Chris,

Thanks for getting this discussion going. As you said, this really is a question of priority. There is a big difference between whether we could or should deliver XenApp applications to an iPhone. Every additional platform we support drives overhead and makes the road ahead ever more complex to navigate. For those of you who think you would enable this for your business we would love to hear as much detail as possible about what types of users, applications and business needs you would be planning to serve.

Cheers

Al-

Chris,

Could you also post this on Street Smart and Customer Community?

Marcus

Citrix also need to look at other mobile devices from other companies.

Chris,
THis is awesome! I love the fact that enterprises are finally starting to embrace the Mac OS and the devices that utilize it. As the Mac Guy, I get these requests all of the time and see a definite growth there TF

we all want it for sure, we are physician residents and most of us want it so that we can see patient labs and investigations or otherwise one has to carry an extra PDA

Nishith singh

i mean citirx to be able to run on iphone

Nishith

We were just talking about how this would be very useful at work. Many clients...

It seems like the number of iphone users doesn´t acomplish the money requirements for apple to deploy a iphone citrix-client.

 Need to be Patient...SDK is in the streets

This is interesting... http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/soa/Photos-iPhone-running-Windows-XP/0,130061733,339289801,00.htm?omnRef=1337 Sounds like Citrix is already on this..?!?

mark templeton did a demo during the closing keynote of last year's iforum. is is possible to view that video?

When is Citrix releasing a client for the Iphone. the mobile market would explode. . Especially for us in the Healthcare business.

Gimme Gimme Gimme !

This would be extremely useful for us sysadmins on the go! Of course it's one more option to support, but people using this on their iPhone are tech savvy enough to be able to troubleshoot their own problems anyway. I hope this is also available on iPod touch.

I citrix client for iphone would be a great addition. In our hospital it would be a pervasive app that would replace the blackberry. Do it and do it quickly.

Thanks for all the feedback. We are listening...

It's interesting to see the comments about heathcare, I noticed that Epocrates just announced an iPhone app. This will dramatically increase the interest in the iPhone as a healthcare solution as well.   

Citrix for iPhone is a killer app in the healthcare industry. With EMRs like Epic, Cerner, and CPRS served over Citrix ICA (2 of 3 hospitals in my training program are using Citrix right now), and with WiFi becoming more pervasive, Citrix for iPhone will have the power to transform hospital medicine. My former program had a web-based EMR and the ability to look up data on the iPhone made rounds go tremendously more efficiently. This should be a very high priority for the Citrix development team.

MD, Palo Alto

I'm an IT professional who's on-call 50% of the year. I would love to connect up, run a telnet session into a server and get my business done without a laptop. Please make this happen!

I'm a surgery resident training at an institution that uses Citrix at all 3 of it's hospitals. I just got the iPhone 3G today and would definitely use the Citrix client on a daily basis. (I use Citrix at home on my mac currently to connect to Cerner.) I've already downloaded Epocrates and Netter's anatomy app and am waiting for more medical-relevant apps to be developed.

With the new SDK, the iPhone's potential in the professional world is endless!

Please make this a top priority as many of my colleagues are in the process of buying new iPhones.

Thanks!

This is why I don't care much about client-side virtualization. Even though the possibilities offered by disconnected applications are alluring, they come with a huge downside, Windows-only clients.

 The iPhone offers a rich application environment, putting a solid Citrix client on it should be an easy win.

There is an interesting debate over on Brian Madden's site on this current topic. Mostly positive with a few naysayers ..

http://www.brianmadden.com/blog/BrianMadden/Citrix-ICA-client-for-the-iPhone-Would-you-care

I want a Citrix iphone client!

The iphone client would be a tremendous boost to productivity from ANYWHERE.  Just as mobile email has enabled people to be connected (for good or bad) to the office 24/7, an iphone client would provide the same functionality for application and data access.

Mobile email is not perfect.  It does not offer all the flexibility, usefulness, or capabilities as sitting in front of a desktop and banging out a 3 page novel to your boss.  But most people that have a mobile email device would not let you pry it from their twisted little fingers.  Having that same kind of access to any piece of corporate information would be fantastic, despite the obvious limitations that would come from the keyboard/mouse experience.  (Although Apple has done an excellent job with their browser)

Now for this nirvana phone nonsense... Half of the beauty of the iphone is that you don't need ANY peripherals to use it.  Not even a stylus.  I can't count how many people I know who have lost a stylus and end up with a half-usable mobile device until they find a replacement.  I am happy to report that I have been able to keep tabs on all 10 of my fingers for over 30 years now.   Saying that the iphone "needs a dock" is like saying that your sneakers need add on roller skate wheels.  There are already excellent mobile laptop platforms such as the Asus and Macbook Air which are a fraction of the hassle to carry than those from just 3 years ago.  Do I want to own 37 devices?  No.  But I am happy to carry an iphone as my phone and mobile web device, and a lightweight laptop for my mobile computing needs.  When I get to the office, I dock my laptop and voila I have a 24" screen and all the projects I've been working on for years.   If I find myself with the opportunity to work "outside of the office" I am carrying everything I need with me (laptop+power supply) not hoping that there is a dock, screen, or keyboard at my destination.  (good luck with that)

With an ICA client, I would forgo such activities as taking my laptop on vacation (on vacation!!) because I would know that I'd have enough computing power to deal with unforseen circumstances and the occasional work crisis.  Do I need my iphone to become my primary computing device? No, not at all.  Just like I don't need to rollerblade in my nikes.

As the Citrix admin for a medical institute I can safely say that an ICA client for the iPhone would be a huge hit around here. Dr's are probably the most mobile users I've ever supported and they would be chomping at the bits for this!

Our MMR is Citrix-based as well. So are many of the hospital applications we use! As the number of iPhones in our department increases, users consistently ask for Citrix. With Safari, Mail, and VPN working, we need just one more app... Citrix! I would love to beta test if possible!!

Citrix on the iPhone would give us a huge win with the doctors who want to be mobile and not weighed down giving them an ipod touch or iphone with EMR access through Citrix would be win for sure. 

It's not just the medical community.  I'm Director of IT for a large chemical company. I have a highly mobile user base - engineers visiting the production facilities, etc.  Currently they are all armed with Blackberry devices.  That's great for email only..... but forget attachments or getting into some of the apps we currently host in a Citrix environment (such as our production scheduling tool).  An iPhone client solves these problems.  We'd be off the Blackberry platform and onto the iPhone with Citrix very quickly.

By the way, we have a huge investment in the Citrix platform, and it's getting larger - more and more of our users are moving away from laptops to thin clients.  A Citrix client on the iPhone will come close to eliminating the need for any laptops at all from most users.  Do it, and do it fast! 

It's not just the medical or chemical companies, I am the CIO for a logistics company, and we do all of our global operations using MetaFrame, and having it on my iPhone really helps. Notice I said "having it on my iPhone", not "having it _would_". I already have a 'roundabout' ICA client on my iPhone. The fact that I do, shows why closed source programming DOES NOT WORK.

The way I get Citrix on my iPhone...I had to install VNC on my server at work, and then get the FREE VNC LITE client on my iPhone, then connect to my server at work, open up a browser window, and then connect to metaframe _that_ way. And that's all open source code.

If I can emulate my ENTIRE DESKTOP on my iPhone using open source code with VNC, just think of how incredibly easy it would be for me to write an ICA client for the iPhone, if Citrix would just release an SDK. Now that Apple released their SDK, us coders would have a great client banged out in less than a week.

RELEASE THE CODE stop making us wait for this when we're willing to do the work for free for the sake of our own productivity.

Like some of the comments above, we would like to roll this out in our hospital. A Citrix iPhone client would be awesome for mobile results and ordering. Would likely blow the tablet PCs away!

I am a network engineer in a hospital.  I assure you that if Citrix would release an ICA client for the iPhone we in the IT  department would use it extensively as well as the MANY doctors who currently have iPhones.  It seems an obvious choice for Citrix.

I cannot imagine why you WOULD NOT port Citrix for Iphone. This is a natural marriage that Citrix should be all over. I have been with Citrix since the beginning, and have seen this application grow from a buggy pain in the a%$ to an absolute necessity for any company hoping to save time and money with their users. Back in those days I had to carry two cell phones, a beeper, (remember those!) a huge pda and a laptop!

Citrix allows us to bring our office to the Internet so we can get it from our  home. Why not allow us to carry it in our pocket? As a network engineer, I am on call nearly 100% of the time. That means I am forced to run around with my laptop to nearly everywhere I go. It would be nice to lose my laptop, pda etc and be able to reset Citrix sessions from my cell phone..err I mean Mp3 player...err..I mean camera...err..

I support government fleet agencies all over the world. One of our biggest issues is delivering Citrix to mechanics. Currently we use Winterms but the problem we have is the mechanics wont use them properly because it requires them to get up from undernieth the vehicle for each fault...one vehicle comming back from Iraq may have 50 or more! now if they had Iphones..they could simply register each fault as discovered...even look at manuals and order the replacement parts. All without haveing to crawl from underneith that HMMWV a half a dozen times.

Seems to me that Iphone has solved a lot of technological hurdles for Citrix to get your app out to the masses. Small, sleek, easy to use touch screen and fast...all done for you guys. Just get Citrix on Iphone and watch as the masses take citrix to all kinds of crazy places.

I would love to have a Citrix client for the iPhone so I can access medical information on my patients.  The physicians in my hospital-from the part-time, retired MDs in their 70s to the residents in their 20's-are flocking to the iPhone.  You are missing a great opportunity!

I'm a practising gastroenterologist in a large university hospital, currently using citrix on a PPC (HTC TyTN II) as well as macintosh laptop. Patient information, paging systems, radiology etc is all available through this avenue. The mobile experience on the PPC is somewhat awkward at best for this purpose. Having had a brief 'play' with the VNC offerings currently available for the iphone, it would seem that the iphone's pinch and zooming make it an ideal mobile device to pan one's way around a "virtual remote desktop". I for one would see it moving from the die hard computer geek physicians (um, me) to main stream with such an easy-to-use device.

Do what the Doctor(s) ordered ..  get us an iPhone client !!

I am an IS  Systems manager at a Medical College.  I know a number of physicians who have purchased iphones and would love to be able to have citrix access to view hospital applications.

we are in the process of implementing EMR (epic) in 3 of our 20+ hospitals (the rest to follow).
Citrix for the iphone would be invaluable allowing freedom of access (anytime, anywhere) and mobility for our healthcare providers.

As a network administrator at a law firm, I know myself as well as numerous attorneys would use Citrix for iPhone.  It would be amazing.  Already, there is a free VNC client for iPhone.  Citrix would be slightly more robust and secure, allowing for integrated windows authentication instead of just a plain text password being sent over VNC connection.

 Looking forward to it.  i know you guys will come up with something soon 

Citrix for iPhone would greatly enhance our sales force abilities as well as reduce support issues for the IT department.

Please.

As a Software Engineer from Germany i would really appreciate an iPhone version of the Citrix Client.
It's nice too run XenApp hosted Windows Applications on you notebook, but running XenApp hosted Applications on an iPhone must be awesome!
Thanks to 3G it also would be quite fast...So, in my opinion this is a Must Have for every iPhone user who wants to stay connected.

As an AV staging and rental company we would find a Citrix iPhone client a fantastic addition to our extreme customer service arsenal. It would be a home run to be able to use a Iphone client for our Citrix and R2 solutions and make real-time, on-site adjustments to orders without taking a notepad and pen or a laptop! A iphone client will be a killer app.

Post a Beta!

Cheers,

Jim Lamb

Tech Coordinator  

American Audio Visual Center 

As an IT Professional who is on call 24/7, I can say this would be more then extremely useful for me and the other people I work with.

Myself and my co-workers would be able to have lives without having to carry laptops everywhere we go. We discuss this topic almost daily! How great would it be if Citrix made aClient for the iPhone! We all use VNC already but that doesn't do everything that we need. In fact it hardly does anything we need.

We've been following the news daily hoping to see a release soon and were very excited when we saw the client you were showing off in Melbourne!

I work in the insurance industry and there are only few companies left using a citrix front end. If you don't come out with something fast for the iPhone those companies will change to someone who has or be straight AJAX based for straight internet use! Progressive already has an agent internet gateway without a Citrix front end. Your loss! I could quote even more people at their home/ car!

We don't want blackberries, we want iPhones...but we need citrix.

I work for a company that has about 10,000 workers where the standard way to get to our tools, when away from the office, is through a Citrix connection. There is a growing group of iPhone users in the company that would like to use a Citrix client to access our apps.

Any guidance as to when we could expect to be able to download the application through the Aplle App store would be exciting news.

Thanks,

Hudson

We need Citrix for iPhone.

You have already made a commitment to apple.

Why stop at the iPhone.

It is pretty obvious it will be around for awhile.

The iPhone has already enhanced my ability to support.

Citrix will allow me to leave the laptop home.

Please give us a Citrix client for iPhone.

iPhone with firmware 2.0 has an integrated Cisco VPN Client an with an XenApp Client that will be great when i'm on Travel.

I agree - my company has used thin client for many years and citrix on iPhone would be great for quick and dirty access to the network when out of the office

I'm IT manager at a multi-hospital NHS Trust in the UK with around 3500 users. We use Windows Mobile PDAs with a number of mobile applications and found the biggest limiting factors to be around the reliability of the wireless network connection. Conversely we have found the iPod Touch and iPhone to be completely reliable in this respect. Of course their use is limited to intranet/web based applications so a Citrix client would be a significant bonus. As we are currently examining Virtual Desktops and Mobilised Workers as two key strategies, this would pile up the weight behind a Citrix-based solution as neither VMWare nor Microsoft can compete in this arena.

I don't need to justify $#*! ....just release the friggin client already....

I am posting this comment from my agency issued iPhone. When the iPhone came out I was a cynic; however, my experience has been very positive. The iPhone has the screen real estate, we just need the ICA client to exploit the device.

I am posting this comment from my agency issued iPhone. When the iPhone came out I was a cynic; however, my experience has been very positive. The iPhone has the screen real estate, we just need the ICA client to exploit the device.

I was amazed to read this lame remark in the start of the thread: "Every additional platform <customer> we support drives overhead and makes the road ahead ever more complex to navigate."

 Common Al, quit making excuses and give us what we, as customers who pave your road ahead, what we want.

I have read other comments, including others in the medical field. I couldn't agree more. So many of my colleagues are now buying the iphone. Many physicians were holding out until applications like epocrates became available. The medical market is going to be huge. Citrix is already utilized by all the physicians in our community through home PCs and Macs. I am using my Mac less, as I have become more reliant on my iPhone for all things digital. I believe the need for Citrix support on the iPhone in inevitable, I hope it will come sooner rather than later.

We need it.

We use citrix to deliver our SaaS to our customers. The iphone app would be another great option.

A Citrix client for the iPhone would be awesome. We use Citrix extensively at work, and there are times that I have been out of the office wishing I could check on something on my office desktop, and a Citrix client is the only way I can do that.

Ditto on what the other Doc's have said. I'm an internal med resident and would definately use citrix on iphone. Thanks

With the new support for Microsoft Exchange many medical and business users will be switching from other smart phones to iPhone as I did recently.  As a doctor, one of the most valuable and time saving features I can imagine for a smart phone is the ability to access patient information on my hand-held over the wifi in hospital.  This would allow me to move from one place to another (on rounds for example) while reviewing data, rather than needing to be motionless in front of a workstation.  This may seem like teeny taters to some, but I think many physicians would say it could save them between 30-45 min a day if they could be moving while looking at patient information.  It could also allow an enhanced level of patient care - I could check a patient's hematocrit or perhaps even see an important x-ray while in conference - and then take action by sending a text message or email to another member of the medical team (I could even do this remotely while away from the hospital).

 If interest in creating a citrix client for iPhone reaches critical mass I'd like to make a small request:  please make the access "buttonable" so that passwords etc. can be saved on the phone and almost instant access to citrix, by pressing one of the desktop buttons, can occur.  The greatest value of this technology is in saving time - if it takes 4 minutes to log on every time I want to see patient info, I've lost the advantage of the mobile unit. 

Doctors love toys, so as the IT point I would love to have a good answer to "Can I use my iPhone?"  I'm very curious to hear if anyone has tested this for its affect on battery life. How many minutes/hours can you really get maintaining a wi-fi connection and Citrix client? My next request would be for a protective skin/lanyard combination to keep them from being dropped and being left in patient rooms.

For those who want iPhone support, does your application vendors plan to resize/refactor the applications for iPhone, or will the applications work well (without any change) when delivered through Citrix client?

How about Blackberry, Symbian and Windows Mobile? I found typing in iPhone to be more difficult.

The iPhone has made an impact on the 'cell phone' market like no other. This is not a fad or craze - individuals are serious about making the iPhone their all-in-one device. It makes perfect sense for Citrix  to offer the ICA Client.  Even if there was a reasonable fee associated with the client, I would bite.  When you decide Al, to offer this to the public, companies and IT groups around the world will love you. Just do it.

As a physician, I need a Citrix client for the iPhone so I can view our electronic medical record system while oncall outside of the hospital. This would be huge for all the physicians in our large University teaching hospital...

yes to iphone!

I am a practicing physician working a hospital that uses Citrix for accessing it's information. My 900 physician IPA is soon to use Citrix to access an EMR. I recently purchased an iPhone 3G. I use a laptop computer currently to run Citrix. Having access through the iPhone would be very valuable & would make essential healthcare information accessable to me when I am away from the computer. I would like very much to see this feature and I am sure that many of my collegues would also.

With the future as it is, can you guys afford NOT to provide a Client for the iPhone?

We are a company that have many Mac Mobile users and travel extensively Nationally and World Wide. We also have Windows Mobile users doing the same thing.

Our Company would not be able to operate anywhere near efficiently without the aid of Citrix.

We are now getting quotes for iPhones and Blackberries for all our staff as well, (User Choice) and see this as a natural extension and progression to the way we now work if both these mobile platforms provide us with the same convenience that Citrix now provides on our laptop and desktop platforms.

As you currently have an OSX Client, and the iPhone is OSX driven, surely the overheads required to port the current Client to the iPhone would be minimal - basically only in the area of the user interface from keyboard/mouse to touch screen. And from what I see the iPhone SDK does a pretty fair job in assisting with this.

So can I have 50 iPhone clients by next week?????

Look, I love Citrix, it's a great product.

But if you are only asking this question now, what have your Advanced Products Group been doing for the past 18 months? This functionality should be already available NOW!!!!

And another Product that is well past due is a Citrix Server for Mac OSX.

These products are NOT just "new and cool" they are absolutely essential.

But back to the iPhone Client in particular.

Your Advanced Product Group should also foresee that the iPhone is just the thin edge of the wedge. The MacBook Air and even the "all-in-one" iMac provide a great insight into where computing products are heading. It is now also very obvious (if it hasn't been since 1989) that where Apple goes everyone else follows.

So don't be surprised if a soon to be released iMac does not need a keyboard or mouse (although they will still be a bluetooth/wireless option). The stand will be able to be lowered to provide a tilt screen or fold right back for a flat screen, with full touch-screen capabilities.

The MacBook range will also be made lighter and be a tablet or touch-pad design. Again, no in-built keyboard or mouse, just a touch screen. It may even have mobile/cellular phone capabilities as well.

It is all about convergence. Even the iMac and the MacBook will eventually converge into a single product family that will be able to be carried and used like a tablet or touch-pad and have a fold/pull out stand for desk top use.

So please understand, this is not just about the "new and cool " iPhone. It is about the future of the whole computing environment right across the board.

So any move to add touch screen capabilities to the Mac Citrix Client for the iPhone will also have the cost benefit of being there and ready for the next generation of mobile and desktop computing.

So c'mon Citrix, you won't maintain a market lead with this continued procrastination and lack of vision. Over 80% of your survey respondents have voted for the change, so the market is well ahead of you.

Again, the time for action and product availability is well past NOW and it is not about ROI of any single product it is about the continued long term viability of your products, and Company as a whole.

Yes! YES. YES!!

I would love to use Citrix on my Iphone to access my electronic medical records on a Windows server that I currently access remotely with Citrix (I am a physician)

It's fantastic to see the passion in all the comments around the iPhone and thanks to Chris for starting this thread. I can confirm that we are certainly paying attention to the new range of mobile internet devices that are starting to emerge. It's not just about the iPhone but more about a whole new way of working now that 3G and wireless coverage is becoming more ubiquitous.

The iPhone is a great example of a device that has captured the mind of the general public, but there are an equal number of great innovative devices from the likes of HTC, Samsung and Nokia coming out that make it practical to work using a small form factor mobile device. These devices utilized this new style of Hi-Def screen so quintessentially embodied by the iPhone.

At the same time we are also not ignoring the new "mid" devices that are coming out from Dell, HP and others that are bridging a gap between the classic PDA form factor and the traditional PC.

So back to the original comment above, what is Citrix doing about it? Well I can say that improving support for all Apple devices (including iPhone) is a much higher priority these days then when we released our first Mac client many years ago.

Stay tuned on the iPhone client, I hope that we will be making some public availability statements in the near future.

Martin Duursma.

Thank you Martin for the quick response to the more recent posts.

GREAT to hear that you are focusing on greater support for the Mac range, you wont regret it.

Looking forward to that announcement, is there a mailing list to subscribe to that will provide immediate notification rather than coming back here every five minutes to check?

Just to confirm we have a prototype we are working on. This is based around the Cocoa SDK. Our aim is to share code between the iPhone and next gen Mac clients. 

 To help accelerate things my team (AVG Product Development) will be working with Martin's AdProd team. Now Martin has an iPhone he will naturally be part of the internal test team

 Keith Turnbull

I am a Realtor who's MLS database service in Southern California only works on the internet explorer platform. I am able to use citrix on my mac to access the MLS. The iphone is an amazing tool for Realtors in many ways but until I can access property info on the phone I can not get the phone.

Citrix on the iPhone would be a golden.  I am fairly certain that this capability would be the final piece of ammunition I need to convince our IT team to start supporting the iPhone.
My two primary uses would be to access Agile and Oracle.  Currently a laptop it the only "mobile" option to get drawings and inventory information.  It would blow peoples minds if I could pull up a design specification on my phone during a meeting on the production floor and then check the Oracle inventory positions an pricing for the parts we are discussing.  Please make this a priority.

YES! Please!

whats the hold up?  millions of IT need this so we can control the servers from the pub, listen to our ipods and have a cool toy!!  HURRY UP CITRIX!!!

Martin Duursma. - the only reason a lot of people havent brought an iphone (myself included) havent brought an iphone because we cant use it over citrix.  I appreciate there are other devices but none offering such a large scrren, bloomberg (we work in finance), or support of corporate exchange.  It must be a priority for citrix and im blown away its not already in beta. 

My company has a security system and I need liberty to move my self and can mantain the system from anywhere and citrix on my Ipod solve all my problems.

Citrix is the only way of accessing the corporate systems I support outside the firewall. If I get an e-mail or a call about a system I support and I'm not at my Mac, there's a delay until I can get in or to my Mac. If I could access the corporate network directly from my iPhone, I could provide immediate support anywhere I have a cell signal. Please create a version for the iPhone.

I am a physician and my hospital (as are most hospitals) is moving toward an electronic medical record. It already allows providers outside the hospital to access medical records via the web with the Citrix ICA client. The hospital has already enhanced its internal 802.1 system which will allow handheld devices like iphone to attach to it. I could use the iPhone to connect to the electronic medical record without fighting the nurses for a terminal--and lose.

This is actually a question? My thought would be, "Get on it!" No offense, but you guys should have got on this during the closed beta!

I'm an IT Manager and besides having my own personal iPhone there's pressure from others in the company that now have iPhones for additional support.

I'm a Systems Administrator and am currently looking for remote Admin tools. We're are setup for ICA connections but not RDP. I can buy WinAdmin for RDP access but we'll have to craftily alter our fire wall to an ubscure port then translate or forward that to a different port inside to get it to work semi-securely.

 In the mean time we can't even purchase a Citrix client?? Please make it available as a iTunes app in the app store!!

XenCenter for iphone would be brilliant

Could someone from Citrix gives us an idea of how close this is to being real?

That is a Cirtix client for the iPhone.

Come on People - do you actually think Citrix has the brains to do this?  They never made a client for the blackberry - ROVE had to do it for them!  Ive asked ROVE when they will have one ready,  they haveit running now butare working out the final details with Apple over code access once its part of AppStore. 

Another vote from the MD world. Lots of physicians have mentioned the advantages of accessing their EMR via Citrix while away from the hospital. I can imagine myself using the iPhone+Citrix+EMR live in a patient room. Our IT folks just demoed us some new Windows-based hardware that they expect us to use in a busy clinic setting and it is laughable the way these machines DO NOT fit into our actual workflow.

One Dell laptop they showed use has a gee-whiz flip-around-screen fold-it-up-into-a-tablet functionality. They showed us some "scratchpad" software that you can scribble on with a stylus while in tablet mode, then suggested we leave the room, "unflip" the screen, and RETYPE the notes we just scribbled because there is no way to convert the scratches into text, or copy & paste into the EMR (why is this better than taking a pencil and legal pad into the room??). I suggested that I would rather simply type directly into the EMR, so they proudly showed me the "virtual keyboard" that can pop up at the bottom of the screen and has the lousiest ergonomics (can't touch type or hunt-and-peck effectively) and horrible touch sensitivity.

The second piece of hardware was one of these:
http://www.mobilewhack.com/intel-unveils-new-mobile-clinical-assistant-mca-platform-for-doctors-and-nurses/
a little more ergonomic, but it has no finger-touch input, everything from a stylus...including typing WITH A STYLUS on the same popup virtual QWERTY keyboard. Totally inadequate.

I set up my iPhone VNC program to remote into the Dell while the IT folks were standing there and started typing with minimal errors and virtually no lag. Decided that my workflow would be to leave the flip-screeny Dell tablet running at the nurse's station, while I remote from my iPhone in the exam room.

An iPhone native Citrix client would obviously be a cleaner and more secure solution.

I work IT support at a hospital in upstate New York.  We use citrix for remote access to our clinical care system.  I've already had to turn down several doctors wanting to access patient data on the iPhone.  It does not support MData or Clinical Navigator from Thompson Health.

A citrix client would allow them full access to the program they use day to day here at the hospital.  I'm sure if we were able to set this up for them then doctor's all around them would be running out and buying iPhones for themselves.  Please do this! 

I just want to say the sooner the better.  I'm a recent convert to the iPhone and love it.  The fact that there are VNC, RDP, 5250, and telnet/SSH clients for it makes my life a million times easier.  The only thing that would complete the package is an ICA client.  I found myself without laptop access to my citrix server at a client and had to make them wait 4 hours until i could get back to the office to take care of what they needed, which would've taken 10 min. if i had a citrix client on my iPhone.

I begging!!! Please put a Citrix client on the Apple Store for iphone download soon!!!!

I work in IT department (in project management) at a large Laboratory.  We use Citrix to access all our apps, and are on the go frequently.  Currently we use BlackBerry, but many of our executives have been switching to iPhones and are clamoring for the ability to use the iPhone with their apps the same way they use BlackBerry. 

We don't have a major iPhone deployment planned or anything, but would greatly appreciate the choice and ability for those that do already have iPhones/iPod Touches to use the device to it's fullest potential.  We would be very happy to have a Citrix client up and running. 

Citrix on the Iphone would be an incredible advantage. My company distributes electrical distribution items to major utilities across the US. The ability to run Citrix from my Iphone and access all of my applications from anywhere would greatly enhance our response time to major events (hurricane Gustav). Currently the company supports Citrix Enterprise servers to delivery proprietary applications used for purchasing inventory.

It would be a great benefit to have the ability to run our applications through Citrix anywhere we were located.

I'm yet another physician with 200 clinical staff starting an EMR that would be less expensive and more functional for docs and nurses to walk about with an itouch or iphone. If it gets dropped its $200 , if the 3lb tablet drops its$1600 +. I anxiously await the iphone citrix client.

I work in IT and if there were an iPhone Citrix client, that would allow me to do some remote admin tasks that I currently need computer for. 

I had Citrix client on my Windows Mobile device and found it very useful, it could only be much better on iPhone with such a much bigger screen.  I 

Threre are times when I don't have laptop near me, but something needs my attention (generally briefly), this would greatly improve support.

Another physician chiming in. Our hospital uses a Citrix-based access to it's Medical Record/PACS system, which would enable remote viewing of scans, etc., on an iPhone. Would be incredible. . .
Would love to see a beta.

I'm an IT manager in Ecuador, we have the iPhone now and we use Citrix for 5 years, I'm waiting for an iPhone client, when do you plan to release it???

Many uses here, sales force, IT managment, Production Control...wow a lot of projects to develop.

Hi Chris,

        The company I work for uses citrix for legacy windows apps, that are still, and will be the core of all our business applications.  I use the term legacy, meaning flat file database apps.  We are currently in the process of moving all data into headquarters and deploying citrix apps for all our other offices, covering the E.U. , Asia, & BtoB customer access.

We would love a windows/citrix based iphone client.   Currently, we have, I think 6 iphones in upper management.  I think a citrix iphone client would let us standardize on a phone for world wide use.  This includes sales & service staff in at least 15 countries.

 Oh, & as a an older..... well,  lets say, seasoned, I.T. professional, I have also noticed the proliferation of citrix in the healthcare community.

(imho)iPhones, are the killer U.S. phone right now for the connected professional, even active sync & cisco(compatible) ipsec vpn client built in ver. 2.*

Our current users, run the ipsec vpn, & vnc if needed for remote management in remote situations.

Thanks,

Mark
p.s. I certainly have my iphone complaints, some fixed in the new 3g phone, which I dont have yet.  & certainly battery life.

Hi,

My company uses Citrix metaframe over the browser (with RSA token to login) to provide remote access to the employees. It would be great if an iPhone client was available to connect just like we currently do from internet explorer (Citrix ICA client ActiveX control). We wouldn't need to carry the laptop for short trips if there was an iPhone client available!

Oh! And please don't forget to;

ADD EASYCALL to the iPhone Client.

That would complete the system for us International Travellers.

Thank you.

The above comment brings up another important point.

And that is that the Citrix Client will HAVE to work over BOTH WIFI AND a 3G/Internet Connection.

For it to be a viable product for use Overseas, the is absolutely imperative.

• Even though it is often hard to even get a 3G/Internet Connection in many Countries it is usually virtually impossible to get a WIFI connection.

Through, what I believe is a very short sighted attitude, Apple has bowed to AT&T in the US and restricted some of the iPhone's operation to WIFI only.

But many International Telco's have no problem with allowing this, and in reality it is the Telco's who's Networks are being used, and the user's themselves, that should be able to make the final decision on this.

I do not live, and have never lived, in the US and will probably never use AT&T, so why should they impact me in every Country that I visit outside of the US?

Sorry for the rant, but the point is that if I am to use an iPhone and Citrix Internationally, I do need full functionality of WIFI AND a 3G/Internet in EVERY Country/Area that I travel to.

iPhone usage among users in academic medical centers has grown dramatically... it would be of genuine benefit to patient care if we could use CIRTIX on an iPhone to get information, sign reports etc.

Surely there must be a way to do this that satisfies all HIPA and IT security concerns...and do it soon!

A member of the University of California Faculty

Another vote for Citrix ICA for iPhone from a medical professional.  All hospitals will be using electronic medical records in the next 5 years or so, and already about half are paperless.  Mobile access to the record would be extremely valuable.

another positive vote if it means all I need is the client to get to my corp email, sharepoints etc etc.  its a was a pain to have the bb setup by corp IT and we already have the ICA client for laptops, so if its as easy as using my same account I am all for it.

We certainly need a citrix ica client for the iphone!

I need to be able to log into our mrp system to check inventory, customer orders, manufacturing orders and so on.  It would really make it easier to get the info I need while on the production floor where computers are very sparse.

Would be nice to run ms access through citrix on my iphone so I can run reports as well.

 Sales can use it for logging in to use our quoting software.

Thanks Citrix!!!!

A little post from FRance ..

Sales peoples would love it ! Engage the VPN cisco, connect to the web application thrgough the ica client ..

 As he would say : what elese ?

We need this more and more.

The Students are buying these like they are gloing out of fashion

Any dates on the implementation of the client

Our IT support department want to ditch the laptops and use Iphone for remote access via Citrix, it'd really be an advantage to us all to have to carry only our phones. and I'm sorry I haven't seen any other mobile device that can navigate around a phone size desktop with such ease and speed.

We are anxiously waiting also because some executives see the potential of this solution.

Would someone from Citrix please reply to us on this blog as to where you stand with this issue??

Sounds like a lot of people really need this thing

Hurry up and get the damn thing out there.....

I'm a bit shocked this isn't out yet.  What is the holdup Citrix?

Upper management in company loves the iPhone, This is the one and only thing stopping it being adopted as a standard employee phone

over currently used Nokia models.

Still hoping/waiting for it to happen ...

We're doing a lot of customer remote admin, all using citrix.

 Adding iPhone as a potential device could help our staff act faster.

If you did not need more support for this: I work on a non-profits database team. We currently have a citrix server and I would love to be able to log into our donor database from the road.

If you did not need more support for this: I work on a non-profits database team. We currently have a citrix server and I would love to be able to log into our donor database from the road.

I am a physician at a large university teaching hospital. Having Citrix on the iphone would enable me to look at x-rays while away from the hospital. The ability to do this and enter orders etc would be a huge advantage!

 Look at the number of posts above from healthcare workers / hospital IT members... This is a large sector of our economy and the second largest spending of our GDP after defense spending... It makes sense to develop Citrix on the iPhone!!

So many potential uses. Please give us an update on progress!

Thanks,

There are obviously many people who are looking forward to Citrix for the iPhone. Rather than make people have to keep checking back, it would be nice if we could just enter our email on your web page to be notified when a client is available (preferably with a promise not to use our email aaddress for any other purposes.

Would also be nice of Citrix to give us an idea of time scale!

We're building a web based application for several corporate international clients. Citrix Web Gateway is something we use now, but we'd like to like to explore the mobile market a lot more. Citrix over an iPhone is where we would like to go.

Please can someone make my job easier and show me how Citrix can work securely over an iPhone.

Citrix for iPhone? Yes, Yes & more YES!! .. Psychiatrist in Melbourne Australia. Posted with iPhone..

As a physician I want to buy a smartphone to access my files outside the hospital. To do so, I need a citrix ica client installed. This means that I cant 't buy an iphone. A real pity as I am a macfan.
Please apple and citrix, give us a solution

Orthopaedic surgeon, Belgium

Does anyone know if there is an ica client for the new Blackberry Storm?

As long as Citrix has been dragging it's feet on this, one would have to wonder what role Microsoft plays in it? Citrix is being very stubborn. Smells a lot like Microsoft.

There is an ICA for the BlackBerry not sure for the Storm. ICA client would be great but have JAVA run on the iPhone would be just as good. I got the iPhone to log into our XenApp Webi then try to launch a desktop. We default to JAVA client when ICA is not found. Either or would be great. I have not seen an easy way to get Java on the phone and there is no ICA client. Just have to wait and see....

Regarding the Blackberry Storm, we do not currently have an ICA client available however are working with some partners to provide a solution.

Regarding the iPhone, a Citrix client is under development internally, no schedule to release yet... but stay tuned  

With6,000,000 iPhones sold thus far, I would think you are working nights and weekends on ica client for them.

You're sitting on a gold mine.

Citrix user.

Our medical practice has Practice Management and EMR systems which are critical for our providers on a continuous (24/7) basis. The ability to access our office systems through Citrix is critical. Currently most providers use PDA's with Windows Mobile and access to Citrix. The availability of this functionality will be a significant determinant in selecting a cellular provider and cellular phone. Hopefully the iPhone migrates to this platform. Any information on the roadmap for this functionality, if any?

Bill Busino

Hey everyone,  I have another great use for XenDesktop on the iPhone.  My ideas is for those that use a CarPC in their cars for multimedia or business purposes.  As of now it would be useful for controlling the "Frontend" software for a CarPC (such as Centrafuse, Streetdeck, etc.) in the car from the phone without the need to install a thousand dollar monitor which you could probably not do anyways in a newer car without making it look aweward.

Just run the software from the trunk and connection through WiFi to the iPhone in the front without anyone knowing something is installed, would be a little small to see but if the whole screen on the iPhone is used in landscape mode (except the top status bar) then it could work.

If interested please email me and I can give you details about what special needs would be needed for this software to be practical in a car.  For now I can give you a few must haves for this to work. 

First, the software in the truck PC they is serving the virtual desktop to the iPhone would need to be able to load correctly from hibernation on it's own since they PC need to be turned off in order to not drain the battery.  So once you trigger the PC to start from the cars cabin it must reload the software and begin to serve automatically and even go to full screen Frontend mode so that the iPhone can receive a properly formated interface needed in the car.  Then the user just pushes a button on the phone once he estimates the PC is done loading and the iPhone has made a WiFi connection with it and the iPhone starts to receive the virtual desktop.  This also mean that it would be great to have an auto login option from the iphone where you just push a shortcut link from the iPhones main menu and everything load automatically with anymore inputs.  You just get a fullscreen frontend image on the phone :o)

Some might say why have the PC in the car if 3G networks can let you serve from you home, the problem with that is the only way to get HiFi sound to a quality stereo in the car is through a quality output from a locally installed soundcard or USB DAC.  So you can see why the PC should be in the trunk and why the auto on from hibernation is crucial for this to work. 

So to recap, what is needed is for Xendesktop to serve its virtual desktop with a fullscreen fronted running  after going into and coming out of hibernation and do so without any input other then the press of a power button to bring the PC into and out off hibernation.  As well as the iPhone doing the same thing from one button press in the main menu and also having the virtual desktop use as much landscape area as possible to make it the image clearer in the car.  All this of course assuming XenDesktop does not have a software conflict with the frontend software which uses DirectX.

The CarPC market is a growing market and this software would make things alot more fun and convenient all from just a few optional additions to a great piece of software.

Thanks for your time,

Frank Nieves

Email: t3sn4f2@yahoo.com 

I'm not sure why we should even be voting for this functionality. There are an estimated 700,000 iphones in use. and I'm sure a small portion of that come from Citrix Execs who most certainly want this functionality. This should be a no brainer and should be at the top of the list for the developers at Citrix. Instead of putting out PS 4.5 Feature Pack 1...whoops I meant 5.0 they should be focused on something more useful.

The only reason I haven't gotten an iphone is the lack of a citrix client.  I view CT/MRI/xrays on my HTC Mogul.  It's awkward but incredibly useful.  As other PC phones continue emulating the iPhone this will improve.  Unless Apple and Citrix get on the ball, the PC phone/smartphone will have to do.  As an on-call physician remote access to imaging is crucial.  To any of us in the acute care aspect of medicine (ie. neurosurgery) viewing images via cell phone is huge.  I suspect Citrix doesn't have as much to gain from this as would Apple from the huge influx of physicians.  I'm surprised Apple has bee dragging their feet.  We are all using PC platform phones and will continue to until iPhone can do this well. 

Citrix client on the iPhone has my vote.  My company does not allow ActiveSync or external IMAP, but does allow remote access through Citrix.

Hello,

we are really looking forward t a iPhone/iPod touch client, please keep up the promising work.

Thanks,

Bernhard

Like many others I have an IPhone and citrix would enable me to connect inside the company - for me its not a priority as such but its an ap that woudl certainly enhance the phone and one (depending on price) I would certainly buy!

What are you guys (Citrix) doing. How could this be taking so long??

The iPhone is out selling everything, and people are pleading, yet you keep dragging your feet. I don't understand it.

I work as an appraiser in so cal and use your citrix client for Glendale MLS.  I would love to have this in the field on the iphone.

Wow!  Fantastic work guys!  This is major headway, and I can tell you that our organization would benefit by having this tool to support physician access to EMR data.  I would use it for our finance applications on our Citrix server. 

 The world is now a little smaller.

Exciting news...

Like all of the other posters on this board I am very excited about this news. 

 One question that I have is related to how my firm uses Citrix.  My firm outsources its IT infrastructures and connects to our third-party run infrastructure through citrix but login is first done through a web portal.  I have successfully done this on Windows Mobile devices but am unsure how this will work on the iphone becuase the iphone does not let a user have background applications running?  Am I overthinking the room or that a valid concern?

Can't wait until this is done.  The execs at my company are patiently waiting for Citrix on the iPhone, im responsible for sourcing good smart phones for them & I would just hate going back in time & having to recommend a windows mobile device...so GREAT WORK & hurry up!

I've been drooling over the idea of Citrix on the iPhone since before I got my first generation device last January.  Six more months is a long time to have to wait, but I'll use it as much or more than any other app on the phone!  Just tell me when I can install my own copy!

We are already using Windows Mobile phones to Citrix Applications for 50 sales people. Most of them would love switching to the iPhone... some already have.

What are you guys waiting for.... Please focus on a clean interface that takes advantage of the touch screen. Any Citrix app would perform fast even over slow connections, please make easy to use. Many, many users and businesses will benefit from a clean, easy to use interface.

We are a Dental school who provides access to our EMR to all Faculty staff & students on imacs & macbook pros. 

We are definitely a mac loving school, so of course, a ton of our Doctors & Students have already been asking if or when they can
access our programs on their new iphones.
We are very very excited that you are going to be releasing a Citrix ICA client for the iphone & waiting eagerly!

Isn't the real pay day when you do not need windows applications and clients? Of course a few years out but what is the direction then?  I have tested Stoneware webOS and it looks like the future for application delivery. They support Citrix apps and web and I think iPhone. A sister hospital of ours has used them for years and they recommended I take a look. I like what I see because I can still use my Citrix applications and move to web apps as fast as I want and my docs will just go to one place regardless of the device or location.

I am in health care industry and would LOVE to see Citrix for our colleagues and our practice. This would enhance care, decrease costs liability. The substitute is an expensive software alternative that is less than optimal. Ctrix help us enhance care and decrease health care costs.

C B M.D. Boise Idaho

I work in the Legal industry as an IT manager (yep, tough job but someone has to do it), anyhoo I know for a fact all the pencil pushers I work with on a daily basis would kill for such a client. With improved intergration to mail servers such as exchange, mobile internet access, cisco vpn support and being a must have communication tool, The iphone (and similar devices) are making serious in-roads as the business tools of choice. With citrix support the added ability to run core business applications, would be fantastic.

Looking forward to the first half of 09, and getting our hands on this client.

IT Manager for 600+ users

I work in the zoo veterinary field. All our records for patients and animals are run over Citrix so that we can access them where ever we are.

A citrix iphone app would be a tremendous  asset and would likely be adopted quickly in our field.

I work for the automotive industry delivering services under Citrix. I am looking forward to get icitrix

While I can see use for Citrix clients on things like blackbery's and MS based Smartphones, come on, the Iphone is just a toy!  We have more and more docs picking them up, and they are nothing but a pain.  "Look at me and my IPhone", and docs complain they are not getting enough of the pie?  Sorry, but I still do not view the Iphone as a serious business tool, same way i do not see a MAc as one.

I used to think that as well ... before I got my iPhone 3G. Now my blackberry is collecting dust. I am really looking forward to the Citrix client.

Since getting my NextG iPhone I find myself using it more than my PC and Mac at home. It has a great interface and the one big thing lacking is the ICA client. We use it extensively at work to connect to many sites and control many processes across different networks in the Mining industry. Having this client would make support for these items so much easier when on the move.

Hello, I think ica client for iPhone should be frequently used app (at this time i use remote citrix through htc tytn and 320x240 is not enought resolution in citrix environment...) I work as IT admin for more than 400 users and see that ica (xenapp) is most needed for all on business trips, at home, during the holidays and so... So please post the new info if any release of xenapp client will be downloadable! 

Yes of course iphone is just a toy (no operating system, no keyboard, no serious apps) but it has a nice screen (640x480).

We use Citrix at our law firm and accessing our documents from an iPhone would be extremely useful.

I use gotomypc.com for my business. I own a medium sized restaurant and I rely on my citrix system to do a lot of my work

from home to be closer to my family. I also need to spend time out of town and am on the road a lot and would love to have

an iPhone version. This would especially be helpful on vacations or family trips when I don't want to lug around a laptop, but

still want to be "connected" to my business.

I'm an IT Specialist with the VA Hospital and having Citrix on the iPhone is really important to us. Looking forward to a

beta version.

 Jim Armstrong

Palo Alto, CA

I am currently looking to provision 5000+ devices for Navy Recruiters to be able to use in the field.

The clamour is all for the iPhone, but they need reachback to Windows applications and the NMCI.

A Citrix App for the iPhone is the ONLY missing link between us purchasing 5000 iPhones vs. us purchasing 

5000 OQO and or Panasonic U1's.  If you can get something to us to test within the next two weeks, we still may

be able to include iPhones as part of our pilot test for a mobile solution for Navy Recruiters.  

How much would I have to pay to try out the beta?

 I work in the child protection agency in Norway. I can hardly imagine how much easier our work would be if we could use iPhones to connect to ur CRM-system, which (naturally) is Win only.

Hurry up

Haakon

http://braintrain.no\\

Haakon