AppSense User Virtualization & Citrix XenDesktop 5.5 better together. Get your protocol fix then focus on HDX.

Citrix XenDesktop 5.5 has made some significant enhancements that will help many more customers adopt desktop virtualization as they strategically rethink if their client architecture capabilities will carry their business forward. As Citrix continues to make these enhancements, a greater diversity of client architectures will emerge as customers pick the right desktop for different use cases within their enterprise resulting in a greater need for user virtualization that abstracts and enables centralized management, and on-demand delivery of the user experience across multiple client architectures.

Let’s start with the continuing saga of the protocol arms race and dispel a myth right off the bat. Delivering user experience is not just about the protocol. For me it’s logic 101 to understand that delivering the best user experience in a world where there are multiple delivery scenarios will require numerous techniques. This is why Citrix uses the HDX brand to describe the delivery of user experience. While it is true that in many cases the delivery of user experience will require enhancements to the core delivery protocol, that is a very one dimensional view of the user experience.

Ok ok, the cynics out there are already starting to raise their eyebrows and refusing to let go of their never ending love with the “my protocol is better than yours” arms race :-) So let’s just get that out of the way. When I was Desktop CTO at Citrix, we started project Nitro which was designed to take many of the core protocol components to the next level. I’m really pleased that my former colleagues have delivered on many of those promises by providing solutions for the delivery of a rich experience for Flash, video, voice and graphics. I am sure the Citrix blogs will give a lot more detail about these, but it is significant to note IMO, that Citrix is and continues to invest in the core delivery experience. Combine this with the Citrix Receiver that is now available on more platforms than ever, and the value of centrally hosted desktops can be extended to many more consumers devices while enabling IT to maintain security centrally.  For many, multimedia use cases have held back the adoption of desktop virtualization and XenDesktop 5.5 represents a significant step forward to removing those barriers.

HDX driving adoption with the sponge cake.

I hope you enjoyed your protocol fix. Now we can move on to discuss the other significant HDX update. The addition of personalization via the acquisition of RingCube as an early access release. I think this is a great move forward and much like the HDX multimedia improvements, HDX personalization will result in greater adoption of VDI for certain desktop use cases as customers continue to diversify their client architecture strategy. In particular I am really pleased that Citrix is making this available for all releases. Why do I think this is really important? It’s a lot more than arguing I don’t want to be forced to upgrade from one edition of XenDesktop to another. It’s more about adoption across our industry.

Desktop virtualization has been around for several years now, and Windows 7 migrations are going to have to be fast tracked with Windows XP end of life being April 2014. This is a long awaited opportunity for many to finally get some investment in the desktop, however we are at a critical stage in the maturity and lifecycle of desktop virtualization. Clearly adoption is critical as we move forward and without broad successful adoption by the mainstream (beyond the early pioneers), our industry will suffer as customers lose confidence in their ability to execute on a strategic client re-architecture. Therefore, steps any desktop virtualization vendors takes to drive adoption are critical to the success of our industry which I embrace with enthusiasm.

As with any new technology architecture introduction, there is always the question as to what the impact will be on existing technologies. It’s certainly a question I entertained while at Citrix when we were considering acquiring RingCube in early 2011 and again when I decided to join AppSense as CTO. It helps to first understand what RingCube is at it’s most fundamental level. It’s a difference disk that lets you separate your stuff from the base build. It may be tempting to confuse this with VMware linked clones technology but RingCube IMO is simpler by design and does not rely on a model of creating dependent replica VMs linked to a master VM, with per user data/persistent disks and apps delivered via application virtualization. For me this model makes sense if you are looking to replace roaming profiles, redirect My Documents data to a separate user data disk, are willing to bet on application virtualization across the board and are happy with View Composer scalability.

The RingCube technology does not require you to change your existing management tools and hence I think it is simpler to adopt for mainstream customers.I am sure many could debate many virtues of either approach but that is not the point of this blog. The salient point I want to make is that they are different approaches and could be confused if you are not careful which does not help drive adoption as confused customers only evaluate indefinitely…… I used to describe the RingCube approach as the 2 layer sponge cake – a pretty simple mental model to understand. Think of the lower layer of the sponge cake as your C: drive, the upper layer the D: drive. The C: drive is managed centrally and D: can be used to personalize your experience. This provides lots of benefits.

Firstly if the C: drive is managed centrally then it becomes possible to share the C: drive amongst many users and reduce the cost of VDI storage moving towards the vision of pooled desktops. Patching becomes easier as it’s a single point of central update as opposed to trying to manage multiple distributed C: drives that overwhelm so many desktop organizations today. In fact I believe that many 1-1 implementations that leverage local storage can also take advantage of this approach. Since your existing management tools and processes can still be used, the adoption is less disruptive making it easier to get started for certain use cases. So this technology has the potential to drive a lot more IT efficiency which is goodness. Once the C: drive is patched, the personalization changes stored in the D: drive can be reapplied bringing back a consistent user experience. Since the D: drive RingCube difference disk does not require any infrastructure, scalability is not a concern, it’s as scalable as the core XenDesktop infrastructure. I know first hand that this was always a big architectural concern that could cripple the viability of a solution for many customers, hence the simpler approach is prudent IMO, especially when first starting out.

Not all agree and for an alternate opinion, Ron Oglesby from Unidesk provides for an entertaining read. I could go on to argue the merits and likelihood of success of a simple difference disk solution vs. a complete rethink of desktop management using multiple layers but despite what Ron thinks my position is, I am somewhat neutral since driving adoption is what I am most focused on.

Will the apps work?

What’s more important with respect to disk layering technologies is customer success with application compatibility. There’s always been the question in our industry of will apps work in a layer? Will third party vendors support their application running in a layer? That has always been a barrier to adoption for any of the small innovative companies to truly get traction. So with an industry giant now making a clear statement that layers are ok, this will go a long way to legitimizing layers as an approach for certain use cases and this will further help drive adoption and spawn further innovation. This is great news for AppSense, as this reaffirms our belief that a complete user virtualization platform should include this type of component technology to enable some use cases. This is something that we have had in development for several years and at AppSense we continue to evaluate technology approaches to solve for additional use cases that enable organizations to empower their users in new ways. Watch this space!

So is personalization a silver bullet?

To answer that question it’s first important to understand things at a fundamental level. We’ve already established that RingCube will add personalization with the addition of a D: drive or vDisk as Citrix calls it. However we need to think about that a little and understand in reality what that means. If you keep adding stuff to your D: drive guess what happens? You end up with a really big D: drive that erodes your benefits. It’s like having a really big fat profile. So it’s obvious that during real life implementation you need to think about how to leverage this technology to drive your solution(s). Depending on your environment you can of course say personalization to you means collapsing all your non core image apps, data, preferences into a single layer and have a simple architecture that scales. I have no issue with that, but I believe over time as things change you will need more management and greater abstraction and granular control. After all we are trying to move away from a world where the desktop was managed as a single monolithic entity.

You can achieve some of that additional abstraction via a profile management solution like Citrix UPM which is part of XenDesktop. Citrix understands that and hence why RingCube vDisk technology is not being positioned as a replacement. However that will only take you so far because there is so much more to consider when managing across multiple client architectures, more on that below. In reality what I think most people will do with the technology with it’s current set of capabilities is use it for Departmental Installed Apps. Brian Madden discussed this quite well here.

There are other use cases as well but simple personalization and departmental installed apps IMHO will be most pragmatic. In summary I believe the D: drive will be used to group together sets of applications for departments to help manage against bloat of the D: drive eroding TCO benefits. This also helps mitigate against application compatibility concerns because one would assume the layered apps are tested. This would still be a simple architecture that scales using your existing management infrastructure and over time more sophisticated layers management could be added and even additional nested layers. Additional abstraction to provide further flexibility and use cases such as working in non VDI use cases like XenApp will have to be provided by other means.

So when do I need user virtualization?

A lot of people confuse user virtualization and think it’s just a profile feature, or it’s just personalization and perhaps if you have read this far you also now know that it will include additional component technologies like layers. User Virtualization focuses on the “complete abstraction and management of the user” away from the underlying desktop and applications. It’s about delivering the user experience everywhere. By the nature of our virtualization, abstraction and management, the right tool can be used for the right component. Many XenDesktop customers use this level of component abstraction to enable many new use cases to simplify the adoption of multiple client architecture such as PC, VDI, XenApp, App virtualization and laptops.

Without a sophisticated set of capabilities that enable IT to manage across these heterogeneous client architectures, one ends up with several methods to replicate functionality in multiple environments that leads to complexity. Disk differencing technology does not work across all these client architectures and also does not provide the same capabilities as user virtualization. Some of these additional user virtualization capabilities can be summarized as follows:

• Robust granular set of and application of contextual policy controls and GPO.
• Per user, per application management of the users personalization.
• Application control to enable granular execution context.
• Application licensing and metering.
• Application and user rights management to mitigate data center risk due to user actions.
• Performance management.
• Cross platform support that enables roaming between locally installed, virtualized, and published applications.
• Cross application delivery support.
• Superior controlled model for roaming between VDI and native PCs.
• Proven scalability of solution in the most demanding enterprises.
• Vendor independent approach

For over a decade customers have understood the value of user virtualization and the need will continue to grow as Windows client architecture diversity continues. Reassuringly the technical community is beginning to see clarity about the distinct differences and need for user virtualization. Even Microsoft with Windows 8 is upping their focus on enabling a user centric world that enables people with the creation of a User-Centered Experience team.

It won’t stop there. The post PC Era is upon us. Today we are faced with increasing complexity due to the need for greater diversity of client architectures within Windows. User virtualization will play a major part to enable that world.  However IT will need to transcend that world and learn how to embrace an emerging world that through the forces of consumerization and IT as a service, will enable many more client use cases. User virtualization will need to rise to the challenge and enable us to re-imagine a whole new generation of innovation to empower users and IT that goes far beyond disk differencing which is only applicable to Windows. Competitive, pretenders that deny user virtualization and limit their vision to only the PC Era coupled with arcane patent leverage to force marketing agreements under duress will continue to lag years behind in innovation and continue to operate from a position of desperation and weakness.

AppSense achieved record growth of 54% and revenue or $71m in FY 11. Yes we published the numbers because they are real and not rah rah statements like some….

…This record growth was not driven by the inclusion or exclusion of layers. Customers will continue to need technologies that allows them to abstract complexity, manage centrally and deliver on demand user experiences for the right use case. The addition of XenDesktop 5.5 with HDX improvements for both multimedia and the addition of a disk layer technology will drive greater adoption and is a welcome evolution in our industry. AppSense will continue to remain a strong Citrix partner driving adoption of XenDesktop with user virtualization and is committed to evolving the user virtualization platform to enable its customers to embrace the post PC Era.

Harry Labana, VP and CTO

Introduction and Microsoft Partner Solutions Center…

Hi I am Michael Kleef, Director of Business Development for Microsoft and Citrix at AppSense. I’m a recent addition to AppSense having spent nearly 11 years at Microsoft with my last role being a Senior Technical Product Manager for depth content and knowledge in Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 RDS and VDI.

I have had  few interested messages through my email and privately over twitter (@mkleef) asking why I left Microsoft and chose to go to AppSense. Essentially I was really excited by what I saw AppSense doing; transforming the discussion from device centric computing to a world of user centric computing. The interesting thing is that even while I was at Microsoft I was seeing evidence that in addition to Microsoft, many other companies saw great value in AppSense such as inclusion with a number of major players into their reference architectures such as the HP client reference architecture and Cisco VXI. AppSense also won the Citrix Ready Partner of the Year 2010. I did my own due diligence looking at others, though in the end it made it an easy slam dunk move to go to the market leader in the user virtualization space.

Microsoft is obviously a critical partner in multiple areas for AppSense, so it’s important that we are onsite on the Microsoft Redmond campus regularly. To help us support that we are  part of the on campus Microsoft Partner Solutions Center (MPSC).  The MPSC is a facility that showcases some of Microsoft’s partners and their  solutions for business and demonstration purposes. Having been there for almost a year now, we can confirm it’s a great facility with tremendous value to the Microsoft partner ecosystem. We also noticed that RES Software have recently joined the MPSC. The addition of RES Software to the MPSC confirms the importance and relevancy of the user virtualization market that we pioneered which is growing significantly and presenting an exciting challenge to our product leadership.

Demonstration systems on the Microsoft campus are especially important to be able to showcase your product and how it works. I personally developed an integrated Citrix, Microsoft and AppSense demo on the Microsoft campus in Redmond many months ago. It includes Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1,Hyper-V, Windows 7 Enterprise SP1, App-V packaged applications and streamed applications such as Office 2010 all running on top of Citrix XenDesktop 5 and XenApp 6. Overlaid on top of that is AppSense User Virtualization which seamlessly manages the user as they create settings and move in real-time from their XenDesktop managed Windows 7 to a XenApp 6 session. This is available on Microsoft’s corporate network which any Microsoft employee can logon to using their domain credentials making it a very good demo for them to use with existing or potential customers.

We plan to take this demo further forward and place it on the Internet for our partners to also use and see the power of AppSense User Virtualization really delivering value in a variety of Citrix and Microsoft technology scenarios. Watch this space for more on that!

If you have any questions about User Virtualization at the MPSC or would be interested in getting a demo from one of our team in your local area, drop me a line.

Thanks,
Michael Kleef

ComputerWeekly (Again): NATS to roll out cloud-based virtual desktop infrastructure with Citrix & AppSense

My my.. and who said VDI isn’t real? and that it doesn’t cut costs?

Following on from my other customer related post this morning – The Co-operative Group cuts costs with Citrix XenDesktop & AppSense User Virtualization – I’m pleased to share with you another article about another leading enterprise organization adoption a joint solution of Citrix and AppSense technologies to enable the desktop strategy to employ cloud-based virtual desktops to reduce the IT spend.

NATS, the UK’s air traffic control organisation is rolling out 6,000 virtual desktops based which “will be provided using the Citrix XenDesktop and XenApp suite of software. AppSense user virtualisation technology will provide NATS staff with personalised and compliant desktops”

Further information:

CompterWeekly – NATS to roll out cloud-based virtual desktop infrastructure

NATS Official Website – NATS takes to the Cloud

Citrix Community Blog – NATS UK

As you can see, desktop virtualization is real, it’s happening, and Citrix & AppSense work together hand in hand on nearly all of them ;)

Cheers!

Gaz

Business Analysis Profile: A review of AppSense as a company – leadership statistics and growth plans…

Alistair Houghton has written an interesting article about AppSense, “a ray of light bursting through the dark economic stormclouds”.

He details annual revenues in excess of $70m, Goldman Sachs investment, $2.4bn market opportunity, customers, partnerships, Charles Sharland the Entrepreneur, head count, office locations, recent recruitment, and expansion.

You can read the article in full here – Tech firm AppSense looks to growth

Thanks

Gaz

ComputerWeekly: The Co-operative Group cuts costs with Citrix XenDesktop & AppSense User Virtualization

Oh the joys of Google Alerts and Twitter feeds… Today, on this cold, cloudy and wet Friday morning I was graced with a little ray of sunshine to brighten up the start of the weekend.  I saw an article over on ComputerWeekly.com about how The Co-operative (the world’s largest consumer-owned business) is cutting their desktop costs through the use of desktop virtualization technology from Citrix and user virtualization technology from AppSense.

I was already aware the Co-operative are a joint AppSense and Citrix Case Study, and we have even done joint webinars together with Microsoft too, but I like this article as it shows the cost savings available through successful desktop virtualization based on best in breed technologies, and how with careful planning and internal champions the new systems are embraced by the users.

Key highlights include:

Managing the virtual environment

• Managing licences was key to the project. The Co-op uses AppSense’s Environment Manager and Application Manager as part of its Citrix XenApp environment to standardise its management tools.
• Cawson said the management tool helps look after applications to meet any governance and compliance issues around licensing. The company decided to use AppSense’s Environment Manager and user personalisation instead of XenDesktop directly to provide “greater control and granularity”.
• “AppSense Environment Manager delivers a personalised experience every time our users log on, making it impossible for them to decipher between a traditional PC and their virtual one,” he added.

You can read the article here – Case study: Co-operative Group cuts costs with desktop virtualisation ahead of office move

and the AppSense PDF Case Study here – World’s largest consumer-owned business selects AppSense to effectively manage the user experience in new desktop virtualization environment

You can learn more about how AppSense and Citrix are working together as part of the Citrix Desktop Transformation Model White Paper on AppSense User Virtualization and the Proof of Concept Kit here

 Cheers

Gaz

AppSense is a YouTube Sensation: AppSense Exec Team Meeting after Citrix – Ringcube Acquisition

So it seems like AppSense is becoming a YouTube sensation.. first a joint music video with Citrix – AppSense and Citrix Music Video – Virtualize! – and now, someone has put a spin on one of the most popular viral hits on YouTube…

…This time, in the form of AppSense Exec Team Meeting after Ringcube Acquisition

The video is just under 4 minutes long and has had me laughing out loud throughout the whole thing.

Whilst this is extremely funny and flattering, it is also just inaccurate, but that can wait.. I will respond with some substance and clarity in due course, for now, just enjoy it for what it is… and you never know, at this rate AppSense could become a bigger YouTube hit than the Charlie bit my finger – again! video

I am not sure who you are Blowme931, but thank you for taking the time to make and upload the video.. it has certainly brightened up this rainy attempt of UK summer afternoon in the UK..

Cheers!

Gaz

AppSense and Citrix Music Video – Virtualize!

As you probably know, Citrix and AppSense share many things; a long-standing partnership, thousands of joint customers, hundreds of joint partners, multiple case studies, and now, I am pleased to share with you – a joint Music Video!

That’s right, Citrix and AppSense have teamed up once again, this time for your viewing pleasure.  Fabian Kienle, Channel Manager Eastern EMEA Citrix and I have recorded videos before ( CitrixTV Interview ) but this time we teamed up to do something a little bit different, and something Fabian has much pleasure in doing.. A MUSIC VIDEO.

You may remember from previous blogs that Fabian has created music videos before, and together we have now filmed a parody of the Timberland and One Republic song, Apologize.

This video is set in one of the server rooms in the Citrix Demo facilities in Munich, and in it you see some of the AppSense DACH team and Fabian singing along to parody version of the song, performed by my girlfriend Kayley Rose.

The Video Cast are:

Drums: Jens Schmidt – AppSense
Guitar: Dr Benny Tritsch – AppSense
Technician: Sascha Goeckle – AppSense
Chello: Chris Baugh – AppSense
Piano: Fabian Kienle – Citrix
Camera & Production: Dominik Nagel – DNS
Vocals – Kayley Rose

You can view the video on the AppSense YouTube Channel here, or by clicking on the screenshot below:

 

I hope you enjoy the video as much as we did making it, look out for many more to come.. you never know, Citrix Synergy Barcelona Party could be headlined  by the Citrix And AppSense Band LoL

Again, thanks to everyone for giving up their time to make this video, and look forward to continued success and our tight partnership!

Gaz

BriForum Is Almost Here! AppSense Experts Session Listing…

If you are looking to deploy desktop or application virtualization as part of your future desktop strategy or are planning your Windows 7 migration, then you won’t want to miss BriForum in Chicago next week.  And if you are looking to deploy desktop or application virtualization with a personalized desktop experience, at a significantly reduced cost, that end-users will embrace while you have less to manage, then you won’t want to miss seeing the AppSense experts at BriForum.

AppSense are proud to embrace and support the desktop and application virtualization community, and once again will be attending BriForum as a Platinum Sponsor.

Come See AppSense Desktop Virtualization Experts at BriForum:

• Harry Labana, AppSense CTO (with host Brian Madden): “The Future of the Desktop“
• Jon Wallace, AppSense Technical Director, “Desktop Virtualization Isn’t Easy, User Virtualization Helps” & “Mandatory and Default User Profile Tuning“
• Dr. Benny Tritsch, AppSense Technology Director: “Lie to Me: Using Built-In Windows Systems Filter in Virtual Desktop” & “RDP, Remote FX, ICA/HDX: Removing Protocols Turned Inside Out v2.0“
• Michael Mills, AppSense Practice Principal (with Jon Wallace) “Desktop Virtualization Isn’t Easy, User Virtualization Helps“

You may have recently heard that AppSense has extended our position as world leaders in user virtualization with our latest release, AppSense Environment Manager 8.1 – stop by our booth to find out more!  in addition, come see us to learn how user virtualization:

• Simplifies virtual desktop and virtual application deployment
• Provides a consistent user experience, regardless of device
• Radically reduces the cost of desktop delivery & management

If you have not yet registered for BriForum, you can do so here.

Look forward to seeing you there!

Gaz

Optimizing Dell Desktop Virtualization Solutions with AppSense User Virtualization

While the operational and security benefits of desktop virtualization are appealing to many organizations, bringing together the proper collection of architectural design, hardware, and software to realize these benefits is often a significant challenge. Earlier this year, Dell responded to this need by creating Dell Desktop Virtualization Solutions (DDVS).

DDVS combines pre-packaged services with configured and tested hardware and software to help organizations reduce complexity and accelerate desktop virtualization plans. Recognizing that user virtualization can play a strategic role in achieving these goals, Dell and AppSense have collaborated to ensure that the AppSense User Virtualization Platform (UVP) is fully interoperable with the DDVS architecture.

Our key goal in applying AppSense user virtualization to DDVS is to enable IT teams to deploy a cost-efficient pool of standardized virtual desktop images on the DDVS architecture while offering users the type of responsive and highly personalized desktop experience they are accustomed to. The first result of the Dell/AppSense collaboration is a new architecture guide that gives administrators and architects the technical background and deployment best practices to optimize their DDVS environment in this way.

The information and recommendations included in the architecture guide are backed by extensive testing by Dell and AppSense. In a simulated DDVS deployment designed to support up to 5,000 concurrent users, the addition of AppSense UVP resulted in an 83 percent reduction of storage for profiles and related information with no degradation to login times or ongoing desktop responsiveness. A summary of the benchmarking is included in the architecture guide.

The DDVS framework is a great option for organizations seeking to get their desktop virtualization off the ground with as little risk and complexity as possible, and the addition AppSense user virtualization will only magnify these benefits. As early believers in the promise of DDVS, we are pleased to see our longstanding collaboration with Dell result in positive benefits to our joint customers.

As Rafael Colorado, Domain Lead for End-User Computing at Dell noted, “Working with AppSense enables Dell to manage the user component of their Desktop Virtualization Solutions, including user personalization, corporate policy, user installed applications and user data.”

Related Resources:

Architecture Guide: Dell Desktop Virtualization Solutions and AppSense User Virtualization

Dell and AppSense on the Dell Technology Center

Dell and AppSense at AppSense.com

Congratulations to Kaweah Delta Medical Center on Winning Computerworld Laureate Award

We would like to extend a hearty “Congratulations!” to AppSense and Citrix customer Kaweah Delta Medical Center, who won this year’s Computerworld Laureate award for Emerging Technology for its MyKD initiative.

The Computerworld Honors program honors those who use Information Technology to benefit society, in this case using virtualization technology for “getting the right information to the right person, at the right place, at the right time, in the right format, to ensure the right value.”

Kaweah is a terrific example of an organization taking advantage of the flexibility, functionality, efficiency and savings that virtualization has to offer, and doing so in an innovative way that benefits its patients, doctors and staff while keeping sensitive materials secure. In addition to providing secure remote access to its clinical systems, Kaweah is using virtualization technology to create an infrastructure for the use of mobile devices like iPads, tablets and smartphones.

If you’d like to learn more about how Kaweah is using AppSense’s User Virtualization Platform and Citrix FlexCast technologies in its MyKD initiative, please read the full case study and watch our video interview with Stephen Carnes, Kaweah Delta’s IT administrator/virtualization over on the Citrix.com webpage – Managing Healthcare Roaming Users with AppSense

Congratulations again Kaweah, we’re proud to be working with you!

“Cheers!”
Gaz

(P:S – If you would like to learn more on how move to the dynamic desktop model Kaweah is taking advantage of and has been honored and awarded for, please read the Citrix White Paper:  AppSense User Virtualization – Extending the value of Citrix and forming a strategic component of the Citrix Desktop Transformation Model (DTM), which can be downloaded from Citrix.com here.  )