October 14, 2009
Citrix CTP and owner of www.Ervik.as – Alex ‘Ervik’ Johnsen – is hosting a VDI webinar discussing the challenges faced in rolling out VDI, along with best practices and discussions & demonstrations from Citrix, AppSense and joint VAR Commaxx.
This webinar will include a Citrix XenDesktop overview, along with why AppSense is the only solution recommended by Citrix for Personalization and Policy management to enable the customization of single OS and App images to be tailored for each and every user in an organization.
Join us to understand how Commaxx, AppSense and Citrix can simplify your desktop virtualization plans, reduce cost, simplify management and provide the best user experience.
The webinar takes place on Monday 19th October, you can register your place here: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/937376570
Together Citrix and AppSense have over 4,000 joint enterprise customers and have deployed some of the largest VDI environments in the world… attend this webinar to see why..
Click Banner To Register For Webinar
Leave a Comment » | Citrix, CTP, Desktop Virtualization, Provisioning Server, roaming profiles, Terminal Server, Terminal Services, TS, user environment management, User Profile Manager, VDI, Win 7, Win7, Windows 7, Windows Server, XenApp, XenApp 5, XenDesktop | Tagged: AppSense, Citrix, customers, Desktop Virtualization, Environment Manager, Logon Scripts, Logon Times, Personality, Personalization, UEM, user environment management, VDI, VMware, XenApp, XenDesktop | Permalink
Posted by Gareth Kitson
October 9, 2009
The Only Partner Technology Recommended by Citrix to Ensure All Users Receive a Fully Personalized Working Environment at the Lowest Possible Cost
AppSense, the leading provider of User Environment Management solutions for the enterprise, today announced full support for Citrix XenDesktop 4,a groundbreaking new Citrix product designed to make virtual desktops a mainstream reality for hundreds of millions of corporate employees for the first time ever.
“AppSense has been working closely with Citrix and our joint customers for many years and we commend Citrix on this bold and significant move. By combining two market-leading products and introducing FlexCast technology to accommodate every user type, Citrix has been instrumental in further reducing the barriers to mainstream virtual desktop adoption,” said Charles Sharland, Chairman and CEO, AppSense. “As the only enterprise solution recommended by Citrix to provide comprehensive desktop personalization for all users, we look forward to providing our Citrix customers a way to scale their virtual desktop estates at lowest cost and with maximum user adoption.”
AppSense, a Citrix partner of over 10 years with some 4000 joint customers around the world, provides technology solutions that enable low-cost, standard desktop images to be delivered to employees as fully personalized desktops. This ensures maximum user adoption from just a few corporate base images, reducing cost, complexity and risk. Their User Environment Management solution is the only technology to provide on-demand desktop personalization across all delivery methods and operating system versions.
Based on this unique level of customer experience, AppSense is well positioned to work in conjunction with Citrix FlexCast to provide centralized management of the user personality for task workers, knowledge workers and power users in both server and client-hosted desktop environments.
“We look at the desktop in a different way at AppSense,” stated Pete Rawlinson, VP WW Marketing at AppSense. “We effectively separate the desktop into three layers; corporate operating system, corporate applications and the user. By managing all aspects of the user independent of the desktop, IT are able to standardize the corporate operating system and applications, delivering them on-demand only when needed. The combination of Citrix XenDesktop 4 and AppSense User Environment Management enables companies to truly eliminate unnecessary desktop management costs while ensuring users of all types receive the very best working experience – even in the most heterogeneous environments.”
This layered model looks to be the way forward for mainstream virtual desktop adoption, as Rachel Chalmers of The 451 Group states:
“Separating out operating systems and applications and provisioning them dynamically means that desktops can be assembled per session and disposed of when the session is over. To make all of this work like a physical PC, though, administrators need to store stateful user settings and preferences elsewhere. Separating out this layer of user data is what we call user virtualization. Citrix ecosystem vendors pioneered the art of maintaining these user profiles in terminal services environments, and AppSense has led the way in adapting it to desktop virtualization.”
AppSense will be a sponsor at the upcoming Citrix global online event on October 20, 2009, “Secrets, Lies and VDI: Dispel the Myths and Uncover the Truth about Desktop and Application Virtualization”. Click here to register your place…
Leave a Comment » | Citrix, CTP, Desktop Virtualization, Edgesight, Microsoft, Provisioning Server, Terminal Server, Terminal Services, user environment management, User Profile Manager, VDI, Win 7, Win7, Windows 7, Windows Server, XenApp, XenApp 5, XenDesktop, XenServer | Tagged: AppSense, Citrix, customers, Desktop Virtualization, Environment Manager, Personality, Personalization, Profile, profiles, UEM, user environment management, XenApp, XenDesktop | Permalink
Posted by Gareth Kitson
October 6, 2009
Today Citrix announced the availability of XenDesktop Version 4, to be released in November 09. This is a significant announcement as it incorporates the combining of XenDesktop and XenApp into one (marketed) product – XenDesktop 4. Effectively, XenDesktop 4 is now the Citrix virtual desktop solution for all user types (including task workers on TS) with XenApp providing the application / TS side.
Citrix have made a bold and significant move here. By combining their new VDI solution with their long-standing and highly penetrated server-based computing solution, they have not only created a compelling product and simplified message, they have also provided a nice VDI on-ramp to their existing XenApp customer base, enabling them to potentially take a decent piece of market share. XenDeskop 4 will provide Citrix customers an easy on-ramp to VDI while maintaining their existing XenApp investment, as well as enabling them to leverage other technologies such as Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware vSphere.
What this move demonstrates is the high importance the major players like Citrix and VMware are now putting on VDI. We’re starting to see some major moves in the space as companies make a play for market share and I’m sure there’s a lot more to come.
As Citrix points out in their press release, the quality of the user experience is of paramount importance in the mainstream adoption of this new desktop estate – a desktop estate that will combine terminal server, server- and client-hosted VDI, blade systems, physical desktops and myriad other technologies, to deliver the lowest-cost, highest quality desktop to the employee. Maintaining a consistent, personal and productive environment to the user regardless of how the desktop is delivered seems set to become a major objective in this ‘new world’. Using Citrix FlexCast™ to accommodate the needs of all user types could be used in conjunction with a personality management solution to ensure a ‘follow me’ persona across all delivery mechanisms – effectively making the method of delivery seamless to the user.
With Windows 7 on its way, this could be just the catalyst needed for the VDI adoption curve to change its trajectory……….
Leave a Comment » | 2008, App-V, Application Streaming, Citrix, Desktop Virtualization, Edgesight, Microsoft, Migration, Provisioning Server, Streaming, Terminal Server, Terminal Services, TS, user environment management, User Profile Manager, VDI, virtual profiles, VMware, Win 7, Win7, Windows 7, Windows Server, XenApp, XenApp 5, XenDesktop, XenServer | Tagged: AppSense, Citrix, customers, Desktop Virtualization, Environment Manager, Microsoft, Personality, Personalization, Profile, UEM, user environment management, VDI, View, VMware, XenApp, XenDesktop | Permalink
Posted by peterjr11
October 6, 2009
I have recently heard, from several different sources, that it is “best practice” not to share user profiles, or personalization settings, between different operating system platforms. On the surface, this seems a sensible limitation since different operating systems have different user profile structures.
Vista and Windows Server 2008 (WS08) put most profile data somewhere in “\users\%username%\appdata”, whereas XP and Windows Server 2003 (W2K3) may place it in “\documents and settings\%username%\application data” or “\documents and settings\%username%\local settings” or somewhere else entirely.
We can’t predict where the data will go for a given application which doesn’t help us understand the “splatter” that it makes in the file system. This folder lottery is further compounded by the fact that Vista and WS08 implicitly add the “.v2” extension to any profile path you define for a user. What this results in is that with a roaming profile solution, you are forced to have different profiles, and therefore different settings, between XP/W2K3, which implicitly use a “v1” profile, and Vista/WS08 which explicitly use a “v2” profile (even though the path defined for this profile does not actually include the “.v2” extension).
Applications should get the paths to use within the profile folder hierarchy by using operating system API calls that are the same between the different operating systems but will yield the correct folder for the operating system it is being run on. Unfortunately, not all applications are written this way and some will make assumptions about paths and maybe even hard code them which is likely to cause problems even before operating system migration, particularly in Terminal Server/Citrix XenApp environments.
There is also the class of setting that is actually different between the different operating systems. Take for instance the good old desktop wallpaper which most people, if pushed, will confess is the one item that makes their PC experience “personal” (while this is not an essential productivity related personalization setting, it does however provide a good example as to how even the most basic of settings fail to migrate between OS platforms) Although users don’t know, and indeed do not need to know, they are actually stored in different file formats between XP/W2K3 and Vista/WS08. Therefore if the setting for this, which is stored in the user’s registry hive, was just unintelligently transplanted between the two operating systems then one of the desktops wouldn’t show the correct wallpaper.
Some implementers may say that it is a good idea to start with clean profiles when moving from one operating system to another system since it is a good opportunity, in their view, for a clean start and to leave all the myriad of settings behind that aren’t apparently used for anything and just clutter the profile. However, against this has to be weighed the cost of the user having to re-personalize their applications and desktop. This costs both in terms of time (both users being interrupted during their workflow as they find a toolbar or application setting they need is missing, and then having to remember where and how to re-make the customization, which could be different to how they would have changed the option on their old OS) and also can cause a certain amount of resistance when these users tell their yet-to-be-upgraded colleagues is that this great new operating system, which has been months in planning, has lost all of their settings and they are struggling to find the new ways to set things the way “they should be”.
Enter AppSense Environment Manager. All of the technical issues outlined above are addressed by Environment Manager making the migration from one operating system to another, and back again if required, a much less painless experience and instead now becomes an automated, seamless process for both the user and administrator alike. The files used by an application within the locally cached profile folders are stored in a relative, rather than absolute, form in the Environment Manager database which then allows them to be subsequently put back in the correct, operating system specific, folder hierarchies. Because Environment Manager functions on a per-application basis, it can much more accurately target which settings need to be brought over onto the new operating system and it also silently transmogrifies items and their settings, such as desktop wallpapers, to help ensure that seamless migration that administrators dream of. All this, of course, is done with next to no configuration by administrators so they do not need to understand the intricacies of any of the applications and subsequent registry settings and profile structures the user uses. This helps make for quick and easy migrations, although I don’t personally like the term “migration” since it implies a one way movement whereas Environment Manager provides bi-directionality with no extra effort.
So in summary…While it is right to say that it is NOT best practice to share ‘roaming profiles’ across OS platforms, AppSense Environment Manager dispels the myth that sharing ‘personalization settings’ between operating systems is not a recommended best practice –in fact AppSense recommend you embrace it…
1 Comment | CAL, Citrix, Desktop Virtualization, Group Policy, Microsoft, Migration, Office 2007, OS, Per Device, Printing, Provisioning Server, roaming profiles, Streaming, Terminal Server, Terminal Services, TS, user environment management, User Profile Manager, VDI, virtual profiles, Visio, VMware, Win 7, Win7, Windows 7, Windows Server, XenApp, XenDesktop, XenServer | Tagged: AppSense, Citrix, Corruption, Desktop Virtualization, Environment Manager, Logon Scripts, Logon Times, Microsoft, NTUser.DAT, Personalization, Profile, profiles, reduce costs, Registry keys, Registry Settings, ROI, Support Calls, UEM, user environment management, VDI, VMware, VMworld, XenApp, XenDesktop | Permalink
Posted by guyrleech
October 1, 2009
Despite such tough economic times, I am very pleased to be part of an industry sector that despite budget cuts, is operating at a profitable level and achieving record growth. Virtualization is a core part of many computing environments, and as technologies progress greater costs reductions can be achieved and as such is able to secure IT CapEx budget and continue to fuel virtualization development.
AppSense have experience profitable year on year growth since inception back in 1999, yet despite all the financial trouble we read about on a daily basis, 2009 has proven to be a record breaking year for AppSense.
A huge part of this success has come from our strong Channel, following huge investment and years of close relationships. With that said, to accommodate the huge uplift in demand for our solution set, AppSense have now reached out to a leading training company to help provide technical support and knowledge transfer for our ever growing Channel.
Further details on this can be found in this press release.
Leave a Comment » | Citrix, Desktop Virtualization, Edgesight, Laptop, Microsoft, Mobile Device, Provisioning Server, Terminal Server, Terminal Services, user environment management, User Profile Manager, VDI, VMware, VMworld, Windows 7, XenApp, XenApp 5, XenDesktop, XenServer | Tagged: AppSense, Citrix, customers, Desktop Virtualization, Environment Manager, Personality, Personalization, profiles, UEM, user environment management, VDI, VMware, XenApp, XenDesktop | Permalink
Posted by Gareth Kitson
October 1, 2009
I recently read a great article titled ‘Windows 7 May Spur Virtual Desktops, On and Off the iPhone’ on CIO.com by Kevin Fogarty.
It is a great article and brings attention to the options available to us in how we can deliver desktop (sessions) to our users, even when they are not sat in front of a typical PC or Thin Client device – bring on, the mobile/cell phone device. However, I have recently received a few emails and mentions on my Twitter Account in relation to the write-up regarding how AppSense is represented in the article.
The article goes on the reference how “VMware, Citrix and a range of other companies are putting clients on smart phones” and as part of this mobile discussion AppSense User Environment Management is rightly referenced as “The User Environment Manager from AppSense, for example, is designed to make a virtual desktop mimic the real thing by allowing end users to make changes, install software add photos, store cookies and do all the other things they’d do on an actual “personal” computer”.
Unfortunately however there appears to be a slight misrepresentation on the relationship between AppSense and the vendors Citrix& VMware, in that it says AppSense code is part of both the VMware and Citrix VDI offerings, “AppSense, whose code is part of both VMware and Citrix’s VDI offerings, stores all that data and code on the server and reloads it all every time that user logs on, no matter through what device the access comes” .
While AppSense enjoy a very close and strong relationship with both vendors, providing some of the strategic requirements for the VDI offerings in many of the largest enterprise deployments, I must at this point highlight that the AppSense capabilities come from a separate solution outside of VMware View and Citrix XenDesktop– in the form of the AppSense Management Suite.
The AppSense Management Suite is a standalone management framework and solution set which completely separates all elements of the user from the underlying desktop session, operating system and application set. While this platform agnostic technology integrates seamlessly with the VMware and Citrix offerings, AppSense code is NOT part of any VMware or Citrix offering, and must be implemented in addition to the VDI solution from either vendor.
Hope this clears up any confusion, and please do remember I fully support the article and agree with the other points made.. I just wanted to ensure no one is disappointed when they trial or purchase either VMware View or Citrix XenDesktop and find out there is no AppSense software built in J
Look forward to reading more great articles on the possibilities of desktop deliver.. and of course that AppSense is a key part to this personal computing shift…
(the original article can be read here).
Leave a Comment » | 2008, Application Streaming, Citrix, Desktop Virtualization, Edgesight, Laptop, Microsoft, Migration, Mobile Device, OS, Per Device, Provisioning Server, roaming profiles, Streaming, Terminal Server, Terminal Services, TS, user environment management, User Profile Manager, VDI, virtual profiles, VMware, Win 7, Win7, Windows 7, Windows Server, XenApp, XenApp 5, XenDesktop, XenServer | Tagged: AppSense, Citrix, customers, Environment Manager, Logon Scripts, Personalization, Policies, Profile, profiles, UEM, user environment management, VDI, View, VMware, XenApp, XenDesktop | Permalink
Posted by Gareth Kitson
September 30, 2009
Martin Ingram, VP of Strategy at AppSense has been inundated with Press and Analysts wanting to interview him to learn more about the strategic requirement for user personalization within VDI environments.
Personalization is key to reducing risk and increasing user satisfaction and enabling the adoption of lowest cost, non-persistent VDI environments.
You can read more about this topic along with the views of industry leading Commentators and Analysts at:
IT Business Edge – Putting a Personal Touch on VDI, by Michael Vizard
Virtualization Review – All about the User Personality, by Beth Schultz
These posts come further to Citrix recognizing the need for user environment management solutions in VDI environments, as posted by Sumit Dhawan here
Leave a Comment » | Application Streaming, Citrix, Microsoft, Per Device, Provisioning Server, roaming profiles, Streaming, Terminal Server, Terminal Services, TS, user environment management, User Profile Manager, VDI, virtual profiles, VMware, Windows Server, XenApp, XenApp 5, XenDesktop | Tagged: AppSense, Citrix, customers, Desktop Virtualization, Environment Manager, Microsoft, Personality, Personalization, Profile, profiles, Registry keys, Registry Settings, UEM, user environment management, VDI, View, VMware, XenApp, XenDesktop | Permalink
Posted by Gareth Kitson