MeetUp and start your own TechTalk, GeekSpeak, or BarCamp in which you and your peers can pick the topics and agenda, and who knows maybe we can grow the Citrix Community in many new directions we never thought possible.

Here is a list of links to some upcoming Citrix Community Events:

Citrix Synergy
Geek Speak at Citrix Synergy
BarCamp at Geek Speak

Here is a list of Citrix Community sites:

Citrix Community
Citrix Community Blogs
Citrix Community Forums
Citrix Developer Forums Citrix Support Forums
Frameworkx Community Blogs

First of all, I feel compelled to introduce to all of you the CTP Award as many in this industry and even other Citrix employees don't know about this award given to exceptional professionals who excel on sharing knowledge freely about Citrix products and solutions.

What's the Citrix Technology Professional Award?

Citrix recognize and awards the most active and recognized individuals in the industry. Citrix presents the CTP Award to thank individuals for their exceptional contributions to technical communities worldwide. CTPs are active in the technical community, whether in a newsgroup, as a user group host, a conference speaker, or a respondent in forums, all users can be confident that the information shared by a CTP will be of the highest caliber and will help every user make the most of the technology.

Citrix also benefits from engaging with CTPs through conferences, conference calls, CTP Summit, and other events. CTPs share with Citrix their independent, real-world feedback with us, therefore helping Citrix better understand users' needs, improve current products, and develop future technology.

Who Are the CTPs?

Most in this list are personal friends of mine and I have to say I'm proud to be part of this industry, and sure enough they all deserve our thank you and admiration.

Keep up the good work guys!

See y'all in Seattle next week!

Cheers,
Gus Pinto

Some of you may be familiar with the BarCamp concept. BarCamps are "user generated conferences — open, participatory workshop-events, whose content is provided by participants".


BarCamp.org is a great site for background on this concept. You can find the "rules of BarCamps" below.

If you are familiar with the concept of BarCamps, you know that most of them are focused on web development. There have been a few BarCamps on IT in general, investing, self help and other topics. This is just a great way to get people together to talk tech. Since so many of us are going to be at Synergy anyway, I thought this would be a great way to get together to hear from a broad range of people on a wide variety of tech topics.

Here is a video from the first BarCamp in Orlando last year -

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Geek Speak Live is a part of Synergy for the first time this year. Geek Speak will span all three days of the Synergy event, and have discussions lead by several of the Citrix Technology Professionals and other industry technologists. (James Rabey blogged about Geek Speak Live here) The goal is to extend Geek Speak Live to include community generated content and discussions with this "mini-BarCamp".


We are working on a plan to hold a "mini-BarCamp" immediately after the Geek Speak Live session on the second night of Citrix Synergy. We will set up a page (probably on CDN) that lists the speaking slots where you can sign up for a slot. Some BarCamps only allow sign up for the session slots on the day of the event, while others allow sign up on a wiki before the event begins. We are going to stick with the Wiki for this first one to give those who participate a chance to plan ahead.

The goal for this is to give the technical audience at Synergy a chance to get together to discuss whatever technical content most interests you. No marketing slides, no features and benefits, just hard core technical discussions about any IT topic that interests you and the attendees. You can run a white board discussion, present a technical presentation on your latest project, or show a demo of your newest creation with an SDK. Anyone can sign up for a slot. You may be an IT admin, a technology consultant, a Citrix technical employee, a technical employee of a Citrix partner (or competitor), or a student who loves technology and wants to share it. We do not yet know how many speaking slots there will be (that depends on the room and amount of time we get).

Once we get final approval to use some rooms at the convention center where Synergy is hosted, we will be putting together a committee to run the mini-"BarCamp" event. This committee will include both Citrix employees and members of the community. We will need volunteers to help with coordination of the event on site, food and drink setup and live blogging and video of the sessions. We are also working on setting up a network gaming area in the lounge for use after the event concludes later in the evening.

As I have stated before on this blog, feedback is the Breakfast of Champions. If you have any thoughts on this event, please post them in the comments or send me an email at citrixblogger @ citrix . com (just remove the spaces).

You can click here to register for Citrix Synergy.